Jedwabne pogrom: Difference between revisions

| location = [[Jedwabne]], [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]]

| type = [[Pogrom]]/[[massacre]]

| fatalities = At least 340 [[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish Jews]]<ref name="Ignatiew 2002"/>

| perpetrators = At least 40 [[Poles|ethnic Poles]] in cooperation with German [[securityFeldgendarmerie|German military forcespolice]]<ref name="Ignatiew 2002"/><ref name=grosspages76to78>{{harvnb|Gross|2001|pp=76–78 "There was an outpost of German gendarmerie in Jedwabne, staffed by eleven men. We can also infer from various sources that a group of Gestapo men arrived in town by taxi either on that day or the previous one." [...] "At the time the undisputed bosses of life and death in Jedwabne were the Germans. No sustained organized activity could take place there without their consent. They were the only ones who could decide the fate of the Jews."}}</ref>

| motive = [[Antisemitism]], property [[looting]], [[Collective punishment|collective retribution]], German incitement<ref>"All these acts had four elements in common: antisemitism prevalent in a significant part of the Polish population; looting Jewish property as one of the main motives for aggression; seeking retribution for real or imaginary Jewish cooperation with the Soviet occupant; German incitement – varying in different places, from direct organisation of pogroms to giving encouragement or condoning the behavior." {{Cite web|url=http://www.polin.pl/en/news/2016/07/09/pogrom-in-jedwabne-course-of-events|title=Pogrom in Jedwabne: Course of Events|publisher=POLIN, Museum of the History of Polish Jews|access-date=12 March 2018|archive-date=29 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929152459/https://www.polin.pl/en/news/2016/07/09/pogrom-in-jedwabne-course-of-events|url-status=dead}}</ref>

| data1 = 1949–1950 trials, ([[Polish People's Republic]])}}

* 1960–1965 investigation, ([[West Germany]])

* 2000–2003 [[Institute of National Remembrance]] (IPN) investigation, ([[Poland|Republic of Poland]])}}
|

The '''Jedwabne pogrom''' was a massacre of [[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish Jews]] in the town of [[Jedwabne]], [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]], on 10 July 1941, during [[World War II]] and the early stages of [[the Holocaust]].<ref>{{harvnb|Gross|2001|pp=14–20}}; {{harvnb|Stola|2003}}; {{harvnb|Persak|2011}}.</ref> At least 340 men, women and children were murdered, some 300 of whom were locked in a barn and burned alive. About 40 [[Poles|ethnic Poles]] carried out the killing, the ringleaders having decided on it with German secret police[[Gestapo]] or intelligence[[Abwehr]] officials beforehand.<ref>''Jedwabne before the Court: Poland's Justice and the Jedwabne Massacre—Investigations and Court Proceedings, 1947–1974.'' East European Politics and Societies. 25 (3): 410–432. Krzysztof Persak p.412 (2011): "Far less clear is the role played in Jedwabne by representatives of the German occupation authorities. Undoubtedly, they fully approved and possibly inspired the murder. According to testimony of the then-messenger at the gendarmerie post, Jerzy Laudański, before the pogrom 'four or five Gestapo men had arrived in a cab, and they began to talk in the town hall.' In colloquial Polish, a 'cab' (''taksówka'') denoted a motor car, and 'Gestapo man' referred to any German in a black uniform. This reference, no doubt, relates to the meeting of the temporary municipal authorities with—probably—functionaries of the German Security Police or Security Service (''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' or ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]''), mentioned by other witnesses as well. Although accounts regarding that issue are all secondhand, their common denominator is that during that 'conference' the decision to murder the Jedwabne Jews was taken."</ref> It was overseen by the [[Feldgendarmerie|German military police]], who according to [[Jan Gross]] were "the only ones who could decide the fate of the Jews" at the massacre.<ref name=grosspages76to78 /><ref>{{harvnb|Stola|2003}}. "The plan was reportedly prepared or elaborated at the meeting between Gestapo officers and the town's administration (most sources date this July 10). On the morning of July 10, members of the administration, usually with German gendarmes, visited Polish residents. They ordered a number of men to gather at a designated location,where sticks and clubs (which someone had to have stockpiled earlier) were distributed. Polish conscripts were given specific assignments, such as driving the Jews to the market square, keeping watch over those assembled, guarding the streets leading out of town, and later escorting the Jews from the square to the barn outside town."</ref><ref>''Jedwabne before the Court: Poland's Justice and the Jedwabne Massacre—Investigations and Court Proceedings, 1947–1974.'' East European Politics and Societies. 25 (3): 410–432. Krzysztof Persak p.412 (2011): "Far less clear is the role played in Jedwabne by representatives of the German occupation authorities. Undoubtedly, they fully approved and possibly inspired the murder. According to testimony of the then-messenger at the gendarmerie post, Jerzy Laudański, before the pogrom 'four or five Gestapo men had arrived in a cab, and they began to talk in the town hall.' In colloquial Polish, a 'cab' (''taksówka'') denoted a motor car, and 'Gestapo man' referred to any German in a black uniform. This reference, no doubt, relates to the meeting of the temporary municipal authorities with—probably—functionaries of the German Security Police or Security Service (''Sicherheitspolizei'' or ''Sicherheitsdienst''), mentioned by other witnesses as well. Although accounts regarding that issue are all secondhand, their common denominator is that during that 'conference' the decision to murder the Jedwabne Jews was taken."</ref>{{efn|[[Institute of National Remembrance]] (2002): "The presence of German military policemen from the police station at Jedwabne, and of other uniformed Germans (assuming they were present at the events), even if passive, was tantamount to consent to, and tolerance of, the crime against the Jewish inhabitants of the town."<ref name="Ignatiew 2002"/>{{pb}}

Knowledge of the mass murdermassacre only became widespread in 1999–2003 due to the work of Polish filmmakers, journalists, and academics, in particular the 2001 English version of [[Jan T. Gross]]'s book2001 work ''[[Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland]]''. Public interest in the incident prompted a forensic murder investigation in 2000–2003 by Poland's [[Institute of National Remembrance]], which confirmed that the direct perpetrators were ethnic Poles. The country was shocked by the findings, which challenged common narratives about the [[The Holocaust in Poland|Holocaust in Poland]] that focused on Polish suffering and heroism,<ref>[[Adam Michnik]], ''In Search of Lost Meaning: The New Eastern Europe'', Chapter 10: ''The Shock of Jedwabne'' p.204-, University of California Press (2011)</ref> and that non-Jewish Poles had little responsibility for the fate of Poland's Jews.<ref>{{harvnb|Holc|2002|p=454}}. "By focusing so intensely on this single massacre, ''Neighbors'' effectively challenges the standard view that non-Jewish Poles had little responsibility for the fate of Jews living in Poland during World War II..."</ref>

In a 2001 memorial ceremony at Jedwabne, President [[Aleksander Kwaśniewski]] apologized on behalf of the country, an apology which was repeated in 2011 by President [[Bronisław Komorowski]]. With the rise[[Law toand powerJustice]] of(PIS) party''[[PiS]]''s rise to political power in 2015, the subject again became contentious, as part of thatthe partyPIS's controversial "[[historicalHistory policy of the Law and Justice party|historicalhistory policy]]"; President [[Andrzej Duda]] publicly criticized Komorowski's apology.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32876695|title = Poland Duda victory: Why have Poles voted for change?|work = BBC News|date = 25 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-exit-poll-polish-president-concedes-defeat-to-rival/|title = Poland elects right-wing president who criticized predecessor's apologies to Jews|website = [[The Times of Israel]]}}</ref>