In the Shadow of Two Monuments: Local Battlefields of Politics of History in Hungary and Poland

ABSTRACT

The politics of history occupies an important place on the agenda of the current right-wing populist governments of Hungary and Poland. These countries have a lot in common in terms of state-level Holocaust distortion and whitewashing of difficult historical issues. This paper aims at investigating these national tendencies through a local ‘lens’ by studying the controversies around the Turul statue in the 12th district of Budapest (2005) and the monument of Jan Maletka erected at the Treblinka railway station (2021). Both monuments were established in places directly related to the local history of Jewish suffering during World War II and are symbolic of the various aspects of the Holocaust. Furthermore, both can be seen and interpreted as specific examples of the ‘de-Judaization of the Holocaust,’ manifestations of competitive victimhood, and a way of hiding the problem of complicity in the Holocaust.

KEYWORDS:

• Holocaust distortion
• Jan Maletka
• Turul
• antisemitism
• Poland
• Hungary

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Jan Grabowski, “The Holocaust as a Polish Problem,” in Irena Grudzińska-Gross and Iwa Nawrocki, (eds.), Poland and Polin: New Interpretations in Polish-Jewish Studies (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Edition, 2016), pp. 17–29.

2 Andrea Pető, “The Illiberal Memory Politics in Hungary,” Journal of Genocide Research 24, no. 2 (2021): pp. 241–249.

3 Tomasz Frydel, “The Ongoing Challenge of Producing an Integrated Microhistory of the Holocaust in East Central Europe,” Journal of Genocide Research 20, no. 4 (2018): pp. 624–631.

4 The data collection was partly created in the framework of research conducted for Nurit Novis-Deutsch et al., Sites of Tension: Shifts in Holocaust Memory in Relation to Antisemitism and Political Contestation in Europe (Haifa: The Weiss-Livnat International Center for Holocaust Research and Education, 2023).

5 Ruth Wodak and Michael Mayer, Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (London: Sage, 2001).

6 Mónika Kovács, “Global and Local Holocaust Remembrance,” in Braham Randolph and Kovács András, (eds.), The Holocaust in Hungary: Seventy Years Later (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2016), pp. 231–250.

7 Mónika Kovács, Kollektív emlékezet és holokausztmúlt (Budapest: Corvina, 2016), p. 50.

8 Henriett Kovács and Ursula K. Mindler-Steiner, “Hungary and the Distortion of Holocaust History: The Hungarian Holocaust Memorial Year 2014,” Politics in Central Europe 11, no. 2 (2015): p. 54.

9 Tamara P. Trošt and Lea David, “Renationalizing Memory in the Post-Yugoslav Region,” Journal of Genocide Research 24, no. 2 (2021): pp. 228–240.

10 Ferencz Laczó, “Creeping Right-wing Hegemony and its Contestations: On Public History in Contemporary Hungary,” International Public History 5, no. 1 (2022): pp. 43–52.

11 Kovács, Kollektív emlékezet és holokausztmúlt, p. 50.

12 Kovács and Mindler-Steiner, “Hungary and the Distortion of Holocaust History,” p. 57.

13 Kovács, Kollektív emlékezet és holokausztmúlt, p. 50.

14 Pető, “The Illiberal Memory Politics in Hungary,” p. 246.

15 Jan Tomasz Gross, Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland (London: Penguin Books, 2002).

16 Antony Polonsky and Joanna B. Michlic, The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland (NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004).

17 Piotr Forecki, Po Jedwabnem. Anatomia pamięci funkcjonalnej (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Badań Literackich PAN, 2019).

18 Kornelia Kończal, “Politics of Innocence: Holocaust Memory in Poland,” Journal of Genocide Research 24, no. 2 (2022), pp. 250–263.

19 Robert Traba, Historia – przestrzeń dialogu (Warszawa: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN, 2006), p. 80.

