{"id":407,"date":"2019-02-10T17:16:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T16:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oczamidziecka.al.uw.edu.pl\/?page_id=407"},"modified":"2023-12-06T10:27:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T09:27:06","slug":"schlemiel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oczamidziecka.al.uw.edu.pl\/index.php\/en\/schlemiel\/","title":{"rendered":"Szlemiel [Schlemiel]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Author: Ryszard Marek Gro\u0144ski<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Illustrator: Krzysztof Figielski<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Year: 2010<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Publisher: Nowy \u015awiat<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Place of publication: Warszawa<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Pages: 93<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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The main character \u2013 Schlemiel the bulldog \u2013 is a beloved pet of a wealthy family living on Warsaw\u2019s Aleje Ujazdowskie. After the outbreak of World War Two, both the lives of people and animals significantly worsen. Through a dog\u2019s eyes, the grim reality looks equally depressing and dangerous as it does to humans. The dog\u2019s caretakers and their daughter, six-year-old Joasia, are forced to move to her grandfather\u2019s modest apartment. This is where Schlemiel first hears the word “Jews” which foretells further repression: the wearing of armbands marked with the star of David and the displacement to the Ghetto. The bulldog is spared all this as he is left on the so-called “Aryan” side of the wall in the care of the family\u2019s housekeeper. Subsequently, he finds himself in the home of Professor Wilamowski, an engaged member of the resistance. The Professor helps rescue Joasia from the Ghetto. However, his apartment becomes exposed to the Gestapo, and all inhabitants are arrested. The girl makes a heart-wrenching decision to return to the Ghetto where her parents might still be residing. Joasia and Schlemiel are shot near the Ghetto wall.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is especially intriguing about Gro\u0144ski\u2019s text is the depiction of an animal\u2019s perspective: his dog characters have conversations similar to humans\u2019 (about the war, racial issues, as well as their animosity towards Germans, represented by the German embassy secretary\u2019s fox terrier). Animal motifs in Schlemiel<\/i> do not end there; Hitler is called by the name hycler<\/i>, coined by Polish satirists as a play on the word hycel<\/i>, “dogcatcher”. The morale-boosting legendary phrase “Polska Walcz\u0105ca” (Fighting Poland) becomes “Polska Warcz\u0105ca” (growling Poland). A new dimension is added to the meaning of the historical contemptuous name for the loudspeakers of the Nazi propaganda public address system: szczekaczki<\/i> (barkers). Apart from Joasia\u2019s assimilated parents, a character of an Orthodox Jew (Joasia\u2019s grandfather) is included in the novel. This is unusual for Polish children\u2019s literature, as is the depiction of Polish szmalcowniks<\/i><\/a>, blackmailers attempting to extort money from Wilamowski by threatening to denounce him for harboring Jews. Even more unusually, Schlemiel<\/em> is the only Polish children\u2019s story about the Holocaust where the main character is killed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/h6>\n