New Books in Psychology Jan Borowicz, "Perverse Memory and the Holocaust: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Polish Bystanders" (Routledge, 2024)
May 21, 2025
Jan Borowicz, a cultural studies scholar and psychotherapist at the University of Warsaw, delves into the haunting memories of the Holocaust and their lingering effects on Polish society. He explores the psychological mechanisms of denial and indifference toward contemporary humanitarian crises, drawing unsettling parallels to past atrocities. The conversation also touches on transgenerational trauma, the evolution of Holocaust narratives in Poland, and the role of collective memory in shaping national identity. Borowicz's insights reveal the complex interplay between memory, guilt, and responsibility in a society grappling with its historical past.
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Indifference to Violence Impossible
- Indifference to violence is impossible because being a witness always leaves an emotional trace. - Denial or disavowal allows people to know something and not know it simultaneously, avoiding full emotional engagement.
Perversion Creates Dual Realities
- Perversion in Holocaust memory involves complex psychoanalytic mechanisms mixing sexuality, violence, and denial. - It creates dual realities allowing people to acknowledge and dismiss atrocities simultaneously.
Holocaust Shapes Polish Identity
- The Holocaust experience deeply shapes Polish identity, with Nazism as a primal cultural scene. - Antisemitism and Holocaust memory remain central in Polish politics and cultural discourse.