Joanna Tokarska-BakirInstitute of Slavonic StudiesPolish Academy of Sciences

The hunger letters: between the lack and excess of memory

In his book Cities of the Dead Joseph Roach describespractices by means of which it is possible toimaginatively recreate, revive and also to reinvent thepast 1. Talking about events such as delayed burials andsacrifices made for the dead, auctions of old objects andfuneral parades, the author examines the course processesof substitution or surrogacy, through which Atlanticcultures fill in the void left after the dead, theexpelled and the lost. A culture that had survived adisaster, recreates itself in the aforementioned process."Those who had survived use substitutes to fill the losscaused by death and expulsion" 2. What proves asignificant notion for Roach is performance, defined aspersonifying or transmitting something hitherto absent.There is no guarantee whatsoever that the object beingperformed had in fact previously lived. "To perform also,however oftentimes secretly, means to reinvent[something]" 3. The motivations behind our project Iintend to present further on, include a number ofpresumptions from the book by Roach, according to whichidentities have a chance to survive only in theirrelation with the present; the historical anthropologistshould spend more time in the street than in thearchives, since the street proves the best in keeping thedead in memory; performance constitutes the main memorytopos and the dead may speak freely only through the bodyof the living".4.

1 Joseph Roach, Cities of the Dead. Circum - Atlantic Performance,Columbia University Press, New York 1996 (dalej: Roach),p. XI. 2 Roach, p. 2.3 Roach, p. XI.4 Roach, p. XII-XIII.

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In 2008 I spent a number of weeks examining thousands ofletters written by Jews, who were starting, confined inthe ghettos throughout Poland in the years 1940 and 1943.The letters were addressed to Jewish organizations in theWest, in particular to Joint5, which had its headquartersin neutral Switzerland. The letters contained appeals forhelp and testimonies of substantial food aid they hadalready received. The packages I looked through, includedhundreds and thousands of receipts for the receivedproducts: sugar, cocoa, powdered milk, marmalade, sprats,flour, ovomaltine alternating with laconic information onthe fate of respective addressees. "In January Dorka andBronisław stayed in the Sandomierz ghetto." "Aunt Krysiaand Andzia had left with the transport and we have notheard from them ever since. We love you" 6. Prepared insuch a way that they passed through German postalcensorship, the letters often represented a coded answerto the reminders of the Jews' anxious relatives. As I read deeper into the multitude of these letters, what Isee emerging are single, recurring voices. Gradually,over the course of time, more and more of these voicesfall silent. Overwhelmed by the size of this archive, which has notbeen processed until this day, I approached ArturŻmijewski, an artist connected with the Foksal GalleryFoundation7, and asked him how to process the emotionalload of the letters in a way that would resemble the voice of their senders andaddressees. This marked the beginning of the action Hungerletters. Referring to the Alfredo Jara's terminology, onemight classify the action into the category of public

5 See. photographic documentation of some aspects of thishelp in the album edited by Linda Levi, I Live. Send Help,American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, New York2014. 6 I would like to thank Miss Paula Sawicka for theopportunity to look into the above fonds. 7 See.http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Żmijewski_(reżyser),(accessed: 21/3/2015).

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interventions8. In the end of this article, I willelaborate on my understanding of the action in thecontext of its ethnographic results.

We have selected 2 letters from the archives of theJewish Historical Institute, which are reproduced in theappendix to this article.9 The first letter, written in1940 and addressed to the Central Welfare Council, wasauthored by a teacher from Lublin- Anna Najmanowiczowa10.The second letter, addressed to the Central Committee ofthe Jewish Social Self-Help, was written by MotelPszenica- a journalist displaced from Warsaw wanderingabout in the Lubelskie Voivodship11. Left destitute withno money whatsoever, both authors asked for help forthemselves and their starving families.

[letters by Anna Najmanowiczowa and Motel Pszenica, seeappendices]

Having written and signed an explanation we attached itto both letters and in October 2008 and the spring of2010 sent them out to 3000 random Varsovians. Theiraddresses were made available to us by the Polish Post.The action covered among others districts such as Muranówas well as a part of Wola, Żoliborz and Saska Kępa12. 8 Dlaczego Alfredo Jaar podpalił muzeum sztuki współczesnej? Aninterview with Alfredo Jaar by Aleksandra Lipczak,http://www.wysokieobcasy.pl/wysokie-obcasy/1,96856,17293061,Dlaczego_Alfredo_Jaar_podpalil_muzeum_sztuki_wspolczesnej_.html (dostęp 17/03/2015)9 I would like to thank Karolina Panz, who ran a searchquerry on our behalf in the Jewish Historical Instituteand selected the letters we sent out.10 Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute.Najmanowiczowie 1-2, AŻIH-ŻSS, sygn. 211-36, k.10-11.11 Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute, AŻIH-ŻSS,sygn. 211-31, k. 49. According to the letter, MotelPszenica published the novel Pajn in Yidish before thewar. Unfortunately, consultations with Yidishphilologists did not help me to find the novel.12 A letter by Artur Żmijewski to the author of thepresent text, 24/3/2015: "When it comes to financing, we

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[see photographs from the sending of the letters, photo.Artur Żmijewski]

The letter explaining our intentions reads as follows:

"Dear Madam, Dear Sir,Confined in the ghettos throughout Europe in the

years 1940- 1944, the Jews were starting. They sentletters to welfare institutions as well as their familiesasking for material help, food and whatever workpossible. However, which European Jews possessed anythingbeyond the elements that made up their bodies: fat, hair,bones, golden caps on their teeth? Later on they werealso deprived of these possessions.

The Jewish letters asking for food, are still keptin the archives. This is precisely because, they areletters and applications, the aim of which is to do theirpleading job by circulating among people.

