The Flytrap Factory (Fabryka muchołapek)

Abstract

Content and Interpretation In The Flytrap Factory, Bart draws on his interest in Jewish Lodz, which he also made the subject of several of his documentary films, including Eva R. (1998), Hiob (2000), and Radegast (2008). The writer has spoken in interviews about the many years he spent in preparation for writing the novel, which would eventually be published during a period of growing interest in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, alongside such titles as I Used To Be a Secretary to Rumkowski.Memoirs by Etka Daum by Elżbieta Cherezińska (2008) and The Emperor of Lies by Steve Sem-Sandberg (2009, first published in Polish in 2011). The Flytrap Factory opens with the story of its narrator, who is also a writer and screenwriter, as he arrives on the idea to make a film about Western European Jews forced into the Litzmanstadt Ghetto. See also František Kafka’s → Christmas Legend from the Ghetto. He describes the tensions that result from the chance meeting of Eastern and Western Jewish cultures, particularly with regard to the varying degrees of wealth and poverty, literacy and illiteracy, and more or less developed cultural backgrounds. The protagonist also tries to learn about the real or probable fate of famous Jews, such as Franz Kafka (what would happen if the writer was in the Lodz Ghetto and transported from there to the death camp in Chełmno) and his sisters (this plot was also developed in Radegast, and is documented with photos of contemporary memorials of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto). All his efforts are aimed at filming a documentary with a transnational appeal, a film that might interest viewers beyond his domestic Polish audience. Lacking sufficient funding, he is compelled to accept money