translated by: Mariusz Wesolowski

[...]

By the end of May 2001 Andrzej Przewoznik, the secretary of the Council for Preservation of Monuments to Struggles and Martyrdom (ROPWiM), announced the text of the new inscription on the Jedwabne monument. It went as follows: "To the memory of Jews from Jedwabne and environs, men, women and children, cotenants of this land, murdered and burned alive at this spot on July 10, 1941. A warning to posterity, in order that the sin of hatred, inflamed by the German Nazism, will never again turn the inhabitants of this land against each other".

The proposed inscription created numerous controversies. On June 5, 2001, Gazeta Wyborcza published a communique signed by several Jewish organizations in Poland. Its authors declared their disagreement with the phrase "German Nazism", and demanded the addition of the phrase "On that day, the entire Jedwabne Jewish community was annihilated". The most important objection against the proposed wording was not formulated openly, but one could guess it from the numerous comparisons and hints. For example, Piotr Pacewicz wrote in Gazeta Wyborcza:

"A small parcel of land, where Jews, citizens of the Polish Republic, died by the hand of their Polish compatriots, does not seem to be the right place to look for a compromise. Even if the German complicity in this crime has not been completely explained".

The implication of this and other similar pronouncements is rather obvious: the inscription should state clearly that the Jews of Jedwabne have been murdered by Poles.

We may assume that the demands of Jewish representatives and the journalist from Gazeta Wyborcza have been based on the book by Jan Tomasz Gross, who blamed the entire responsibility for the June 10, 1941 tragedy on the Polish "neighbors" mentioned in its title. Gross stated, for example, that the representatives of the Polish community had signed an agreement with the Gestapo re the massacre of Jews, some of whom the Germans wanted to save but the Poles didn't let them. The Nazis, according to Gross, did not participate in the crime, they only took pictures of Poles torturing the Jews.

The version of events presented by Gross had been for several months considered truthful and reliable.(...) Then the historians were finally able to access the key documents (...). It turned out that the scenario presented by Gross in "Neighbors" was, to put it mildly, very doubtful. Gross simply removed from the described events any and all facts indicating the actual role of the Germans, and based his conclusions on the testimonies of people who simply did not witness the happenings at Jedwabne. It also turned out that all the key elements of Gross's reconstruction (such as the signing of an agreement with the Gestapo) were either of untrustworthy provenance or just common gossip which had found its way into the public debate about Jedwabne only due to the particular "methodology" of that author. "Neighbors" had been subjected to withering criticism, which - apart from a few personal invectives against Prof. Strzembosz - was not constructively answered by Gross (...)

Why would now these suspect "finds" be reflected in the text of the inscription? The content of the preserved archival documents does not leave any major doubts about the real course of events in Jedwabne. The crime against the local Jews was not conceived by their Polish neighbors. Its initiators, overseers and active participants were the functionaries of the Nazi security apparatus, who on July 10, 1941, arrived in town. The Germans were only too aware of the very strong anti-Jewish and anti-Communist sentiments among the local populace, caused by the tragic events from the time of the Soviet occupation, and - according to the preserved German documents - they tried to use them for their own ends.

[...]

Recent archival searches conducted by the National Remembrance Institute (IPN) have confirmed these facts. They uncovered, among other things, German documents suggesting that the Einsatsgruppe of the Gestapo officer Schaper from Ciechanow might have been responsible for Jedwabne. Even more interesting results have been brought by the exhumation proceedings. In their course, bullets and shell casings have been found which unequivocally indicate the real role of the Germans. The approximate number of victims has been also determined - probably about 150-250, and not Gross's 1,600. Thus, paradoxically, the only truly false bit of information on the old, now removed, monument seems to be the badly exaggerated death toll.

In the light of these facts we can safely assume that the objections against the [new] inscription (...) are without any merit. The statement that on July 10, 1941, the entire Jedwabne Jewish community has been annihilated is not true - only about 150-250 people died then, out of more than 1,000 Jews inhabiting Jedwabne on the eve of WW2. Many of them continued residing in Jedwabne until their deportation to the Lomza ghetto. Also the thesis that German Nazism bears the responsibility for this crime seems to be - from the scholarly point of view - absolutely correct.

But we cannot forget that the honest description of reality is more complex (...). [Therefore] We must remember the enmity and animosity toward Jews on the part of many Poles before the war, the tragic results of the mutual relations between these two nations in the 1939-41 period, and many, many other important elements.

The trouble is that on a commemorative plaque one can put only the main reasons for the tragedy and not a lengthy academic dissertation. From this point of view, the phrase about "German Nazism" seems to be most correct and appropriate. The participation of some Poles in this crime is, of course, shameful and blameworthy. However, it is not enough to put the whole responsibility for Jedwabne on the Polish community. Such an inscription would be much more remote from the truth than the old one.

[...]

Who will yield? How will the Polish authorities respond to the pressure from the Jewish community? Will they defend the correctness of the proposed inscription, or will they bend under the threat of a boycott [of the celebrations in Jedwabne]?

What will win? Hard historical facts, or theories of J.T. Gross who in his conversations with journalists speaks about "devils descending on the earth", and holds that he has arrived at his version of events through "illumination"? Will the Polish authorities agree with the position of Piotr Pacewicz from Gazeta Wyborcza who is not interested in the role of the Germans because the Poles are guilty just the same? What will finally constitute our knowledge about these tragic events: the historical truth, or the contradictory to it postulates of the representatives of the Jewish community and ridiculous opinions of journalists?

Piotr Gontarczyk

(translated by Mariusz Wesolowski)

Piotr Gontarczyk, Zycie, 2001-06-21

http://www.iyp.org/polish/history/jedwab