Folklorinis naratyvas apie žydus: tekstai ir kontekstai

LTSuirus sovietinei sistemai, Lietuvoje į viešąjį diskursą palengva grąžinama atmintis apie šešis šimtmečius šalyje gyvenusią žydų bendruomenę ir Antrojo pasaulinio karo metais jų tautą ištikusią tragediją. Humanitarikoje randasi vis daugiau žydų paveldo, kultūros, istorijos tyrimų, intensyviai apmąstomas holokaustas; ne tik mokslinėje, bet ir kultūrinėje spaudoje gilinamasi į žydo įvaizdžio formavimo(si) tendencijas, aptariami įvairiais istoriniais laikotarpiais klostęsi lietuvių ir žydų tarpusavio santykiai ir juos lėmę veiksniai, lietuviško antisemitizmo genezė ir kt. Holokausto atmintis visuomenėje įprasminama bei įtarpinama ir kitokiomis formomis. Šioje knygoje pristatomu tyrimu, pritaikius folklorinį žiūros aspektą, rūpi prakalbinti šiandien su iš gyvenimo išeinančia vyriausiąja žmonių karta į visišką užmarštį benugrimztančią gyvą atmintį apie be jokio tęsinio išnykusius etninius kaimynus; atmintį, saugančią ne tik senąjį tautosakos paveldą, bet ir savas, neretai skaudžiais asmeniniais išgyvenimais paženklintas holokausto istorijas. Juo labiau kad holokausto refleksijos ir poholokaustinės žydo įvaizdžio plėtotės, Lietuvoje dar tik pakliūvančius į folkloro tyrimų akiratį, iš esmės netgi nebuvo kaupiamos. Sovietmečiu - dėl ideologinių motyvų. O ir posovietiniu laikotarpiu naratyvai holokausto tema, nesant jų fiksavimą galėjusių aktualinti mokslinių tyrimų, kurį laiką buvo likę nuošalėje, neatkreipus dėmesio, kad kraupūs 1941 metų įvykiai, staigus ir netikėtas miestų, miestelių ar kaimų gausių žydų bendruomenių išnykimas, palikęs po savęs žiojinčią tuštumą, buvo impulsas atsirasti "naujai mitologijai" apie etninius kaimynus, tradicinės kultūros archetipų pagrindu mitologizuojant bei folklorizuojant istorinius siužetus ar asmeninę patirtį, transformuojant senuosius tautosakos tekstus.Į atsiminimus, kuriuose susipina individuali ir folklorinė patirtys, ilgai tiesiog neįsiklausyta kaip į folklorinius pasakojimus, ekspediciniame darbe dažniausiai domintis senojo sluoksnio sakytiniu paveldu, kurio kai kurie aspektai, pasikeitus politinėms aplinkybėms, lietuvių humanitarikoje jau aptarti orientuojantis į XIX a. pabaigos - XX a. pirmosios pusės valstietišką kultūrą. [...]. [Iš teksto, p. 96-97]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Folkloro naratyvai; Folkloro naratyvai apie žydus; Folklorinis žydų įvaizdis; Folklore narratives; Folklore narratives about jews; Folk Narratives of the jews.

ENThe elder generation, representatives of which are still preferred as informants in the course of our fieldwork, is the last one to remember and testify of the ethnic neighborhood of the Jews. And essentially also the only one, based on whose memoirs we attempt grasping the folkloric interpretations of the tragedy befallen the Jewish nation during the WWII, since due to various reasons such materials have not been collected in Lithuania for a long time. Thus the present research aims at making the passing away eldest generation speak and hearing out their living memory of the ethnic neighbors who have disappeared without continuation whatsoever. This memory is now increasingly sinking into oblivion, yet it is a repository not only of the old folklore heritage, but also of individual holocaust stories, which are frequently colored by painful personal experiences. Here, the narrative of the Jews construed from the current perspective is viewed through the prism of folklore, in order to elucidate the shift taking place in folklore after the radical change of the social surroundings, in result of which the ethnic Jewish neighborhood turned into merely a historical fact. The spontaneous contact with the past for the representatives of the elder generation, still remembering the ethnic Jewish neighborhood and provoked by the unexpectedly encountered folklore collector, manifests itself, as a rule, in texts on the daily life occur ­ rences, intertwined with folkloric experience . A closer look at the materials recorded during the last decade makes it clear that narratives based on live memories are still abounding in testimonies of the evident otherness of the Jewish religion and of the differences in their behavior, life style, and activities, deeply entrenched in the traditional folklore.Yet these texts, although abounding in associations between the past and the present, allow concluding that the recent several decades spent without the proximity of the neighboring Jews have considerably smothered the point-blank negative attitudes and opposition towards the Jews, particularly in relation to their economic activity. The Jewish otherness and their differences in terms of religion, culture and anthropology are increasingly used today to emphasize the ardent religiosity and piety of the former ethnic neighbors rather than their unchristian character. In still ambivalent interpretations of the Jewish economic activity, the negative attitudes towards the representatives of this nation, who used to prevail in business, crafts and particularly in commerce are increasingly overshadowed today by favorable appreciation. The latter is tightly connected to the personal experiences of the members of the peasant society (perhaps belonging to its poorer layer). In many narratives of the past pertaining to the Jews as a recurrent leitmotif descriptions of their help and sympathy shown to the needy are given prominence. Such humane attitude of the Jews in daily life is today adequately answered by texts exalting not only the Jewish morals, but also their positive role as merchants. The relatively positive current attitude towards the Jewish economic activity (which used to be viewed negatively by peasants as late as in the first half of the 20th century) is perhaps determined by the collapse of agriculture both in Lithuania and generally in Europe and other processes of economic origins.In the Catholic Lithuanian society, not unlike Christian communities of other European peoples, folkloric interpretations of the Jewish religion, their religious and social festivals, religious rituals and practices used to be quite widespread, illustrating close association between the observation-based experience, the competence based on folklore and mythology, and the Christian worldview. The daily life of the Jewish communities, characterized by prominent religious spirit and structured by the religious festivals that used to take place in the secluded space of their homes or synagogues, as well as actualization of negative aspects of the Jewish image in press (which used to picture the Jews as alien and dangerous subjects) as late as the first half of the 20th century made a good soil for thriving folk narratives primarily based on the data of Jewish culture, religion and ethnography, noted by the sharp eye of their local neighbors. Such narratives are still regarded by the persons with traditional worldview as their direct life experience, yet as a rule being re-told solely as irrelevant repetitions of formerly memorized stories, testifying merely to the past preserved in the memory of the generation born during the inter-war period rather than the living oral tradition. Such texts are no longer important to the worldview of traditionadhering individuals. In the communities of the villages and small towns that are investigated nowadays, the Jews themselves are as a rule identified merely with the Shrovetide carnival participants, among whom the mask of the Jew is still perhaps the most popular one, particularly in Samogitia, where the Shrovetide carnival itself is termed the Jewish walking. [...]. [Extract, p. 498-499]