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In 1941, 40 Poles herded the Jews of Jedwabne into a barn and set it on fire. An estimated 1600 died. No Nazi's were involved. However, a monument commemorating the slaughter blames only the Nazi's and makes no mention of Polish involvement.
The President of Poland recently apologized to the Jews, but continued to blame the Nazi’s.
The continued denial of Polish responsibility for crimes against humanity must be utterly condemned!
The President of Poland recently apologized to the Jews, but continued to blame the Nazi’s.
The continued denial of Polish responsibility for crimes against humanity must be utterly condemned!
Jul 9, 11:48 AM (ET)
By ANDRZEJ STYLINSKI
BIALYSTOK, Poland (AP) - A Polish prosecutor said the government was ending its investigation into the part Poles played in a World War II massacre of Jews under Nazi occupation and that no charges would be filed.
"We plan to drop the investigation as no perpetrators were found other than those already convicted," said prosecutor Radoslaw Ignatiew. Twelve people were convicted by a communist-era court in 1949 for assisting Germans in the murder.
"We did not manage to gather sufficient evidence that would allow for the identification of or pressing of charges against any living perpetrators," Ignatiew added.
Officials from Poland's Institute of National Remembrance confirmed, however, that Poles were involved in the 1941 slaughter of Jews in the northeastern village of Jedwabne.
Hundreds of Jews were believed to have been beaten to death or burned alive in a barn in the village. The role played by Polish citizens was suppressed for nearly six decades until publication of a book by a Polish emigre historian, Jan Tomasz Gross. He claimed 1,600 Jews were murdered. After release of the book in 2000, the Polish government launched an investigation.
"The role of the Poles was decisive in conducting the criminal act," Ignatiew said.
The book, "Neighbors," sparked national soul-searching among Poles, many of whom could not believe that anybody but the Nazis would have committed the atrocity.
During a three-hour presentation Tuesday, prosecutors detailed their findings, including a summary of witness accounts along with forensic dating of the bullets and bones exhumed from two mass graves in the village last year.
The institute questioned 98 witnesses, who gave conflicting accounts of what happened. Despite accounts that claimed the Nazis forced the Poles to commit the crimes at gunpoint, the Institute found 40 Polish men escorted Jews to the barn and set it on fire.
The role of Germans at that point was not clear, although it probably was either small or nonexistent, said Ignatiew, because the Germans didn't have large units of police or troops stationed in the village.
Ignatiew said it was not possible to determine how many Jews had been killed, but he believed earlier estimates of 1,600 were an exaggeration. He said he based his belief partial exhumations of mass graves which were not completed because of Jewish objections to desecration.
For decades a monument in Jedwabne blamed World War II Nazi occupiers for rounding up as many as 1,600 Jews and burning them alive in a barn on the edge of town on July 10, 1941.
The inscription on a new monument erected last year before the 60th anniversary on the massacre still angers many because it fails to state explicitly that Poles took part in the killing.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski begged Jewish forgiveness for the killings during a 60th anniversary commemoration on July 10, 2001, but he insisted Nazi occupiers were behind the bloodshed and the nation bore no collective guilt.
The Jedwabne massacre took place after invading Nazi troops supplanted the previous Soviet occupiers. Some historians have suggested the Poles acted out of revenge for what they saw as Jewish cooperation with the Soviets.
By ANDRZEJ STYLINSKI
BIALYSTOK, Poland (AP) - A Polish prosecutor said the government was ending its investigation into the part Poles played in a World War II massacre of Jews under Nazi occupation and that no charges would be filed.
"We plan to drop the investigation as no perpetrators were found other than those already convicted," said prosecutor Radoslaw Ignatiew. Twelve people were convicted by a communist-era court in 1949 for assisting Germans in the murder.
"We did not manage to gather sufficient evidence that would allow for the identification of or pressing of charges against any living perpetrators," Ignatiew added.
Officials from Poland's Institute of National Remembrance confirmed, however, that Poles were involved in the 1941 slaughter of Jews in the northeastern village of Jedwabne.
Hundreds of Jews were believed to have been beaten to death or burned alive in a barn in the village. The role played by Polish citizens was suppressed for nearly six decades until publication of a book by a Polish emigre historian, Jan Tomasz Gross. He claimed 1,600 Jews were murdered. After release of the book in 2000, the Polish government launched an investigation.
"The role of the Poles was decisive in conducting the criminal act," Ignatiew said.
The book, "Neighbors," sparked national soul-searching among Poles, many of whom could not believe that anybody but the Nazis would have committed the atrocity.
During a three-hour presentation Tuesday, prosecutors detailed their findings, including a summary of witness accounts along with forensic dating of the bullets and bones exhumed from two mass graves in the village last year.
The institute questioned 98 witnesses, who gave conflicting accounts of what happened. Despite accounts that claimed the Nazis forced the Poles to commit the crimes at gunpoint, the Institute found 40 Polish men escorted Jews to the barn and set it on fire.
The role of Germans at that point was not clear, although it probably was either small or nonexistent, said Ignatiew, because the Germans didn't have large units of police or troops stationed in the village.
Ignatiew said it was not possible to determine how many Jews had been killed, but he believed earlier estimates of 1,600 were an exaggeration. He said he based his belief partial exhumations of mass graves which were not completed because of Jewish objections to desecration.
For decades a monument in Jedwabne blamed World War II Nazi occupiers for rounding up as many as 1,600 Jews and burning them alive in a barn on the edge of town on July 10, 1941.
The inscription on a new monument erected last year before the 60th anniversary on the massacre still angers many because it fails to state explicitly that Poles took part in the killing.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski begged Jewish forgiveness for the killings during a 60th anniversary commemoration on July 10, 2001, but he insisted Nazi occupiers were behind the bloodshed and the nation bore no collective guilt.
The Jedwabne massacre took place after invading Nazi troops supplanted the previous Soviet occupiers. Some historians have suggested the Poles acted out of revenge for what they saw as Jewish cooperation with the Soviets.
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