The Legacy of Jedwabne, a
film by Slawomir Grunberg
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Documentary. 56 mins. USA. English, Polish
& Spanish with English subtitles
Inspired by Jan Gross’ book titled Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish
Community in Jedwabne, this film tells a shocking and brutal story that has been kept a
secret in Poland for over 60 years. It tells the story of a pogrom in 1941 in Jedwabne,
Poland and explores the implications of the past for present constructions and
negotiations of personal, national and religious identity.
In the small town of Jedwabne in Northeast Poland, Jews lived side by side with local
Poles for over two centuries; by the outbreak of the Second World War, they constituted
more than half of the town’s 2,500 inhabitants. Relations were peaceful for the most
part until July 10, 1941 when, just days after the Germans occupied Jedwabne, almost the
entire Jewish population of the town was murdered. Beginning in the morning, Jews were
chased, beaten and killed with clubs, knives and iron bars. Women were raped; a small
girl’s head was cut off and kicked about. Jews were rounded up from their homes and
brought to the market square where the town rabbi and others were forced to carry the
statue of Lenin and to sing, "The war is because of us." At the end of the day,
all remaining Jews were forced into a nearby barn that was then doused with gasoline and
set on fire. Music was played to drown out their cries. No Jewish witnesses were meant to
survive, but seven managed to escape.
A memorial plaque that was erected at the site of the barn after the war read: "Here
is the site of the massacre where the Gestapo and Hitler's gendarmes burned alive 1600
Jewish people. 10.VII. 1941." Such was the official version of history for almost 60
years, until the appearance of the book Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community
of Jedwabne, Poland by Jan T. Gross, a Polish-born Professor at NYU. In the course of his
research, Gross discovered that, in fact, it was not the recently arrived Nazis, but local
Polish residents who had carried out this massacre. The book, first published in Polish in
May 2000, caused a painful and far-reaching public debate. The dispute was fueled by the
realization that the book would soon appear in English, making the story widely known
beyond Poland's borders.
On July 10, 2001, the 60th anniversary of the massacre, a nationally televised
commemoration ceremony was held during which the President of Poland apologized for the
massacre in Jedwabne and for other crimes committed by Poles against Jews. Earlier that
year, Polish bishops held a mass in which they did the same. These public apologies were
held amidst heated controversy: Poles were divided over whether or not the Polish
President should—or even had the right to—apologize at the ceremony on their
behalf.
A Polish investigation into the massacre was conducted by the Institute of National Memory
(IPN), a government body responsible for investigating crimes against the nation. In
December 2001, IPN’s director held a press conference stating that, not only did
local Poles perpetrate the massacre without the active involvement of Nazi forces, but the
Jedwabne pogrom was not an isolated incident: hundreds of Jews were murdered in similar
attacks in over 20 towns in the region. With this made public, the decision of whether or
not the inscription on a new monument at Jedwabne should state who was responsible for the
killings quickly became a point of contention. For many Poles, a re-evaluation of their
memory of the war is not easy to accept. With few Jews remaining in Poland, contemporary
Poles are struggling to come to terms with both a rich and traumatic Polish-Jewish past.
While Jews and some Poles are seeking historical accuracy and closure, many older Poles
feel that their national identity is at stake. There is also fear that Jews want to
reclaim their property or obtain reparations from Poland.
Polish behavior towards Jews during the Second World War has long been a taboo subject in
Poland. Throughout the communist period, the Holocaust was not generally taught in schools
or discussed at home. Underlying today’s debate is the sentiment of among many Poles
that Jews have co-opted a legacy of martyrdom that should rightfully belong to them. After
all, Poles were also victims of the Nazi and the Soviet regimes and offered determined
resistance to both; close to a fifth of the population of pre-war Poland died during WWII.
Many Polish gentiles who helped save Jews during the war keep quiet even today, afraid of
persecution by their neighbors.
That the Jedwabne story has resonated so widely highlights how intensely alive the past
remains today. This story complicates our understanding of the Holocaust, forcing us to
grapple with elements stemming from spontaneous and local forms of ethnic tension and
violence, rather than from the Nazi hierarchy. This pivotal issue in contemporary
Polish-Jewish dialogue is particularly salient for American Jewry, the majority of whose
ancestors came from Poland. One focus of the film is how Jews born in America after the
war can relate to what they know about Poland from their families. How is memory passed
from generation to generation and is there room for shifting paradigms? Contests over the
past and competing historical memories play a serious role in ethnic/religious conflicts
in the present, as evidenced in Rwanda, the Balkans, India, and Israel. The Legacy of
Jedwabne poses a momentous and important question: what are the ramifications of history
for Jews and for Gentiles on present interpretations of cultural and religious identity?
The story of the Jedwabne massacre continues to be a painful wound in the hearts and minds
of both Polish Christians and Jews. One can only hope that true history reveals itself in
all of our lives, even if this occurs several generations later. This thought-provoking
film will spark dynamic dialogue about the importance of historical memory for
negotiations of cultural identity and for Jewish-gentile relations; by initiating and
encouraging this dialogue, this film will increase tolerance and understanding, thereby
forging new alliances between Jews and non-Jews.
Festivals
Jewish Culture Festival, Warsaw of Singer and Kinoteka Polska, Warsaw, Poland, 2007
Special Prize for 'an intelligent treatment of an important national issue' at Rozstaje
Europy 'Crossroads of Europe" The International Days of Documentary Films in Lublin,
Poland, 2007
Festival of Jewish Cinema, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, 2006
Jewish Film Festival at Washington DC Jewish Community Center, USA, 2006
Human Rights Film Festival at Oxford Brookes University, UK
Krakow International Film Festival, Poland , 2005
Televised Broadcasts
PBS
Link TV
Polish Television Network - Channel Kultura
Planete Poland
Russian Cable - Channel Nostalgia
Al Jazeera TV
Discovery Communications Europe (Poland)Official Site
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