A Bystander or a (Passive) Witness? A Few Remarks on the Consequences of the Choice of Terminology in Research into the Shoah or the Holocaust

Bożena Karwowska

doi:10.18290/rh.2019.67.1-9en

Bożena Karwowska University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Faculty of Arts

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh.2019.67.1-9en

Keywords: bystander; Shoah; witness; sacrifice

Abstract

The Polish version of the article was published in Roczniki Humanistyczne vol. 64, issue 1 (2016).

The article is an attempt at an analysis of the usefulness of the concept of “bystander” that is becoming increasingly popular in social sciences, and in modern studies of the Shoah and the Holocaust. The author points to objective terminological dependencies, but she also takes into consideration the differences in the historical and cultural experience that require different perceptions of the role of witnesses in English language discourse and in the East European, and especially Polish, perspective.

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