Allgemeine Gehsperre in Audio Narratives: Memory of the Holocaust in the Documentary Radio Play Give Me Your Children, or Wielka Szpera in the Łódź Ghetto, Directed by Janusz Kukuła, and the Radio Report Wielka Szpera. Zakaz wychodzenia by Barbara Wiśniewska

Abstract

The article was prepared to mark the 600th anniversary of Łódź and addresses the Wielka Szpera, which took place in the Łódź Ghetto during World War II. The research material used to outline the context of the study is audio literature on the Holocaust produced by Polish Radio Łódź from the end of the war to the present. I applied content analysis to develop this study. From the collected material, I focused on the Wielka Szpera operation, examining the depiction of the Allgemeine Gehsperre as presented in audio literature. Two documentary broadcasts – Barbara Wiśniewska’s report Wielka Szpera. Zakaz wychodzenia (Radio Łódź production) and the radio play Give Me Your Children, or Wielka Szpera in the Łódź Ghetto, directed by Janusz Kukuła (Polish Radio Theatre) – were analyzed using content analysis. This scholarly exploration of audio literature on the Shoah aims to fill a re-search gap in this area and, at the same time, serves as a contemporary duty to remember the horrors of the past century.