Mothers, Soldiers, and Families

Abstract

Abstract The article examines gender representations and their functions in depictions of Polish Holocaust rescuers in public discourse, commemoration, culture, and education during the last two decades. It focuses on several individuals and one family who emerged as the most recognizable and celebrated rescuers, meant to embody Poles’ attitudes toward Jews. The article argues that rescuers’ legacies were formatted to fit a traditional Polish ethos of armed struggle and martyrdom. While stereotypical “female” and “male” roles and characteristics were attributed to individual rescuers, collectively their status was elevated through inclusion in male-centric, militarized heroism. Both the liberal center and the nationalist right-wing contributed to such conceptualization; increasingly representations of rescue are employed to promote a conservative agenda regarding gender, sexuality, and reproductive rights.