Madam/Sir, today it is you who are the addressee ofsuch a Jewish letter- coming back to life after 60 yearsof crying for help. What is your response to this plea,this Jewish application?

We ask you to give us your answer and your remarks.Madam/Sir, how do you feel being the addressee of aletter authored by a sender who had died a long time ago?

Please place your answer in the envelope attached tothis letter and drop it in your mailbox or send it by e-mail to: joannatb@poczta.onet.pl

Kind regards,Joanna Tokarska-Bakir [anthropologist, University of Warsaw]Artur Żmijewski [filmmaker]".

bought stamps, while volunteers helped us to pack andsend out the letters. We packed the letters and stampedthem in 2 sessions. During the first session we werehelped by humanities students and during the second oneby students of the Academy of Fine Arts. This was a home-based work performed at our own expense".

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The "letter in a bottle" shown above, proved to haverepercussions, which exceeded our expectations. Wereceived answers from nearly every third addressee. Someletters bore signs of domestic life, one had to lay on akitchen table for quite a long time13. The letters wereoften authored by elderly people, who were not used towriting14 and were sometimes visually impaired15, whichmakes it the more amazing that they had decided to writeback. Many approved the action and expressed theirgratitude to the organizers. Critical remarks addressedat the Hunger letters, were presented primarily byrespondents with excellent writing skills16, however it ispossible that the addressees, who were not that skilfulin writing simply sent us letters torn to pieces.

13 Letter 30.14 Letter 29: "Back in those years I was a child. I feelso sorry for the Jews and the Poles and all the people inthe world. I feel sorry for those, who died and are stilldying of starvation and exhaustion all over the world".[signature illegible]15 Letter 32.16 P.Bourdieu, Dystynkcja, transl. P.Biłos, Scholar,Warszawa 2005, p. 221, footnote nr. 5: "Townspeople aredistinct for their ability to control the situation ofthe survey (this is an ability that any results analysisshould take into consideration)".

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Our action met with extraordinary publicity in the media.The Hunger letters were written about by all the majornewspapers17, and we were being approached by severalother periodicals including the military monthly "PolskaZbrojna". Interviewed by the mentioned papers, JanOłdakowski- Director of the Warsaw Uprising Museum-expressed his anxiety about the possible harm done by theaction, while a representative of the Polish Jewish YouthOrganization shared his fears that the action wouldtrigger anti-Jewish resentments18. Scholars on the otherhand, praised us for the innovative form we chose toexamine the Jewish letters19.

Below I will refer the reactions to our letter grouping them into 6 categories:

1. Ambivalence,2. There are more important things,3. This is an important issue, but...,4. Not only Jews suffered,5. I feel,6. I remember.

Statistically speaking, the responses (330 letters) toour letter are represented by the following figures.Ambivalence (nr 1- 162 letters; 98 torn to pieces, 6417 See. e.g. Tomasz Urzykowski, Krążą listy z getta, "GazetaWyborcza", 5/12/200818 Anna Brzezińska, Wołają o pomoc po latach, "Życie Warszawy",4/12/2008, Jan Ołdakowski: "There is a risk that whilemeaning to evoke a sense of emotional commitment, we mayaccidentaly trigger indifference not towards the problemitself, but to the form of the action".19 Marcin Zarzecki, sociologist from the Cardinal StefanWyszynski University in Warsaw: "This is a well thought-out socio-anthropological study. The study has a cognitive character not only for the investigators, butalso for all the participants. The authors of the studyapparently want to cause a shock. Judging by the reactionto the letter, one can see to what extent do declarevalues such as tolerance or empathy, and to what extentwe implement them", ibid.

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empty) proved the most numerous category, whilecategories 2, 3 and 4 put altogether made up the secondlargest group (28+45+27). The third most numerous groupconsists of letters, which fall into the category "Ifeel" (nr 5- 70 letters), while the type of response weencountered least often were those from the category "Iremember" (nr 6- more or less 5 letters)20.

In the summary below, I use signatures that can be foundin the letters, having assumed that if they were meantnot to be disclosed, the letters would have contained anappropriate provision. What I omitted, were confessionsabout personal life. Except for letters torn to pieces,all of which were anonymous, most answers were signedwith a full name and surname. Many contained a returnaddress. A very small number of correspondents, signedthe letters with their initials or signed them illegibly.

AMBIVALENCE

I will begin with an attempt to unravel the attitudesbehind the most ambiguous answers. I will be grateful forany suggestions on how to better understand those, whichresist interpretation.

Regardless of the fact whether our correspondents praisedor rebuked us, their reaction proved strong enough toconvince them to drop the letters into a mailbox. Even ifthe envelopes we received contained copies of our lettertorn to pieces (this was the content of about 100 letterswe received, which proves slightly below than 30 % of allthe answers ), our action must have made an impression,which motivated our correspondents to act. Instead ofjust throwing the letter away, they had to remember aboutthem and find a mailbox. Tearing a letter to pieces is agesture of rejection. We may only guess what lay behind agesture like this. Irritation? Indignation? Were thesepeople driven by anger with us disturbing their peace and20 The categories sometimes overlapped, while theclassification relates to the motive that prevails in agiven letter. The above figures represent only roughapproximates and are by no means representative.

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reminding them of something that should not be recalledin a form that does not meet their idea of communication?Did their anger result from the fact once again we werespeaking about Jews? This is something we do not know.

Letters containing a blank sheet of paper, constitutedthe second most numerous category of ambivalentresponses. What does a gesture of putting a blank sheetinto an envelope mean remains a disputable issue. We donot know whether the sender cannot find words to describewhat he or she read or to say how stupid are the authorsof the action by wasting his and their own time. I aminclined to view this gesture as conscious silence, rather than criticism. In all cases,the sheets were blank, even though they did not have tobe. Neither did they contain signatures or words, thatcould have been offensive, nor were they scribbled on, assometimes it proves easier to draw something rather thanto write it. This may indicate not as much rejection, butrather restraint. While the sender establishes contactwith the addressee, he is either mistrustful or does notfind the words to define what he feels.

