Coming to terms with anti-Semitism: Jan T. Gross´ writings and the construction of cultural trauma in post-communist Poland

Since the fall of the communism, many heated debates about the past took place in Poland, with the stormiest among them concerning not the communist crimes, as one might expect, but the Polish-Jewish relations during the Holocaust and in the immediate post-war years. The most discussed history books in post-communist Poland - “Neighbours” (2000) and “Fear” (2008) by Jan T. Gross dealt with anti-Semitism during World War II and its immediate aftermath. The purpose of this paper is to look at the reactions of the Polish public to the book “Fear” and analyse in what way they challenged Polish collective memory. Using the theory of cultural trauma as formulated by Jeffrey Alexander I argue that Gross has acted as trauma “carrier” forcing the Polish public to face the experience of seeing itself as perpetrator. His books can be seen as a shock therapy aimed at questioning the traditional master narrative of Polish national identity and at encouraging the construction of a new one. The attention given to his books in Poland should be seen in the context of European integration, as a part of the project of Polish liberal elite to “Europeanise” Poland