20 Alicja Podbielska, “The Righteous and March ’68,” Jewish History Quarterly 2 (2019): pp. 363–387.

21 Joanna Beata Michlic, “The Politics of the Memorialization of the Holocaust in Poland: Reflections on the Current Misuses of the History of Rescue,” Jewish Historical Studies 3, no. 1 (2022): pp. 152–169.

22 Szabolcs KissPál, “The Rise of a Fallen Feather: The Symbolism of the Turul Bird in Contemporary Hungary,” e-flux 56 (2014).

23 Róbert Kerepeszki, “A Turul Szövetség,” in Romsics Ignác, (ed.), A magyar jobboldali hagyomány 1900–1948 (Budapest: Osiris, 2009), pp. 341–376.

24 Kisspál, “The Rise of a Fallen Feather.”

25 Ibid.

26 Róbert Kerepeszki, “A Turul Szövetség országos és debreceni szervezete (1919−1945)” (PhD dissertation, Debrecen, 2009).

27 Kisspál, “The Rise of a Fallen Feather.”

28 Ibid.

29 Andrea Pető, “‘Non-Remembering’ the Holocaust in Hungary and Poland,” Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry 31 (2019): p. 472, https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-73093-0.

30 Ildikó Barna et al., “Contemporary Forms of the Oldest Hatred: Modern Antisemitism in the Visegrád Countries,” in Bíró Anna-Mária and Katrina Lantos-Swett, (eds.), The Noble Banner of Human Rights: Essays in Memory of Tom Lantos (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2018), pp. 303–338.

31 Ádám, Zoltán and András Bozóki, “State and Faith: Right-Wing Populism and Nationalized Religion in Hungary,” Intersections: East European Journal of Society and Politics, 2, no. 1 (2016): p. 99.

32 Dariusz Libionka, “’Uwagi o ratowaniu Żydów w okolicach Treblinki’ [recenzja: Edward Kopówka, ks. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, Dam im imię na wieki. Polacy z okolic Treblinki ratujący Żydów],” Zagłada Żydów, Studia i Materiały 9 (2013): pp. 687–695.

33 All quotes are from the official website of the Pilecki Institute, where you can find more information about the “Called by Name program,” https://instytutpileckiego.pl/en/zawolani-po-imieniu (accessed October 28, 2022).

34 (Red.), “Zastrzelony za pomoc Żydom,” https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2021-11-25/zastrzelony-za-pomoc-zydom-w-czasie-okupacji-niemieckiej-upamietnienie-jana-maletki/ (accessed October 28, 2022).

35 Katarzyna Krzykowska, “Kolejarz Jana Maletka, zastrzelony za pomoc Żydom, upamiętniony przez Instytut Pileckiego,” https://dzieje.pl/wiadomosci/kolejarz-jan-maletka-zastrzelony-za-pomoc-zydom-upamietniony-przez-instytut-pileckiego (accessed October 28, 2022).

36 A more detailed account of the ceremony, along with photographic documentation, can be found on the website of the Pilecki Institute and the Treblinka Museum and other websites: https://instytutpileckiego.pl/en/zawolani-po-imieniu/relacje-z-upamietnien/upamietnienie-jana-maletki-w-treblince; https://muzeumtreblinka.eu/en/2021/12/14/commemoration-of-jan-maletka/ See also the video report of the ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xan4MO1mH94&t=14s (accessed October 28, 2022).

37 Krisztián Ungváry, “Guttmann és a turul - Még egyszer a szoborról,” Magyar Narancs (2005), https://magyarnarancs.hu/publicisztika/guttmann_es_a_turul_-_meg_egyszer_a_szoborrol-64761 (accessed April 27, 2023).

38 Krisztián Ungváry, “Jómadarak: A turul emlékműről,” Magyar Narancs (2005), https://magyarnarancs.hu/publicisztika/jomadarak_-_a_turulemlekmurol-64650 (accessed April 27, 2023).

39 Among others, the party requested the removal of the statue at the General Assembly of the City of Budapest. Origo, “Tovább harcol az SZDSZ a turulmadár ellen,” (2005), https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20051012tovabb.html (accessed April 27, 2023).

