EXISTENTIAL MOTIFS IN SLOVAK LITERATURE WITH THE ISSUE OF THE SHOAH

Abstract

The study deals with existential motifs in selected fiction and memoir works of Slovak literature, which thematically focus on World War II. and the Holocaust of the Slovak Jewish minority. As we considered the fact that many works of Slovak provenance with this issue were published (especially after 1989), we focused only on a selection of those works, which contains fiction and non-fiction literature and memoir works written by surviving Jews, in which they gave valuable testimony about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism of the war-torn Slovak state and post-war society. Based on the interpretation and analysis of Shoah-themed works, we detect recurring existential motifs: degradation of human dignity, feelings of guilt for one's own survival, Auschwitz traumas, and the motif of The Lost Generation.