March meeting of the Central European Book Club

We invite you to a meeting devoted to Darek Cvijetic's book “Schindlers Lift”. We will talk about literary testimony of war, the language of memory and the challenges of translating this unique book into Polish.  

10 March 2026, 18.00  

The Central European Book Club meeting in the bookshop on the first floor of Kamienica Pod Kruki will be hosted by Aleksandra Wojtaszek.

About the book

“Schindlers Lift” is a poignant story based on personal experience about the war in the former Yugoslavia and its long-lasting consequences. Cvijetić – a poet, prose writer and director – reconstructs the history of one block of flats in Prijedor, where representatives of different nationalities and religions lived side by side before the war. With the outbreak of conflict, the community falls apart and the neighbourhood turns into a space of violence, fear and loss. The author creates a polyphonic narrative about memory, guilt and responsibility, showing how great history leaves its mark on individual fates.

The book “Schindlers Lift” by Darek Cvijetić was published by Oficyna Literacka Noir sur Blanc, translated by Dorota Jovanka Ćirlić.

Host:

Aleksandra Wojtaszek – Balkanist, literary scholar, translator and expert on Central European culture. Author of the book “Fjaka. Sezon na Chorwację”, scientific monograph ”Topographies of imaginary spaces. Serbian and Croatian speculative fiction” and texts in HERITO magazine and “Tygodnik Powszechny”.