40 Ma.hu, “Pokorni: évtizedek is kevésnek bizonyultak a zsidóság megkövetésére,” https://www.ma.hu/tart/rcikk/a/0/132100/1 (accessed April 27, 2023).

41 János Csontos, “Hamisságok fala,” Magyar Nemzet (2005), https://magyarnemzet.hu/archivum-magyarnemzet/2005/10/hamissagok-fala-2 (accessed April 27, 2023).

42 Szombat, Turul-ügy: lehet, hogy mégsem kell bontani? (2007), https://www.szombat.org/archivum/turul-ugy-lehet-hogy-megsem-kell-bontani-1373028964 (accessed April 27, 2023).

43 The report of index.hu about the protest was used in the 444.hu documentary movie “Monument of murderers.”

44 Kuruc.info, “A szocionista söpredék megint el akarja távolítani a Turul-szobrot,” (2007), https://kuruc.info/r/1/12740/ (accessed April 27, 2023).

45 Csontos, “Hamisságok fala.”

46 Edit András, “Köztéri emlékművek a történelmi múlt (és jövő) konstruálásában,” in Györgyjakab Izabella and Kukla Krisztián, (eds.), Centrum és Periféria. Határ menti perspektívák kulturális regionalizmus kortárs vizuális kultúra (Debrecen: MODEM – Partiumi Keresztény Egyetem, 2011), pp. 123–150.

47 World Jewish Congress, “Budapest Holocaust Memorial Desecrated with Pigs' Feet” (2009), https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/budapest-holocaust-memorial-desecrated-with-pigs-feet (accessed April 27, 2023).

48 László Rab and Pokorni József Kabátja, Mozgó Világ (2019), https://mozgovilag.hu/2019/10/18/rab-laszlo-pokorni-jozsef-kabatja-tanulmany/ (accessed April 27, 2023).

49 Andrea Pető, Láthatatlan elkövetők. Nők a magyarországi nyilasmozgalomban (Budapest: Jaffa kiadó, 2019), p. 13.

50 Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (New York: Harper Collins, 1992), p. 188.

51 “Pokorni Zoltán elsírta magát a városmajori tömeggyilkosságok helyszínén,” Mazsihisz.hu, https://mazsihisz.hu/hirek-a-zsido-vilagbol/megemlekezesek/pokorni-zoltan-elsirta-magat-a-varosmajori-tomeggyilkossagok-helyszinen?fbclid=IwAR2h978NMssBkwp3I0RY4n-YKkQf3cUqwkEvWrfw_XOZXCGWr9zmMCdOZF4 (accessed February 28, 2022). A very short part was played in the newscast of the TV channel RTL Klub: “Pokorni Zoltán leveteti nagyapja nevét az emlékműről 20-01-15,” RTL Klub, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzCw2O-dTCM&t=26s (accessed February 28, 2022).

52 https://www.facebook.com/karacsonygergely/posts/2959608317405328 (accessed February 28, 2022).

53 https://www.facebook.com/gyurcsanyf/posts/3099562986742809 (accessed February 28, 2022).

54 “Pokorni Zoltán elsírta magát a városmajori tömeggyilkosságok helyszínén,” Mazsihisz.hu, https://mazsihisz.hu/hirek-a-zsido-vilagbol/megemlekezesek/pokorni-zoltan-elsirta-magat-a-varosmajori-tomeggyilkossagok-helyszinen?fbclid=IwAR2h978NMssBkwp3I0RY4n-YKkQf3cUqwkEvWrfw_XOZXCGWr9zmMCdOZF4 (accessed February 28, 2022).

55 Zoltán Radnóti, “Egy igazi történet: Pokorni Zoltán nemzete,” Index.hu, https://index.hu/velemeny/2020/01/22/pokorni_vita_multfeldolgozas_radnoti_zoltan/ (accessed February 28, 2022).

