Massacre in Jedwabne
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The Massacre in Jedwabne or Jedwabne Pogrom was an event in July 1941, during World War II where a significant part of (or most of, according to J. T. Gross) the Jewish population of the Polish village of Jedwabne was massacred, many of them burned alive, by their non-Jewish neighbors. Evidence shows that the massacre was carried out by the citizens of Jedwabne and neighbouring villages, though the extent of German involvement, if any, remains disputed.
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The massacre
After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, special Einsatzgruppen were organized to kill Jews in the areas of Poland that had been annexed by the Soviet Union in September 1939. Nazi propaganda mentioned Soviet crimes committed in this region and blamed Jews for collaboration with the Soviets and German troops mass-murdered Jews in newly acquired territories in June 1941 (e.g. Wizna pogrom).
In July 1941, much of the Jewish population of Jedwabne, a village of about 2,500 inhabitants in Poland was massacred. In addition to the Jews living in Jedwabne before the war, certain number of Jews from other cities, including Wizna and Kolno, was present.
On the morning of July 10, the Jews of Jedwabne were taken from their homes to the central square, where they were beaten and attacked. A group of about 40 - 50 Jews, including the local rabbi, were then forced to destroy a monument of Lenin placed there during the Soviet occupation. They were then killed, and fragments of the monument were thrown into the mass grave.
Some time later (according to various witnesses, from one to a few hours), most of the remaining Jews were forced to go to a barn, with a number of Jews beaten and killed along the way. The barn was then set on fire, and the people inside were burned alive.
According to the investigation by the official Polish agency, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN - Institute of National Remembrance), the number of persons killed is estimated to be about 380 or more. Jan Tomasz Gross had earlier estimated 1,600 casualties, but IPN found this number to be "highly unlikely".
Controversy and investigation
For many years, it was assumed that the atrocity had been committed by German Einzatsgruppen, but in 2001 the Polish-American historian Jan Tomasz Gross published a detailed study of the event, Neighbors, where he described it as a pogrom. Gross concluded that Jews in the village were clubbed, drowned, gutted or burned to death by their Polish neighbors without any assistance from the Germans.
The book caused enormous controversy in Poland. Many people questioned its conclusions, and Prof. Tomasz Strzembosz argued that, although some Poles were involved, the operation was controlled by the Germans[1].
Following an intensive investigation, however, the IPN released a report in 2002 in which they supported many of Gross's findings, although the number of Jews killed was significantly lower than he originally assumed (that the exact number of victims couldn't be confirmed due to opposition of Jewish religious authorities who refused the exhumation of the bodies). They also found that there were eight German policemen present. Thus the question of the degree of German involvement remains.
Many witnesses claim to have seen German soldiers that day in Jedwabne, whereas others contend that there were no Germans in the town on the day of the massacre. Active involvement of Gentile Poles is beyond doubt, but the question of extent and nature of possible German participation has not been completely settled.
In 2001 the President of Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, officially apologized to the Jewish nation for this crime [2], though he was criticized by some right-wing politicians, such as Michał Kamiński, for doing so.
References
- Jan Tomasz Gross, Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland, Princeton University Press, 2001, ISBN 0142002402.
- Dariusz Stola, "Jedwabne: Revisiting the evidence and nature of the crime", Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, Spring 2003, 139-152.
- Antony Polonsky & Joanna B. Michlic (editors), The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland, Princeton University Press, 2003, ISBN 0691113068.
External links
- The Jedwabne Tragedy
- The Polish debate about the Jedwabne massacre - Joanna Michlic
- Poles and the Jews: How Deep the Guilt ? - Adam Michnik, New York Times, 17 March 2001