In one of the cases, we received a letter, the content ofwhich bordered on two of the above mentioned categories.While our letter had been torn to pieces, the letterwritten by Ms Najmanowiczowa had been left intact.Enclosed to her letter was a sheet of paper, on whichthere was a cross drawn with a pen21.

21 Letter 13.

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While the above letter differentiating between varioustypes of texts intended to be destroyed, it makes usalert to yet another dimension of the non-verbal answer.Tearing a letter to pieces, especially a hunger letter andsending it back to the addressee contains a notablesymbolic load. The load may be connected with thecategory of defacement22 described my Michael Taussig inthe following way: "When the human body, national flag,money or a monument is destroyed, an odd surplus ofnegative energy is activated inside the object beingdestroyed." 23. I assume that a hunger letter can be added tothe group of examples quoted Taussig. Maybe it wasexactly the feeling that the kind of energy was present,which stopped somebody from tearing the appeal made by MsNajmanowiczowa? However, the same kind of energy had beencertainly disregarded by those, decided to tear herletter to pieces after all.

The above thought allows to understand the gesture ofsending an empty sheet back to the sender even better.Sending back the sheet together with the appeal authoredby one of the starving Jews back to the sender andagreeing that the Jewish letter stays with the addressee,are two different things.

CATEGORY: THERE ARE OTHER, MORE IMPORTANT THINGS

"Dear professor, this and similar issues should be ofmore interest to you, shouldn't they?"- writes SK sending22 The English verb deface means: 1. to mar the surface orappearance of; disfigure e.g. - to deface a wall by writing on it;2. to efface, obliterate, or injure the surface of, as tomake illegible or invalid e.g. to deface a bond,http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/defacement(accessed on 22/3/2015)23 "When the human body, a nation's flag, money, or apublic figure is defaced, a strange surplus of negative energy is likely to bearoused from within the defaced thing itself", MichaelTaussig, Defacement. Public Secrecy and the Labor of the Negative,Stanford University Press, Stanford 1999, p. 1.

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us leaflets of the Polish Children's Aid Foundation"Maciuś" together with 2 beautiful postcards with floralornaments and the sign: "Kind regards"24. The author ofthis response politely draws our attention to somethingshe believes deserves more than the hunger letters.

A similar response to our letter was presented by MissWiesława Zakrzewska. "Dear Sir and Madam"- she writes 25,"Please think why do you ask other people what do theyfeel when they read the letter...60 years after the war.Why do you chase the ghosts of the past? (...) Life isshort and it's such a pity to waste it for senseless andpointless conversations. I don't know what is the purposeof all this. I wouldn't like the things I write to eat upour energy". Further on in this response, we see thefollowing written in capital letters: "This is a SELF-IMMOLATION WITH NO PURPOSE IT WOULD BE WORTH OF". Nevertheless, havingsaid all this, just as we expected, Ms Wiesława, sharesthe feelings our letter evoked in her: "Reading theletter you sent me, a letter which is more than 60 yearsold, I would like the human being to be strong enough topush away the sorrow. I would like people to be free. Iwould like them to see themselves and others as asacredness you must neither destroy, nor hurt" 26. Theletter authored by Ms Wiesława is characteristic, as itcontains a struggle between the desire to express anegative opinion about our action and the wish to takepart in it and share one's feelings.

Kazimiera Pełka is also torn apart and writes that "shefeels sorry for this sick and abandoned human being" 27

and that she feels guilty for them even though that in1940 she was 2 years old. However right after that, sheexpresses her skepticism towards our action. "It's easyto be outraged or moved. What is much more difficult is24 Letter 4.25 All the quotes from the letters adapted in theiroriginal form, have been corrected only if the correctionmade them more legible.26 Letter 1.27 Letter 22.

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to put yourself to test: share your last slice of breador risk your own life for another human being". KazimieraPełka admits, she usually does not turn down the ones inneed. For example now, "perhaps influenced by yourletter", she decided to send out a Christmas package and take part in the children supportaction "Maciuś". "But that's not what is all about!"- sheends her letter in a way we find rather surprising.Still, this is something we wanted to achieve.

A letter that falls into the same category as thatwritten by Kazimiera Pełka is the one authored by thePoor Pensioner from Warsaw. She admits that it is a goodthing to "investigate into the past. However, what proveseven better is to investigate into the harm being donetoday to old people, whose pensions are low and who donot have enough money to buy medicine and make a living".The author of this letter calls "the war started byHitler"- "the greatest crime". However, she also writesabout other wars and mentions "Iraq, Palestine andAfghanistan". She does not have a good opinion aboutpeople, who pursue politics everywhere and calls them"hyenas", who "run around wherever they can make theirpile or have their hands in the till no matter whetherit's in the government, in the parliament, in Brussels orin the Church". Such people "plunder everything wemanaged to build in the poverty after World War II". Whatfollows is a better identification of the feelings andviews our letter evoked in the author. "I recalled aboveall the poor years of my childhood and youth and theharms "made by those in power, in particular by Jews, whohave always ruled us and still rule us"28. The onlypoliticians, the Poor Pensioner from Warsaw, calls "GreatPoles" and finds worthy of being role models wereWojciech Jaruzelski and Edward Gierek.

CATEGORY: THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE, BUT...

Addressees such as Edyta Pasek-Paskowska, Master's degreeholder in ethnography, who as we get to know had beendealing with "the deportees, prisoners of the Pawiak28 Letter 5.