56 Róbert Braun, “Sorsközösség/sorstalanság,” Index.hu, https://index.hu/velemeny/2020/01/20/pokorni_zoltan_multfeldolgozas_emlekezet_braun_robert/ (accessed February 28, 2022).

57 We received permission to use the opinion of the historians from Krisztián Ungváry for this article.

58 Dániel Ács, “A turul az elkövetők szimbóluma, és nem az áldozatoké,” 444.hu, https://444.hu/2020/06/24/a-turul-az-elkovetok-szimboluma-es-nem-az-aldozatoke (accessed October 28, 2022).

59 Ibid.

60 “Szoborvédő akciócsoportot szervez a Mi Hazánk,” Kuruc.info, https://kuruc.info/r/2/214472/ (accessed October 28, 2022).

61 “György Attila: aki a turulhoz hozzányúl, minimum letöröm a kezét,” Kuruc.info, https://kuruc.info/r/7/214216/ (accessed October 28, 2022).

62 Balázs Ágoston, “A turul időtlen tisztasága,” Magyar Nemzet, https://magyarnemzet.hu/velemeny/2021/02/a-turul-idotlen-tisztasaga (accessed April 28, 2023).

63 Dénes P. Szabó, “Városmajori Emlékkő: ahol az emlékek összeérnek,” nepszava.hu, https://nepszava.hu/3157578_varosmajori-emlekko-ahol-az-emlekek-osszeernek (accessed April 28, 2023).

64 Pető, Láthatatlan elkövetők, p. 13.

65 Jan Grabowski, “Pamięciowy blitz Instytutu Pileckiego dotarł do Treblinki,” Gazeta Wyborcza, https://wyborcza.pl/alehistoria/7,162654,27852129,pamieciowy-blitz-instytutu-pileckiego-dotarl-do-treblinki.html (accessed October 28, 2022).

66 Adam Leszczyński, “Pomnik kolejarza zamordowanego za pomaganie Żydom w Treblince wywołał skandal. Dlaczego?” OKO.press, https://oko.press/pomnik-kolejarza-rzekomo-zamordowanego-za-pomaganie-zydom-w-treblince-wywolal-skandal-dlaczego-odpowiada-historyk/ (accessed October 28, 2022).

67 Katarzyna Markusz, “Zawłaszczanie miejsc pamięci” Jewish.pl, https://jewish.pl/pl/2021/11/26/zawlaszczanie-miejsc-pamieci/ (accessed on October 28, 2022).

68 Andrzej Friedman and Sergiusz Kowalski, “Część naszych przyjaciół i krewnych przeżyła Auschwitz. Nikt nie przeżył Treblinki,” Gazeta Wyborcza, https://wyborcza.pl/7,162657,27854809,czesc-naszych-przyjaciol-i-krewnych-przezyla-auschwitz-nikt.html (accessed October 28, 2022).

69 Jan Hartman, “Poniżanie przez prawdę. Antysemicki skandal w Treblince,” Polityka (6 XII 2021), https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/spoleczenstwo/2145468,1,ponizanie-przez-prawde-antysemicki-skandal-w-treblince.read (accessed October 28, 2022).

70 Markusz, “Zawłaszczanie miejsc pamięci.”

71 Leszczyński, “Pomnik kolejarza zamordowanego … ”

72 This was a research project carried out by the Institute of National Remembrance.

73 Adam Leszczyński, “Zabili go za pomaganie Żydom? Pomnik postawiony na podstawie jednej relacji po 40 latach,” OKO.press, https://oko.press/postawili-pomnik-na-podstawie-jednej-relacji-40-lat-po-wojnie/ (accessed October 28, 2022).

74 Wojciech Kozłowski, “Jan Maletka zasługuje na upamiętnienie. Odpowiedź Adamowi Leszczyńskiemu,” Portal i.pl, https://i.pl/jan-maletka-zasluguje-na-upamietnienie-odpowiedz-adamowi-leszczynskiemu/ar/c5-15953381 (accessed October 28, 2022).

