*** From [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Konrad M Lepecki) The Guardian (London) July 11, 2001 Guardian Foreign Pages, Pg. 14 Poland says sorry for slaughter of Jews: Villagers refuse to accept responsibility as president says Poles murdered 1,600 in Jedwabne in 1941 Kate Connolly in Berlin Poland's president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, issued an emotional apology yesterday, after admitting for the first time that Poles were responsible for killing almost the entire Jewish population of a north-eastern village 60 years ago. Many Poles hoped the memorial ceremony held in Jedwabne would finally bring an end to months of controversy, unleashed after a historian rubbished the long-held theory that German soldiers were responsible for the killings. Speaking as heavy rain fell in the poor farming village, Mr Kwasniewski stressed that nothing justified the crime, despite claims by some Poles that the Jews were rightly punished for having betrayed them to the Russians, who subsequently sent many of the Poles to Siberia. "We can have no doubt that here in Jedwabne Polish citizens were killed at the hands of fellow citizens," Mr Kwasniewski said. "For this crime we should beg for forgiveness from the souls of the dead and their families. "This is why today, as both a citizen and president of the republic of Poland, I apologise," he said. "I apologise in my own name, and in the name of those Poles whose conscience is shattered by that crime." The apology is seen by Polish commentators as an indication that their leaders are ready to question the image Poles have long held of themselves as heroic victims of Nazi aggression. But many Poles refused to take part in yesterday's ceremony, claiming that it was a plot to destabilise their country. The Polish Catholic church refused invitations to attend, after its highest authority, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, said that Poles were being "constantly vilified". The local priest, Edward Orlowski, protested against the apology by staying at home like most of the village's 2,000 residents. "These are all lies," he said. "I am spending the day quietly at home. This is Holocaust business, it is not my business. Germans are responsible, so why should we apologise?" Throughout Jedwabne, residents made their feelings known. Leaflets posted in several shops by the Committee for Protection of Poland's Good Name stated: "We're not going to apologise. It was the Germans that murdered the Jews of Jedwabne." In his book, Neighbours, the New York University professor Jan Tomasz Gross recounted how Poles had embarked on a murderous rampage on July 10 1941, killing 1,600 Jews. Many were driven into a barn at the edge of the village which was then burned to the ground. The publication prompted an official investigation into the killings which has still to deliver its final results. A thorough excavation of the site was undertaken, despite some opposition in the Jewish community towards disturbing the remains of the dead. One of the preliminary discoveries is that Nazi soldiers were present at the killings, which some have interpreted as vindication of the Poles. Yesterday's 3,000 mourners included around 70 relatives of victims from the US, Israel and South America, along with Polish leaders. After they walked through the fields to the barn, a memorial was dedicated to the dead. A New York rabbi, Jakob Baker, who was born in the area but left before the massacre, said the recognition of the crimes should be part of a learning process. "We have an obligation: we need this land, our Poland, to train little babies, children in school and in universities that they should learn about ghettos and the Holocaust and what the Jewish people did for Poland for 1,000 years," he said. The Jewish prayer for the dead, the Kaddish , was recited before stones were laid on the monument. -- Konrad M. Lepecki + + + + + + + + + + + + http://members.tripod.com/~tytus/Welcome.html =============================================================== Lista 'Forum Zagraniczne' Administrator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archiwum: http://www.mail-archive.com/forum.zagraniczne@3w3.net
