There is in the Polish literary tradition an identifiable ‘Polish-Jewish’ element, even though it is difficult to formulate an effective framework for critical analysis. The presence of a sizeable Jewish minority in the Polish lands is reflected in the vernacular literature - particularly in the century following the failure of the 1831 uprising - either through the writings of Polish-speaking Jews such as Bruno Schulz, or in the works of Polish writers such as Adam Mickiewicz or Władysław Reyniont. Whether there is in mainstream literature any real attempt to come to terms with the Jewish experience is highly debateable; those same writers whose works comprise the classic texts of Polish Romantic literature also helped to formulate the Messianic sub-text which enables Poles to project a selfimage of an exclusively Catholic Martyr Nation. Nevertheless, even if the growing polarisation of Polish society during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries tended to exclude the national minorities from the cultural debate, the existence of a culturally significant Jewish minority could not be ignored by Polish writers. Literature is both an imperative force and a mirror for the society which engenders it.

In the problematic cultural atmosphere of People's Poland, cinema's adherents would claim that it has become the most significant imperative intellectual force in Polish culture and society. For Andrzej Wajda, the contemporary cinema has appropriated the leading cultural role which Polish literature developed during the nineteenth century.

Perhaps. But this is special pleading, overstating the artistic autonomy of the contemporary Polish cinema. Wajda, of course, is teasing the geese; literary adaptations of classic texts form a significant part of his prolific output. He is keenly aware of the cultural supremacy of the Romantic tradition and of the continuing importance of the Polish classics - even if they remain largely unread by the bulk of the population. And if contemporary Polish literature has become conflated with cinematic output, it is in part because the Polish cinema reflects a self-consciously literary’ approach to artistic expression. Which is why, in the end, echoes of the Jewish past have survived - despite the virtual destruction of Jewish Poland in the Holocaust.