Jaworzno. Invisibility

The article discussed the literary representations of the communist labour camp in Jaworzno (1945–1956), particularly the short story by Seweryna Szmaglewska entitled Amnestia zastukała do bram (1956), a novel by Kazimierz Koźniewski entitled Bunt w więzieniu (1968), and a short story by Sławomir Mrożek entitled Jaworzno (1985). The discussion also applied to the problem of ideological entanglement of Polish literature and Polish writers (particularly during the Stalinist period), and the reasons for their (and the society’s) “overlooking” the obvious manifestations of communist terror. Its alleged “invisibility” was analogous to the “invisibility” of the crimes committed by the Nazis, allegedly not noticed by the citizens of the Third Reich. Among Polish writers, that analogy between Nazism and communism was indicated by Mrożek, while the similarities of both totalitarian systems were identified also by Szmaglewska and Czesław Miłosz.