75 Markusz, “Zawłaszczanie miejsc pamięci.”

76 (ŁZ), “Żydowska loża podważa męczeństwo Polaka zabitego przez Niemców,” TVP Info, https://www.tvp.info/57211223/treblinka-jan-maletka-upamietniony-zydowska-loza-bnai-brith-atakuje-w-gazecie-wyborczej (accessed October 28, 2022).

77 FA, “Porażający akt antypolonizmu!” PCh24.pl, https://pch24.pl/porazajacy-akt-antypolnizmu-loza-bnai-brith-wsciekla-z-powodu-upamietnienia-polaka-obroncy-zydow/ (accessed October 28, 2022).

78 “Loża B’nai B’rith protestuje przeciw upamiętnieniu Polaka zastrzelonego za podanie wody Żydom przywiezionym do Treblinki,” wprawo.pl, https://wprawo.pl/loza-bnai-brith-protestuje-przeciw-upamietnieniu-polaka-zastrzelonego-za-podanie-wody-zydom-przywiezionym-do-treblinki/ (accessed October 28, 2022).

79 Bogumił Łoziński, “Jan Zawołany po imieniu,” Gość.pl, https://www.gosc.pl/doc/7296614.Jan-zawolany-po-imieniu (accessed October 28, 2022).

80 Jan Grabowski, “Pomnik polskiej cnoty, czyli skandal w Treblince”, Gazeta Wyborcza, https://wyborcza.pl/alehistoria/7,121681,27980443,pomnik-polskiej-cnoty-czyli-kandal-w-treblince.html (accessed October 28, 2022).

81 Hille von Von Seggern and Julia Werner, “Entwerfen als integrierender Erkenntnisprozess,” in H. von Seggern, (ed.), Creating Knowledge: Innovationsstrategien im Entwerfen urbaner Landschaften (Berlin: Jovis, 2008), pp. 34–51.

82 Pető, Láthatatlan elkövetők, p. 13.

83 Arie Nadler, “Intergroup Reconciliation: Definitions, Processes, and Future Directions,” in Motti Neiger, Oren Meyers and Eyal Zandberg, (eds.), 2011. On Media Memory: Collective Memory in a New Media Age (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), pp. 231–308.

84 Pető, “The Illiberal Memory Politics in Hungary,” pp. 241–249.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anikó Félix

Anikó Félix received her PhD in Sociology from ELTE in Budapest, Hungary in 2019. Her main fields of expertise are contemporary far-right organizations with a significant focus on their gender aspect, antisemitism, radicalization, and violent extremism. She has presented the results of her research at international conferences and in the media, published articles in academic journals in Hungarian and English, contributed to books (such as Gender and Far Right Politics in Europe, Palgrave, 2017), and co-edited Modern Antisemitism in the Visegrád Countries (Tom Lantos Institute, 2017). Dr. Félix has worked for political think tanks as a political analyst, and was involved in and led several education and public awareness projects at different NGOs. In 2019, she was a visiting scholar at Indiana University in the USA. Currently, she is the Executive Director of Haver Informal Jewish Education Foundation and she works as an independent researcher on different research projects.

Piotr Forecki

Piotr Forecki is an associate professor at the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. His research interests include collective memory of the Holocaust and Holocaust distortion, antisemitism and anti-Jewish violence before and after World War II, Polish complicity in the Holocaust, antisemitic rhetoric in public discourse, and Holocaust representation in comics and Polish cinematography. Forecki is the author of several monographs: Od Shoah do Strachu. Spory o polsko-żydowską przeszłość i pamięć w debatach publicznych [From Shoah to Fear: Disputes over the Polish-Jewish Past and Memory in Public Debates] (Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 2010); Reconstructing Memory. The Holocaust in Polish Public Debates (Peter Lang, 2013); Po Jedwabnem. Anatomia pamięci funkcjonalnej [After Jedwabne: An Anatomy of Functional Memory] (Wydawnictwo Instytutu Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 2018). He has also published numerous book chapters and articles in scholarly journals.