Page 87 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Time of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Film images.

rected by Pavel Štingl, 2008, Czech Rep. – Poland) and
Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Inferno in the Promised Land
[Litzmannstadt Getto. Piekło na Ziemi Obiecanej] (writ-
1
1 — ten and directed by Mariusz Olbrychowski, 2009) .
I will hereinafter use the following
abbreviations: RD (Radegast,
directed by B. Lankosz), A Journey to the Cursed Land
BG (A Baluty Ghetto, directed by Train stations constitute a leitmotif of the documentary
P. Štingl), LG (Litzmannstadt
Ghetto. Inferno in the Promised film by Borys Lankosz (director) and Andrzej Bart (writer,
Land, directed by M. Olbrychowski) author of documentary films and screenplay writer, au-
thor of the book on Chaim Rumkowski, Head of the Ju-
denrat, published in 2008 under the title ‘The Flytrap
2 —
2
For more information on films Factory’) . The train station theme is suggested in the
by Andrzej Bart see: opening shot, which shows Radegast station in a winter
Ewa Ciszewska, Andrzej Michalak,
W służbie pamięci – o filmach landscape and a moment later we are transferred to the
dokumentalnych Andrzeja Barta, Berlin Hauptbahnhof. These two places indicate the out-
[in:] Zobaczyć siebie. Polski film ermost points of the main characters’ journey. In this
dokumentalny przełomu wieków,
Mikołaj Jazdon, Katarzyna narrative, Radegast will turn out to be the end station
Mąka-Malatyńska (editors), or the one from which the characters will set out on their
Centrum Kultury Zamek, last journey to Chełmno nad Nerem. The modern archi-
Poznań 2011
tecture of Berliner Hauptbahnhof with its escalators,
glass elevators, electronic displays and large window
panes contrasts with the wooden makeshift barrack
of Radegast station. A young male rock climber with an
advertising banner encourages tourists to visit Poland:
‘Polen in 2 h. Dort’. This slogan seems ironic and bitter
in the context of subsequent scenes in the film. A yid-
dish song heard in the background (‘Here comes a yeke
with his suitcase, searching for fats and margarines
– he won’t buy anything here, but instead he will get
a visa to the cemetery at Marysin’ – written by Jankiel
Herszkowicz) signals that we will go on a journey not
only in space, as suggested by the crowd of passengers
boarding a train, but also in time. The song tells the
story of the last journey of a yeke – a Western European
Jew – to the cemetery at Marysin, located within the
boundaries of the ghetto. Herszkowicz’s song clearly in-
dicates the destination of a metaphorical journey: the
ghetto in Łódź. It is worth noticing that music from the
ghetto (not only in the Radegast documentary) becomes
a tool which enables us to travel back in time and reach
the past. Similarly, the film, Zamir: Jewish Voices Return
to Poland, features members of a Canadian choir per-
forming songs from the ghetto, which have inspired
them to travel to Poland. The narrator recalls an impression
of travelling in time during their tour of Central Europe.

A Journey to the Cursed Land 85