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prison and those imprisoned and tortured in the GestapoHeadquarters in Szucha Avenue, prisoners of concentrationcamps", would be willing to "conditionally accept" theissue we touch upon. She would gladly answer ourquestions, if we specified: "1. the aim of the action, 2.the form of the action (a reliable questionnaire or briefopinion poll), 3. the character of the action (scholarly,popular-scientific, artistic), 4. the topic of the study(...), 5. the author of the project (...), 6. sponsor ofthe action". She writes that it is the more difficult forher to participate in the action, since "the lettercovering our action is marked by a specific kind ofemotionality, which results in statements with anaffective undertone. Still only 25 % of the human natureis made up by emotions" 29.

Halina Jaskólska is another addressee, who in her lettersets similar conditions before accepting the topic of ouraction. "What does an anthropologist needs suchconfessions for?"- she asks irritated. She begins herletter with reproaching us and saying that since ourletter contains neither a date nor a signature, it is noteligible for any kind of response30. However, sheunexpectedly gives us her answer after all31. "You ask meto answer a question concerning hunger. Hunger takes on avariety of faces. I was 14 when Warsaw was captured byNazi troops (...). For 5 years I never had enough to eatand dreamt of a slice of buttered bread and wheat cake,some cold meats and a Frikadelle for dinner. (...)Another kind of hunger was suffered by thousands of men,women and children- Polish citizens of Jewish origins,cramped inside the Warsaw ghetto. I had an opportunity towitness that kind of hunger only once in my life.Although years have passed by, the memory of that hungerhas stayed with me ever since. Just like the clear memoryof two Jewish children, who risked their lives and got29 Letter 9.30 According to the author, this is the reason why "mostof the residents of the house at Anielewicza Street 11;the building located at the intersection of former GęsiaStreet" will not respond to our letter.31 Letter 11.

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out of the ghetto to get some potatoes and white, stalebread".

CATEGORY: NOT ONLY JEWS SUFFERED

A sizeable (17) category of responses is based on anincorrect assumption that our letter constitutes anaccusation made against the Central Welfare Council fornot helping Miss Najmanowiczowa. Some of our respondentsare so anxious of the fact that the Central WelfareCouncil addressed the case of Miss Najmanowiczowa to theJewish Social Self-Help, that they provide us withextensive justifications why the wartime aid needed to beseparated between that provided to Polish citizens ofJewish and non-Jewish origins. This category certainlyincludes the letter by Maria Tyszel, which is full ofhistorical details and figures. She writes that "we needto remember that the displacements that caused the lossof property, did not affect only Jews". Next shediscusses in detail the circumstances, in which theCentral Welfare Council32 had to function, quoting avariety of figures. Her conclusion reads as follows: "Ido not think that in those circumstances the CentralWelfare Council had the financial capabilities tocompensate any requests addressed at her"; "the JewishSocial Self-Aid would be a better addressee of ourletter" 33. 32 The Central Welfare Council was a Polish self-aidorganization established during World War I (1916-1918)in the Kingdom of Poland, active in Lithuania, Latvia andEstonia. The organization ran dormitories, shelters, day-care centres and orphanages, distributed food, clothesand cash support and recorded wartime losses. In theyears 1940-1945, the organization was reactivated by AdamRoniker and functioned by the permission of governor HansFrank. Apart from the funds acquired from theoccupational authorities, the organization was alsosupported by the government of the United States andPolish government in exile. See. B.Kroll, Rada GłównaOpiekuńcza 1939-1945, Warszawa 198533 Letter 2.

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Another letter that belongs to this category is the onewritten by Mikołaj Wróblewski. While he was "deeplytouched" by the archival materials we sent, he alsoaccused our letter of being "biased"34. "I wonder why doyou emphasize only the suffering of Jews? Were there noother nations, that were suffering, starving and dying?My grandfather and two of my uncles as well as hundredsof other people were murdered by the Germans in 1941 inthe Eastern Borderlands. Do they not deserve our memory?Why are they not talked about? Is this not because theywere not Jews?" The letter ends with an appeal addressedto the organizers stating they should seek "some basicbalance in evaluating history".

A different appeal for a "balance in evaluating history"appears in the letter sent from the same address atAnielewicza Street authored by Ms M.Grabowska35. She wasborn towards the end of the war and has no memories ofher own. Nevertheless, she wants to participate in ouraction. "I belong to the lost generation. The poverty Igrew up and my family lived in after the war certainlydoes not compare to the atrocities inflicted upon theJewish nation".

The author of yet another letter from the discussedcategory is a nurse36. Just like other addressees, shealso stands up for the citizens of all the countries ofEurope, who were starting during the war. "I respect theJewish nation, maybe even more than other nations(obviously except for my own nation)". However furtheron, the author shares the disappointment she experiencedduring a trip to the Holy Land. "A centuries old culture, tradition and architecture. Theparadise land and (I will not hesitate to say it) is theland of RACISM AND GHETTOS. Walls and walls everywhere.Walls guarded by soldiers armed with rifles ready to fireany minute (...). All my ideas about Jews were ruined37.

34 Letter 18.35 Letter 21.36 Letter 26.

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An anonymous letter from this category uses a similartype of argumentation. First it suggests that Jews werenot the only nation that was deported and robbed and notthe only one that was starving. Next the author defendsthe right of the Central Welfare Council to help onlynon-Jewish Poles: "Is there any sense in sending out thisappeal and emphasizing in a drastic way what did thebodies of the Jews consist of? Is this a provocation?"- asks the author38.

"This was a cruel time. We all suffered"39.

