Published 2024-08-27
Keywords
- Zuzanna Ginczanka,
- Non omnis moriar,
- Juliusz Słowacki,
- Adam Rzepecki,
- Zofia Chominowa
- Zuzanna Ginczanka,
- Non omnis moriar,
- Juliusz Słowacki,
- Adam Rzepecki ,
- Zofia Chominowa
Abstract
This paper aims to illustrate the evolution of the name ‘Chominowa’ within Polish collective consciousness. Initially mentioned in a poem by Zuzanna Ginczanka as the woman who reported the poetess to the Nazi police in 1942, this name gradually came to symbolize all Poles who collaborated with the German occupiers. Its evolution into an antonomasia reached its zenith in 2020 with the unveiling of Adam Rzepecki’s art installation – a yellow neon composition featuring the name ‘Chominowa.’ The controversies surrounding this installation can be attributed to the tabooization of Polish collective memory, which often glosses over the darker aspects of history such as collaborationism, in an attempt to portray a purified national identity free from culpability.