"The Holocaust in German and Polish Cinema after 1989 and European Processes of Remembrance"
Professional Background
Małgorzata Pakier is a recent Ph.D. recipient in history and civilization at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. She received an M.A. in sociology at Warsaw University in Poland. For her Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellowship, Dr. Pakier conducted research for her project, “The Holocaust in German and Polish Cinema after 1989 and European Processes of Remembrance.”
Dr. Pakier has written extensively on the Holocaust as presented through collective memory, film and popular culture. She is the author of several journal articles and book chapters, including “Holocaust between the Bilderverbot and the Politics of Remembrance: Film ‘Europe, Europe’ (1990) in Germany and in Poland” in M. Pakier and Bo Stråth’s A European Memory? Contested Histories and Politics of Remembrance (Berghahn Books, 2010); “Agnieszka Holland’s ‘Europa, Europa’ as a Critical Voice in the Polish Debate on World War II” in editors Conny Mithander, John Sundholm, and Maria Holmgren Troy’s Collective Traumas: Memories of War and Conflict in 20th Century Europe (Peter Lang, 2007); and “Postmemory jako figura refleksyjna w popularnym dyskursie o Zagładzie” [The Idea of ‘Post-memory’ in the Popcultural Discourse on the Holocaust] in Kwartalnik Historii Żydów (2005). Recently she co-edited with Bo Stråth the volume A European Memory?: Contested Histories and Politics of Remembrance (Berghahn Books, 2010). Dr. Pakier is the recipient of the Doctoral Grant awarded by the European University Institute for 2004-2008. In addition to English, she has language skills in Polish, German, and Italian.
Fellowship Research
During her tenure at the Center, Dr. Pakier conducted a comparative study of German and Polish feature films about the Holocaust – exploring the role of filmic representations in the processes of collective remembrance in Germany and Poland, as well as in the broad context of the possible “Europeanization” of Holocaust memory. She also compared German and Polish films with American film productions which have been, at least since the television series “Holocaust” in the late 1970s, an almost constant point of reference for Holocaust films produced in Europe. Her project considers the impact of “Europeanization” and “Americanization” of Holocaust memory on the final comparison of Polish and German films, as well as the impact of Holocaust representations in American culture on the shaping of European collective memories. Dr. Pakier used visual and archival resources from the Museum’s extensive library collection to complete her research.
Dr. Pakier was in residence at the Mandel Center from February 1 to May 30, 2010.