A visually impaired person, the author of anotheranonymous letter writes: "in the times of the occupation,my family was expelled from a large farm, just like theJews were. When I was in a concentration camp and inprison as a 14 year-old girl, I shared my slice of breadwith Jewish girls. I cannot imagine a distinction betweena Jew and a Pole. I distinguish only between a good and abad human being. (...) I cannot imagine not to share whatI have with those who are confined behind barbed wires inthe ghetto" 40.

The last letter I would like to mention in this categoryis the one written by Ms. Maria, whose last name remainsunknown, which begins with a characteristic confession:"Reading your letter, I was surprised, since the Polesbelieve that Jews keep (and have always kept) gold andjewelry in the event of a disaster"41.

What proves striking is the fact that out of all theanswers we received, only a scarce number refer to issuesconnected with faith. Except for the drawing of a crossand a mention, that will appear further on in the present37 The war waged by the state of Israel and the unjusttreatment of Palestinians are also mentioned in theletter by Tadeusz Cegiełka, letter 35.38 Letter 27.39 Letter 33.40 Letter 30.41 Letter 25.

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text, these references included only 2 cases: a letterwritten by a Protestant woman, member of the SalvationArmy42 and an anonymous letter authored by a relative ofone of the Righteous Among the Nations. Strangely enoughthat it was the later response that was marked withresentments: "A long time ago, not in a galaxy far awaybut here on Earth, a Roman said «Behold the man« (...) and these words wereaddressed to a Jew. The Jew was a man special in thehistory of mankind. Providence burdened him accusationsmuch greater than that of being hungry (and he hungeredfor humanity). He could not cry for help to the JewishSocial Self-Aid, since to some extent it was thisorganization that sentenced him to be crucified! "43

CATEGORY: I FEEL

A sizeable (70) category of letters is constituted byspontaneous and sensitive statements made by people, whofeel touched inside by what they read. "After readingyour letter I felt sadness and remorse"- writes KrzysztofFrydrych. "I also felt embarrassed compared to the lifeof that man, my life is safe and free of such disasters.Maybe that was even shame? (...) So you can view thisletter as being up-to date. There will always be peopleamong us, who are in need and we should listen closely totheir needs" 44.

"When I was reading the «hunger letter« I received, I sawthe man, who was seriously ill and had a 6 year-olddaughter and wife to support. He himself was helpless andasked for help"- writes Marek Brzezicki, a student ofMathematics. -" (...) Apart from sadness and compassion,this letter made me angry on the people, who were the42 Letter 24: "war is an evil the human being inflictsupon another human being. Jesus did not teach us to hate.Those who wrote about that, are already in a better worldand see us from heaven above. (...) As a member of theChurch, I signed a paper obliging me to fight againstevil and satan". 43 Letter 36.44 Letter 3.

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perpetrators of this situation (...) If I had theopportunity to help people in those times, I would havecertainly done it. However, in fact I do not really know(...) . I hope, I would have helped them, but I am not sure. These dayssimilar situations also take place, even here in Warsaw.But do I do something? I don't think so. What use arethese few zlotys I gave the beggar or those I droppedinto the money-box in the church? "45

Sławomir Kowalczyk writes that our letter made him"incredibly emotional"46, however in a slightly differentway. The first part of his text is devoted to the reasonswhy did the Germans start the war (the answer: "this hadbeen in their blood since the Teutonic times"), whileanother one compares the Nazis to Soviet soldiers andconcludes that the latter were even worse ("they werelike a barbaric swarm from the East"). The comparisonconcludes that: "if a there is no tight grip and wisegovernance in a nation, such a nation becomes barbaric".Further on, the letter is devoted to the Poles among theRighteous Among the Nations, who sacrificed their livesto save Jews. "I'm proud to be Polish"- writes MrSławomir, opposing his fellow countrymen to the Czechs,whom he views as cowardly and who did not want to fightagainst Hitler.

Mr. Marcin Buczek is 28 year-old and has always beeninterested in history and the past47. He does not like thefact that the history of the Polish Jews is nowadaysbeing viewed only through the perspective of the Shoah."Why do young Jews on their trips to Poland get to knowthis country only through concentration camps, monumentsand suffering? (...) Keeping the suffering of Jews inmemory is important, however there is a thin line youcannot cross. Behind this line you are bombarded with theHolocaust by the media and become insensitive tosuffering (...) and compassion turns into boredom".

45 Letter 14.46 Letter 10.47 Letter 17.

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Reading our letter, Mr. Buczek feels sorry, as he wouldlike to help those in need, however he cannot do that.

An example of unconditional acceptance of our action isprovided by the letter authored by Oskar Cichocki. Hewrites that while he is too young to elaborate on thesubject of the action48, he would like to share hisexperience. He practices combat sports, especially thoseconnected with Krav Maga- the Israeli combat and self-defense system. He does not like stereotypes he observesin the society. The prejudices concern to so called"dresiarze"- a subculture of young people wearingtracksuits, who are usually portrayed as undereducated,unemployed, aggressive and anti-social. This stereotypeis the more painful, as he often wears tracksuits himselfjust to feel comfortable. The author had a first-handexperience, which proved that there are also otherprejudices. When he was putting up posters invitingpeople to visit Krav Maga trainings, he was sometimesapproached by people (he stresses that these were onlyolder and really old people) saying: "You are putting upJewish posters", "I hate Jews" or asking him: "Why are you putting uptheir posters? Are you a Jew yourself?" 49. "I'm verysurprised by this kind of behavior"- writes OskarCichocki. "I don't like the country I live in, because so manyridiculous stereotypes prevail here. I was touched by thedescription I read in your letter. I would never like tofind myself in a situation like that (...) the only thingI know is that sometimes you can only count on yourself.I learned that sometimes you can get [more] help from a stranger than from people you grew up with. So how didthings had to look like back then?"

