„Wyimaginowane twory”? Obóz Pracy w Łambinowicach według Janusza Rudnickiego

The article concerns Janusz Rudnicki’s work (short story) dedicated to the labor camp in Łambinowice (1945–1946). Its original version was published in 1998 under the title Polska hańba (Polish Disgrace), and its latest edition was included in the book Chodźcie, idziemy (Come On, Let’s Go), published by Rudnicki in 2007. Here it is entitled Dwa (Oboz) (Two [Camp]). The genesis, structure, functions and reception of this work are considered. It is presented in both historical (post-war expulsions of Germans from Poland, Polish camps for Germans) and literary context. Rudnicki’s work is important for several reasons. It is a significant “intervention” in Polish historical memory, bringing out the repressed persecution of Germans (who were imprisoned, tormented and killed in the Łambinowice camp). Therefore, it fits into the trend of literature questioning the “paradigm of Polish innocence” (which is dominated by works about the murder of Jews in Jedwabne). Moreover, it is a drastic work in terms of style (saturated with vulgarisms) and the presented world. The horror convention that characterizes it is as provocative and shocking as it is artistically and intellectually justified. By arousing strong emotions in the reader, it encourages them to confront the evoked situations and events with what historians have established so far. What is special about Rudnicki’s work, as a manifestation of Polish concentration camp literature, is that its lyrical subject is a torturer and not, as it is most often the case, a victim. Moreover, the torturer is a Pole. Rudnicki’s work also proves that Polish concentration camp literature is not limited, as was believed for years, only to lagers (German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centres) and gulags (Soviet camps, especially forced labor camps). It also includes Polish camps.