Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland

272 Pages·2001·2.373 MB·English

by  Jan T. Gross

NEIGHBORS
J A N T . G R O S S
The
Destruction
of the Jewish
Community
in Jedwabne,
Poland
A map of Jedwabne
drawn by Julius Baker
(Yehuda Piekarz). PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD
J A N T . G R O S S
The
Destruction
of the Jewish
Community
in Jedwabne,
Poland
A map of Jedwabne
drawn by Julius Baker
(Yehuda Piekarz). PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright©2001byPrincetonUniversityPress
PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet,
Princeton,NewJersey08540
IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress,
3MarketPlace,Woodstock,OxfordshireOX201SY
AllRightsReserved
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Gross,JanTomasz.
[Sasiedzi.English]
Neighbors:thedestructionoftheJewishcommunity
inJedwabne,Poland/JanT.Gross.
p. cm.
Originallypublished:Sasiedzi:historiazagłady
zydowskiegomiasteczka.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex.
ISBN0-691-08667-2(alk.paper)
1.Jews—Poland—Jedwabne—History.2.Holocaust,
Jewish(1939–1945)—Poland—Jedwabne.3.Jedwabne
(Poland)—Ethnicrelations.I.Title:Destructionof
theJewishcommunityinJedwabne.II.Title.
DS135.P62 J444 2001
940.53′18′0943843—dc21 00-051685
ThisbookhasbeencomposedinJanson
Printedonacid-freepaper.∞
www.pup.princeton.edu
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.
—Abraham Lincoln,
Annual Message to Congress
DECEMBER 1, 1862
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 3
Outline of the Story 14
Sources 23
Before the War 33
Soviet Occupation, 1939–1941 41
The Outbreak of the Russo-German War
and the Pogrom in RadziłOw 54
Preparations 72
Who Murdered the Jews of Jedwabne? 79
The Murder 90
VII
Plunder 105
Intimate Biographies 111
Anachronism 122
What Do People Remember? 126
Collective Responsibility 132
New Approach to Sources 138
Is It Possible to Be Simultaneously a Victim
and a Victimizer? 143
Collaboration 152
Social Support for Stalinism 164
For a New Historiography 168
Postscript 171
Notes 205
Index 249
CONTENTS
VIII
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
hisbookcouldnothavebeenwrittenwith-
out the assistance of Rabbi Jacob Baker in
New York and Professor Andrzej Paczkowski
in Warsaw. I gratefully acknowledge Rabbi
Baker’s permission to reproduce the photo-
graphs included here. I am grateful to attor-
ney Ty Rogers for putting me in touch with
many former Jedwabne residents and their
descendants.
Iowe adebtof gratitudeto severalpeople
who helped me with the writing of this book.
For the most part I thank them in the end-
notes.Here,Iwouldliketoexpressmyspecial
thanks to Stephanie Steiker for her editorial
assistance and unfailing emotional support, as
IX