A different powerful response to the hunger letter was givenby the 35 year-old Sebastian Badurski- a printer fromWarsaw50. The below letter is a testimony how much didsome of the addressees open up to our action, allowing us48 Letter 6.49 Letter 6.50 Letter 15.

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to understand it better. "I live in times, when mygeneration didn't experience war, however I have greatrespect for the people, who lived in those tragic times(...). Reading the appeal made by the Najmanowicz family,I saw in my mind's eye an image of the ghetto I know fromthe movies. I saw people buried while they were stillalive, who were sentenced for their origins (...) While Iwas reading your letter, I felt such a great compassionin my heart for that family (...) What drew my attentionwere the words: «humble plea« (...). I don't know ifthis is the reaction you expected, but my answer to yourquestion is: yes. I help the Najmanowicz family.

Miss Marta M., addressed her letter directly to MotelPszenica. "Dear Man! I have read your letter with greatattention. I think I can help you by giving your wife ajob. This will provide you with financial support tocover the costs of your medical treatment and allow yourdaughter to start her pre-school education. I realizethat it is difficult for you to ask others for help andthat you'd rather die if not for your family, but it'syour God, not you, who decides about this. He made youhumble. Send your wife to work for me and I will give herdecent food and a decent pay"51.

Ms Grażyna understood our action in a way similar way.She addressed her letter directly to the senders: "DearSir and Madam Najmanowicz. In response to your letter, wewill try our best to provide you with material support inorder to compensate at least a little part of your lossesand pain. We will do your best to allow you to live withdignity every that befits every human being". Whatfollows is a letter addressed at the organizers of theaction, which answers our questions: "What do I feel? I feel pain and compassion for all the people,who had been deprived of everything. (...) How would Ifeel (...) deprived of everything, robbed by my«brothers«, seeking help and justice in vain?"

An author, who signed her letter as "E", wrote: "60 yearshave passed by, and the letter is still touching and51 Letter 38.

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shocking. What remains is grief, sadness and deepcompassion. The letter is like a travel journal. This manwas sick and completely helpless, moved from one place toanother (...) . Any kind of help was hardly probable. Ifelt what an ordinary human being would feel. I have lotsof empathy and compassion for him and his loved ones. Ialso feel helpless". What comes next is the followingreflection: "But this had been done by the Germans (...)They drew all disasters on Europe, they perfectlyimplemented the annihilation of the Jewish nation (...)and let nobody say we are anti-Semites. This is not thatgeneration!!! They don't burn synagogues here, they do itin France, Germany, Switzerland. (...) The Jews? Theywere rightful Polish citizens. Poland was also theirmotherland. (...) Nearly 2 decades ago, my littledaughter attended pre-school. One day, a group of oldJews from Israel came to Warsaw. (...) the children andtheir teachers organized a concert. (...) When they weresinging «Flow, Vistula Flow through the Polish land«(...) you could hear a great sob in the hall. These wereour Polish-Jews crying (...) They lived through horriblethings here and still managed to miraculously survive!(...) They are no strangers to us, they are ourcompatriots. (...) The damage done to culture areindescribable. What we missed are diversity and PolishJews. I'm sorry." 52

CATEGORY: I REMEMBER

Two letters stand out in the category "I remember". Thefirst one was written by Mr. Miżyński, who was born in1931 and lived in a house at Złota Street 8 together withboth Catholic and a few Jewish families. He remembers thenames of his neighbors, especially that of Adaś Centkier-a boy, who back then was 4 years older than he was. "Oncethe Jews had been confined in the ghetto, Adaś used todrop by in our place. He was terribly thin and woretattered rags. This lasted until the ghetto wasliquidated. I have no idea what happened to the people Iknew. Wondering what would I feel reading (if I would52 Letter 16.

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receive such a letter from them), [I would answer with aquestion]: why did they have to die? "53

The second letter was written by the painter- JacekSempliński. I will quote the entire text:

"Dear Joanna,When it comes to the «Jewish« letter, I think exactly thesame what all human beings do (except for non-humanbeings). I won't write you that extermination is one ofthe greatest adventures of our species. Unlike others, Iknow this from my own experience. When I stood in theKrasiński Square together with other Varsovians. Youcould see a sea of fire that began on the other side ofthe square and hear sounds also coming from that side.When I was «touring« the street abandoned by the Jewsonce area of the ghetto was being reduced (e.g. theghetto in Leszno), I was walking through shreds ofduvets, smashed furniture, among stench. Remnants of aposter put up on a broken window of one of the cafesread: Diana Blumenfeld performs today. I think to myself: well, well. Later on, I learned shewas a famous actress. Then, after another sea of fire andstench, among the rubbles of the slain Warsaw I saw theremnants of yet another poster with: Lutosławski andPanufnik

When it comes to the main topic, I think this is someshady issue. Historical explanations are not enough. Somekind of defect.

Anyway, if thinkers say that art penetrates unspokenareas, why can't things look like this in the history ofmankind? Interestingly enough, these inconceivable thingsdo not relieve anybody from, but quite to the contraryforce to..."54

Methodological commentary

53 Letter 23.54 Letter 34.

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In the ethnographic context, the method used in the studypresented above, can be classified as an eliciting interview55,wherein knowledge is acquired by presenting an artifact,text or photograph to the respondents, which is to starta narration. What this operation also aims at is reducingthe orientation of interlocutors towards the possibleexpectations on the part of the investigators.

