Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
Politicsoferasure
from“damnatiomemoriae”
toalluringvoid
annagut
nicolauscopernicusuniversity,toruń
thecondemnationofmemoryinthemodernepitaphs
ofcentralPomerania
Thisarticleaimstobrieflyreflectontheissuesre-
latedtomodernepitaphsintheregionofCentral
Pomerania,includinghistoricaldestructionofsuch
monumentsduringWorldWarIIandafteritsendl
Inparticular,itgivesattentiontothemonuments
locatedinthepre-warGermanterritoriesrecov-
eredbythePeople)sRepublicofPolandandlater
resettledlThegeneralattitudetowardsthemonu-
mentsleftbytheGermanswasratherunfavorable
andsuchobjectsoftenlackedprotection,notto
mentionthefactthatscholarlyinterestinthesub-
jectwasatthattimepracticallynon-existentlDue
tospatialconstraints,thearticlecannotbeseenas
anexhaustivediscussionofthetopic;thequoted
examples(FaustinusKniggeepitaph,monuments
ofthevonPlatenfamily,ChristophHeinrichvon
derGoltzepitaph)aremerelyrepresentativeofthis
uniqueandcomplexphenomenonl
CentralPomeraniaisaregionexceptionallyrich
inhistory,ameetingplacefortheculturesofsev-
eralnations,withstrongPolishandGermanroots,
withDutch,Swedish,Jewishovertones,aswellas
FrenchandRussianepisodeslTheissuesconnected
withmodernepitaphspreservedtothisdayseemto
beparticularlyinterestinginthelightoftheirtrou-
bledpastlSepulchralworksofart,suchasepitaphs,
tombstones,tombsandsarcophagusesareofpri-
marilycommemorativecharacter,whereasepitaph-
icmonumentsusuallyhaveadditionaltheological
andmoralsignificance,asreligiousscenesareoften
apartoftheworklEpitaphsthatonlyglorifyand
commemoratethedeceasedareasaruledevoidof
thereligiouselementlTheseoftenincorporatepor-
traitsandinscriptions,includingtheso-calledin-
scriptionepitaphthatcontainstheinscriptiononlyl1
Epitaphsthatsurvivedtothisdaywereusually
madetocommemoratethedeceasedaftertheir
deathlThereare,however,examplesofepitaphs
madetocommemoratethelivinglInsuchcase,the
placeintheinscriptionwherethedateofdeath
shouldbeinsertedwasleftemptylStill,inother
cases,apersonorpersonsfromthefamilyresponsi-
bleforcreatingtheepitaph,accordingtothespeci-
ficationsofthedeceased,frequentlymentioned
themselvesintheinscriptionoraddedtheirfigure
tothescene,thusalsocommemoratingthemselvesl
Inmanyworksofthiskindthewholefamily,those
deadandthosestillalive,weredepictedbytheart-
istsinaprayingpositionl
Epitaphsoftenencapsulatedthereligiousworld-
viewofthewholecommunityandthechangingpo-
sitionofaparticularhumanbeinginthecontext
ofreligiousevents,insomecasesexpressingthe
fearofdeathorthehopeforsalvationlSimilarlyto
1Cieślak(1992:23)l
