Remembering the Jedwabne massacre
On 10 July 1941, hundreds of Jewish residents of Jedwabne in German Nazi occupied Poland were massacred in an infamous incident that to this day divides opinion, especially in Poland.
Following a round up of local Jews by local Poles at the instruction of the German occupiers, a group of about 40 Jews was taken to a pre-emptied barn, killed and buried, while most of the remaining Jews, estimated at around 250-400, including many women and children, were led to the same barn later that day, locked inside and burned alive using kerosene in the presence of eight German gendarmes, who shot those who tried to escape.
After the war, responsibility was ascribed to approximately 40 non-Jewish ethnic Polish men from or around the town of Jedwabne. Some of them were later tried by the Polish communist authorities and convicted for their crimes as treason to the Polish nation.
The event is in the news today because a British Jewish leader has called on David Cameron to dissociate the Conservative Party from the views on the massacre of Polish Member of the European Parliament Michal Kaminiski. You can read more on the event itself here.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Ah but you should listen to his defence – ‘I’m pro Israeli’. And it’s true. Nearly all the anti-Semites today are pro-Zionist. History repeating itself?
October 13th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
i was appalled when i first read this story…it moved me so much that i decided to dedicate a blog post to it today at Never Again!