Consequently, the condition necessary for our action tobe successful was the form of our letter. The secondparagraph of our letter contained Agamben's figure of"Bare Life", that is: "the fat, hair, bones, golden capson their teeth", to which many European Jews were reducedduring the Holocaust. The figure metonymically pointed atthe register our survey concerns. However, we preferrednot to name the register directly, as this would preventus from gaining undisturbed associations, feelings andevaluations. Our point was to verify whether the Shoahwould be called as it should be (no, it was not, exceptfor 6 letters 56), whether we would encounter a rivalrybetween martyrologies (yes, we did in 27 cases), whetherwe would meet with sympathy or antipathy towards thevictims. The responses we received displayed all of the55 See. e.g. Wendy Hollway, Tony Jefferson, Eliciting NarrativeThrough the In-Depth Interview, "Qualitative Inquiry", March1997, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 53-70. 56 Letter 20: "This is the evidence of the great tragedyof the Jewish nation, which suffered unimaginably in theyears 1940-1945. The Germans used the most cruel ofmethods to annihilate this nation creating ghettos anddeath camps". Letter 35: "I constantly feel how horrible was the suffering anddebasement experienced by the Jewish nation during WorldWar II in the years 1940-1944". Letter 16: "they[Germans] have perfectly implemented the extermination ofthe nation". Letter 36: "The last world war...How muchink, film stock and paper were used to procude thereports and books by people, who had survived theHolocaust". Letter 21: "the poverty I grew up in (...)does not compare to the atrocities that came upon theJewish nation". I quote the sixt letter, written by JacekSempoliński in the part: "I remember".

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above options together with the infamous motive of Jewishgold, "Jews- exploiters, who rule us", the motive ofdeicide, penal mythology that is speculations about themetaphysical causes of the Holocaust, the motive of theunjust policy pursued by the state of Israel57 and unjustaccusations of "Polish anti-Semitism"58. Our respondentsalso expressed how proud they are of the actions by theRighteous Among the Nations, emphasized the need todefend the rules of segregating help provided by theCentral Welfare Council and in a few cases reminded usthat during the war, helping Jews was punished by death59.

What proves astonishing is the fact that such a richcross-section of attitudes, anxieties, prejudices,opinions triggered through the contact with the hungerletters, appeared in such a small and unrepresentativestudy. Regardless of how touching the contact was, it ishard not to notice that the most common reactionpresented by our correspondents to mentioning Jewishhunger was something Pierre Bourdieu would call falseuniversalization60, which oftentimes has a noblemotivation61. A typical response to our letter read asfollows: "I believe the difficulties in surviving the warand coping with hunger were connected less withnationality: Jewish or Polish, but to a greater extentwith the environment you lived in and the situationcreated by the occupiers"62. Only 2 people noted that57 E.g. letter 35: "For many years [Israel] has beenwaging war against the Palestinians, taking their land,building walls and is becoming the aggressor,jeopardizing world peace".58 Letters 16, 31, 18. 59 Np. list 25.60 Pierre Bourdieu, Pascalian Meditations, transl. K.Wakar,Oficyna Naukowa, Warszawa 2006, p. 94.61 Letter 30: "I cannot imagine a distinction between aJew and a Pole. I distinguish only between a good and abad human."Nie wyobrażam sobie rózróżnienia Żyd - Polak.Rozróżniam: dobry i zły człowiek".62 Letter 32.

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"Polish" and "Jewish" hunger constituted entirelydifferent phenomena, due the fact they were outlawed andcramped in the ghettos.63 Learning the differences betweenboth hungers could be called, to use J.L. Austin's term,a valid falsity64, which reflects long-years of negligencein the way of educating children about the Holocaust inPoland65. Contrary to the facts contained for example inthe response presented by the Central Welfare Council,which addressed the appeal made by Ms Najmowiczowa to theJewish Social Self-Aid, the respondents to our letterusually denied the hunger's "ethnicity" or its murderousuniqueness. Refusing to accept that hunger affected Jewsin an exceptional way, they stubbornly insisted theirreactions were not triggered by their particularinterest: "having read this touching letter, I said Icouldn't stay indifferent. Indifferent to the fate of thehuman being and an Arab, Jew or representative of anyother particular nation" 66.

63 Letters 11 i 21.64 Pierre Bourdieu, Pascalian Meditations, p. 346: "Accordingto Austin, a fabrication or deceit made public toeverybody as something that deserves universal respect,becomes a valid lie, which means that it is made familiarwith and denied the name of the deceit, beginning withthe deceiver himself". Here, Bourdieu refers readers toJ.L.Austin's book, How to Do Things With Words, [in:] idem,Mówienie i poznawanie. Rozprawy i wykłady filozoficzne, transl., ed.and introduction by B.Chwedeńczuk, PWN, Warszawa 1991(title of the original: How to Do Things with Words. TheWilliam James Lecture Delivered at Harvard University in1955, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1962,http://www.dwrl.utexas.edu/~davis/crs/rhe321/Austin-How-To-Do-Things.pdf, accessed on 22/3/2015).65 The problems of school programs on Holocaust in Polishliterature are refered to by Sylwia Karolak in herrecently published, renowned book: Doświadczenie Zagłady wliteraturze polskiej 194701991. Kanon, który nie powstał, WydawnictwoNauka i Innowacje, Poznań 2014.66 Letter 37.

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In the formal sense, a common feature of the responsesreceived was the fact that out of 2 possible senders, thecorrespondents chose the anthropologist, and not theartist to be the addressee of their response. This mayhave been caused by the fact that the anthropologist'sname was the only one written on the addressed envelope.Thus the person of the "professor", who was the addresseeof the response became a screen valid to share knowledge;a screen, which displayed expectations failed orfulfilled, praises, reprimands, opinions and feelings.

In the technical sense, the cognitive mechanism of theHunger letters is based on the phenomena of transference andcountertransference known from psychoanalysis 67. Therespondents were confronted with archival materials.Empathizing with the situation of the starving Jews wasthe transference, while the reaction to the feeling ofdiscomfort, sometimes violent and aggressive andsometimes patient and full of compassion. was thecountertransference. The first and most important goal ofthe action was to represent the starting, who received amagnified space to express themselves. The point was toallow the past to ask the present a question and toconsider the response received by the past.

