Massacre in Jedwabne

After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, special Einsatzgruppen were organized to kill as many Jews as it was possible on the Polish areas annexed by Soviet Union). The Nazi propaganda abused the Soviet crimes committed on the areas and blamed Jews for collaboration with the Soviets.

In July1941, the Jewish population of Jedwabne, Poland was massacred. Most of the victims were burned alive in a barn. The number of persons killed is estimated between 380 (the latest estimate by Polish IPN) and 1600 (very disputable).

Some historians, namely Prof. Gross, claimed that it was a typical pogrom in which Jews were massacred by their Polish neighbours. Others, like Prof. Strzembosz, claimed that it was a German provocation. There were German bullets found near the barn at Jedwabne; however, IPN 20.12.2001 published its findings which proved that these bullets came from a period years after the massacre, and that some probably remained from World War I. Many witnesses saw German soldiers that day in Jedwabne, but many others swear that there were no Germans in the town on the day of the massacre.

That some non-Jewish Poles took active part in this crime is beyond doubt, but controversy still exists: how big was their role? Were there any German units that day in Jedwabne? IPN claims that there were only 8 German policemen.

The President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, officially apologized to the Jewish nation for this crime. Many people criticized him for doing so before events were reconstructed with reasonable confidence.