Kinderszenen

Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz's Kinderszenen, published in Polish in 2008, makes up a complex and unique autobiographical book created from the poet's remembrances of the past events that he lived through during his childhood in World War II and his philosophical deliberations on the significance of the Warsaw Uprising, analyzed from different angles, often by posing difficult questions associated with this unforgettable event that marked his existence and millions of other lives for all time. In his book, Rymkiewicz (1935–2023) examines Polish-German interactions, analyzes the place of Poland and Germany in Europe, and reflects on the meaning of atrocities committed by the Germans against the Polish people. His observations and thoughts about the war—its leaders, devastations, aggression, identity, and suffering—are relevant to our times, so filled with bloodshed and brutality in almost every corner of the earth.The author entitled his personal narrative Kinderszenen, making an allusion to the suite of piano pieces created by Robert Schumann, taken up later by other composers, among them Tchaikovsky and Debussy, recalling the joy, happiness, and innocence of childhood, but paradoxically, Rymkiewicz's reminiscences provide a painful contrast of cruelty, violence, destruction, and insanity because his Children's Corner and his dreams were full of the blood and terror of World War II dictated, as he states in his preface, by his destiny.According to the author, the fate that set him at the edge of life and death but decided that he should survive constitutes the theme and also represents the hero of his autobiography, which is composed from fragments and remains scattered, as if by the force of an explosion. Rymkiewicz believes that his life was saved so he could write and leave a testimony of what he witnessed in the cruel times of war, specifically the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. He wants the Germans to know that they destroyed his childhood turning it into a bloody hole.In his book, Rymkiewicz calls to the attention the fact, that in 1962, it was forbidden to speak of “Germans” in the context of the war crimes; instead “Hitlerite occupiers” was used, transformed later into “Nazis,” beginning the German falsification of the war. The author emphasizes clearly that the Germans and not just “Nazis” hold the responsibility for the acts of violence, crimes, devastation, and all the evils of World War II. He believes that the Germans should have never been pardoned for their war atrocities because there are incidents in history that should never be forgiven and forgotten.Rymkiewicz begins his book with a chapter entitled “My Identity Card,” contrasting his old apartment on Żeromski Street situated at the border of Żoliborz and Bielany, as “placed beyond history” or that “could only be the history of the PRL,” “some historically empty fragment,” “a pause in the history of Poland—managed by the Russian occupiers” (pp. 3–4) with his new residence near a music school, set among buildings reconstructed after the war in Warsaw's Old Town at 1 Kiliński Street, filled with history. The Old Town is a fine area to live in, but at the same time it represents a palimpsest, layered with great and horrific events that have taken place there throughout the centuries. Above all, the author perceives a large city as a cemetery because according to him, “The death, of houses, people, and animals are the foundation of the great city. Every great city is built on death” (p. 7). On the way to the hospital with his wife Ewa, who is about to give birth to their son, while admiring her beauty, the poet recalls the bloodshed that had happened there twenty-seven years ago. He cannot forget the war because he lives in the capital of Poland where certain streets and sites remind him of the German aggression, so he constantly analyzes various aspects of the Warsaw Uprising throughout the pages of his book, calling it an extraordinary phenomenon. For the author, the Warsaw Uprising has a symbolic value; it united and strengthened the Poles. It was the greatest event in the history of the Polish people, although seen as insane and a failure by the Communists, who wanted to spread the idea that the Poles suffered a great defeat, and they would not be able to rise again. That notion followed from their intention of exterminating the spiritual Polishness of the country. Rymkiewicz points out that the Warsaw Uprising was a response to the lunacy of the German war. The Uprising had horrid effects, but it also had great results. It was an organized military undertaking planned by brilliant minds who had to fight for the survival of their nation. It was a victory, and the proof is Poland's independence today. The Warsaw Uprising was a grand explosion of national emotion.In his autobiography, Rymkiewicz investigates the reasons for the German atrocities. He tries to explain the sense of the Germans’ killing. He concludes that the Germans, the Teutons, wished to eradicate their neighbors (Poland and most likely other next-door countries) to obtain Lebensraum, the most living space as possible, for themselves. “The fewer Polish children, the more Lebensraum for German children” (p. 102). The German psyche was marked by the desire for exclusive existence and dominance. The killing of “sub-humans” was the easiest way of getting rid of old and sick people, the disabled, women, and children. However, “the super Nordic race” needed a workforce, trustworthy labor, to do simple tasks, so the Poles, deprived of their state and their history, could exist if they participated in the shared European history, cooperating with a future German Europe.Rymkiewicz's Kinderszenen has been rendered splendidly into English by Charles S. Kraszewski, a renowned expert in the art of translation. Kraszewski has translated, among others, the works of Jan Kochanowski, Ignacy Krasicki, Adam Mickiewicz, Zygmunt Krasiński, Juliusz Słowacki, Stanisław Wyspiański, and Tytus Czyżewski.Rymkiewicz's book offers a thought-provoking examination of World War II from his own perspective. His personal narrative constitutes a crucial literary document about the war through the eyes of a child witness, a Polish boy on the side of good, and a renowned Polish poet, dramatist, translator, essayist, and literary historian. His book supplements the canon of works about the Second World War, specifically the Warsaw Uprising. Rymkiewicz's Kinderszenen makes a significant and relevant contribution to the study of Polish history and literature.Rymkiewicz's father, Władysław Szulc, was of German and Polish descent. He changed his surname to Rymkiewicz, which had been his literary pseudonym before the war and at the same time his mother's last name, because of his wartime experiences. Jarosław Rymkiewicz studied Polish philology at the University of Łódź and worked at the Literary Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Arts and Letters. He was a recipient of numerous literary awards: the Kościelski Prize, Vincenz Prize, Polish Pen Club Prize, and Nike Award. In 1988, Rymkiewicz's novel entitled Umschlagplatz was published in Paris by the Literary Institute; it could not be published in Poland during the communist period. The book focuses on the small square in Warsaw, a Jewish market before the war, from which thousands of Jews were sent to their deaths. The writer tries to comprehend the effects of this site on present-day Warsaw and its people. In his Kinderszenen, he attempts to understand the meaning of the Warsaw Uprising and its consequences on his life, the lives of Poles, and future generations of Poles.