Quoted in the beginning of the present text, Joseph Roachsuggested that identities have a chance survive only inthe processes of surrogacy in a constantly changingrelation with the present. Our action was an example ofsuch a surrogacy, as it constituted a re-enactment of theJewish cries for help, this time in a situation whenproviding help was not punished with death. Maybe we owethe massive response to the Hunger letters precisely to thatre-enactment 68. In the face of the uncertainty caused bythe artistic inspiration for the action and a sizable67 http://www.psychodynamika.pl/index.php/page/materialy-szkoleniowe/2-przeciwprzeniesienie.html (accessed on19/3/2015). 68 Eric L. Santner wrote about the purpose of similar re-enactments that allow us to reapproach lost cases inStranded Objects. Mourning, Memory and Film in Postwar Germany,Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1990.

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percent of ambivalent responses, it proves difficult toprovide an unambiguous interpretation of the receivedresults. Even if we assume that the interpretation was anartistic metaphor, let us try to see it clearly. Out of3000 appeals that had been sent out, 70 responses wereemphatic, 98 letters were sent back in shreds, 64responses were empty and 103 responses questioned thesense of dealing with this subject. The Hunger letters allowed both the senders and addressees ofthe action to broaden their experience and gave them somefood for thought. This in turn meets Michel Foucault'sdefinition of work defined as: "that which is susceptibleof introducing a significant difference in the field of knowledge, atthe cost of certain difficulty for the author and thereader, with, however, the eventual recompense of acertain pleasure, that is to say of access to anotherfigure of truth" 69.

69 Michel Foucault, Power, ed. James D.Fabion, transl.Robert Hurley et al., New York 200wydaje się że rokwydania jest tutaj niekompletny, p. X: "that which issusceptible of introducing a significant difference inthe field of knowledge, at the cost of certain difficultyfor the author and the reader, with, however, theeventual recompense of a certain pleasure, that is to sayof access to another figure of truth".

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CopyMotel PszenicaMiędzyrzec

To: Central Committee of the Jewish Social Self-Aid in Kraków

I hereby request what follows:

Before the war I lived in Warsaw at Konarskiego Street 3.After the war I came to my hometown- Radzyń, but I here Iwas deported again- to Słowatycze. Then I went fromSłowatycze to Międzyrzec and in the summer I worked alittle bit in tailoring and then worked on a farm. Thisyear in the fall, I was sent back to the labor camp inLublin. There I contracted nephritis. I spent 3 weeks inLublin and left hospital on 12.12.1940 with the nephritisuncured, because I had no money to pay for the medicaltreatment. Now I am lying in bed at home in Międzyrzec. Ineed a diet, medicine and a checkup each week. I have nothing, not even some blackbread. I have a wife and 5 year-old daughter. My situation is hopeless. Before thewar I published the book "Pajn", which met with a warmreception. I have not asked for help so far, but now I am forced to do so, because I am seriously ill. I knowthat many people who ask you to help them according totheir needs, don't need that help at all.

I'm the author of several features, stories on the lifeof workers' that had been printed in several papers. Ikindly ask you to help me as soon as possible, becauseI'm on the brink of disaster. I cannot work, because Ineed medical treatment and have to watch as my wife andchild suffer hunger. We're bare-footed and I have to liein bed and watch all this. I would rather die, but therewould my wife and child go?

I appeal to you- come to our aid. Once the war is over, Ipromise I will come to serve your institution.

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Regards,

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To: Central Welfare Council in KrakówKrowoderska

Received: August 22nd Settled:

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Teacher Anna [illegible word] [illegible word]Najmanowiczowa, born Stokman, a pupil of Mr. Henryk Natanson, residing at GrodzkaStreet 36/16.

Application

I have been a teacher since 1902 and in 1907 Iestablished a 2-grade preparatory school, in 1911 foundeda 4-grade preparatory junior high school for girls, whichI ran until 1920. In 1925 I started to teach at commonschools and high schools and worked there for 15 years.During the displacement action, on March 10th , we leftour apartment, which consisted of 2 rooms and a kitchen.We managed to take some bedclothes, clothes andunderwear, and had to leave behind the rest of ourbelongings- the fruit of 40 years of work- mine as ateacher and my husband Daniel Jakub Najmanowicz's work asa hop-grower in our apartment at Św.Duska Street 20/73.After 14 days spent in Rejowiec, we were allowed returnto our apartment in Lublin. Upon our return, we did notfind but a thing. We had been robbed of everything. Weare naked, barefoot and have nothing to cover ourselveswith. We have nowhere to sleep. We have no underwear, nocover, nor bedclothes. We had even lost the things wetook to the train station. We are in a criticalsituation.We humbly ask the Central Welfare Council to have mercyand send us some bedclothes, clothes, blankets andsupport in cash from the American donations for 4 people: me, my husband, our daughter Perła and our sonSzymon, who works as a draftsman in Lviv [illegible word written in Cyrillicalphabet]- he was robbed of everything, they even tookhis drawing instruments.

Regards,The Najmanowicz family

Lublin Grodzka 36/16

Central Welfare Council

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Nr IV 6349O.ot./a/2

Kraków, August 21st 1941Signed in manuscript/Jewish Social Self-Aid

Kraków/P.O. box 211

We hereby send the application written by theNajmanowicz family, residing in Lublin at Grodzka Street36/16 with the request to have their issue settleddirectly.

We have informed the interested party about droppingtheir case.

POLNISCHER HAUPTAUSSCHUSSCENTRAL WELFARE COUNCIL

Director

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