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

• A small book, but with a great impact in Poland

  
  By A1Y51DMMLNLU5V on 2001-06-09
  Some readers of Polish heritage find it hard to accept and are surprised, that Poles, and not Nazis, killed Jews in a village. Sadly, they have a knee jerk reaction, they deny it and insult this book's author. Many Americans were surprised to read about the white pogroms against blacks in Tulsa Oklahoma and Rosewood Florida decades ago. But at least they never called these events lies.

  This book presents a generalized discussion on how Poles, with Nazi prodding, burned 1,600 Jews alive in a barn in the northern Polish town of Jedwabne (85 mile NE of Warsaw) in July 1941. Deniers will say it wasn't 1,600, but suffice it to say, at least 200 bodies were recently dug up in part of the barn in June 2001. Seven Jews survived, hidden by a Polish woman. The book tells us how the mayor exceeded the Nazi command of July 10, 1941 to kill the Jews, but spare some tradesmen. The villagers killed nearly everyone, and not just those that may have supported the Soviets, if any (see Gross's "Revolution from Abroad" for a study of pre War Soviet atrocities in Poland). It followed massacres of Jews in two neighboring villages (probably under the leadership of SS-Obersturmfuhrer Hermann Schaper). Polish documents listed some 92 Jedwabne villagers by name who participated in the murders. Some villagers played music while the Jews screamed and burned. The massacre was planned by the town's city council and mayor. It was so grotesque that the town butcher declined to participate. Some Poles brought wagons to carry away Jewish booty. The book contains about 30 pages of photos and 47 pages of footnotes.

  The book has sparked a national debate in Poland. The massacre was never fully investigated, although perfunctory trials were held after WWII. The book tells how a monument was erected that blamed the Nazis and Gestapo for the murders, even though in 1949, 22 Poles were arrested for the murders. Another trial was held in 1953. Older Poles continue to think it was the work of "bandits." Poland's Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek and President Aleksander Kwasniewski have read the book and asked the nation to ask for forgiveness (although Deputy Antoni Macierewicz is now suing the President for defamation to take back the lie that Poles killed Jews). Because of this book’s publication, in May 2001, the head of the Catholic Church in Poland, Jozef Cardinal Glemp, acknowledged Polish involvement in the crime, but of course, Cardinal Glemp also said that the Jews should apologize for bring Communism to Poland (what?). Cardinal Glemp will pray at All Saints Church on Grzybowski Sqaure in Warsaw, across from Warsaw’s synagogue, but maybe he will have All Saints get rid of some of the books they sell in their store, books like “Spot the Jew” and “Jews and Freemasons Working Together.” By the way, in June 2001, due to this book, the barn was exhumed and in it was found the charred remains of a statue (as the book mentions, a statue of Lenin was burned with the Jews), as well as many many house keys and the effects of men, women and children.
  
  

• �Neighbors� � literature or history

  
  By A17MZGURZ5MM0F on 2001-04-11
  Perusing the first few pages of Jan T. Gross' book "Neighbours" one's hopes rise that here we will learn the truth about the crime of Jedwabne. The author is being introduced as a noted historian (by education he is a sociologist), professor of political sciences of the University of New York and author of essays on the subject of Polish-German-Jewish relationships in the years 1939-1948.

  Gross names various sources that he relied on. Unfortunately, as one reads his book, one is assailed by doubts whether the version presented in it is trustworthy. Although Gross mentions various sources and refers to numerous historians, yet in his argumentation he is relying on the statements of one man only - Szmul Wasersztejn, a Jew living in the town, but according to some witnesses, not present there during the massacre. (Teodor Eugeniusz Lusinski to the Institute of Jewish History, 20.03.95, according to Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz). This crown witness of Gross, in Poland went under the name of Calka and not Wasersztein, who after the war had the rank of lieutenant in U.B. (dreaded Communist State Security Forces). This fact was established by Prof. Tomasz Strzembosz, who has been researching this period of Polish history for many years, based on depositions of two reliable witnesses who were interrogated by Wasersztein (Calka) at the UB after the war.

  Another witness whose testimony is used by prof. Gross, Abram Boruszczak, never lived in Jedwabne, and another witness, Eljasz Gradowski, was sentenced by the Soviet authorities for stealing of some electrical equipment and deported to Soviet Union in 1940, well before the events in Jedwabne took place. He returned to Jedwabne in 1945 Prof. Strzembosz draws attention to the credibility of sources and witnesses on which Gross relies.

  In the matter of the Polish witnesses' testimonies, Gross is extensively using the testimonies of people who were interrogated by the U.B. (Communist State Security) in 1949. That organisation was well known for extracting statements from the suspects by using such methods as torture, sleep depravation, beatings and the threat of deportation to Siberia, not only for the suspects, but also for their families.

  Most of the accused recalled their "confessions" in front of the court. This was not only an act of self-defence. It was also a sign of bravery. After all, the accused were immediately returned to the "tender, loving care" of secret police officers, who had tortured the confessions out of them in the first place. Here I would like to remind, that prof. Gross's main witness was one of the functionaries in that apparatus. The confessions were in accordance with a preordained scenario, unofficially promoted by the Communist leadership who promoted the idea that Polish society was "fascist" and "reactionary", what was supposed to create an explanation for the repressive regime and an excuse for the West inaction.

  Yet, it would appear that such facts have no meaning for Prof. Gross, because throughout his book he extensively uses the testimonies of Karol Bardon, originally sentenced to the death penalty, which was commuted to a 15 years prison sentence. Any man subjected to such circumstances would tell anything that the interrogating officer wants him to say, simply to survive. What sort of pressure did the interrogating officers exert on him?

  Testimonies and confessions obtained by such methods wouldn't be admissible in any court of law in any democratic country.

  When on the subject of the witness testimonies and methodology that a historian should use in analysing his sources and then disseminating his findings, I would like to mention the statement that Prof. Gross himself made in the book "Neighbours":

  "As far as the craft of the historian who deals with the era of the gas ovens is concerned, I think we must radically alter our attitude toward the sources. Our initial attitude toward each testimony of near victims of the Holocaust should change from the inquisitive to the affirmative."

  This is a startling statement because it would be practically tantamount to abandoning the scholarly standard.

  In each instance, if possible, historians must attempt to verify the sources, testimonies, recollections and memoirs against other documents. A history scholar needs to apply a rigorous litmus test to each testimony by checking it against other witness account and contemporary documents: Jewish, German, Polish, and Soviet. Finally, he has to divide recollections into first- and second-hand observations and classify their reliability accordingly.

  The lack of scientific honesty on the part of prof. Gross, has been commented on by numerous historians, among others by Dr. Slawomir Radon, chairman of the College of IPN (Polish National Remembrance Institute) conducting the present investigation headed by the public prosecutor Radoslaw Ignatiew. They accuse prof. Gross of drawing premature conclusions without a solid research of Polish and German archives and following up all possible leads.

  Unfortunately, Prof. Gross doesn't adhere to such standards in his book. That's why "Neighbors" should be classified as a literary work and not as historical research, ergo not factual in every aspect.

  Chris Janiewicz
  
  

• ...

  
  By A3DXGTSWLFGE66 on 2001-04-04
  .. Reputable historians in Poland - with the exception, of Prof. Strzembosz... - have not disputed the major fact of the murder of Jews by Poles. They suggested that further study is needed to learn more about this atrocity. The main investigative body has also concurred with Prof. Gross that this murder took place and is investigating the crime. With regard to the book, it is very well documented - considering the documents and testimonies available - and very well presented. The documents and testimonies are corroborated by a number of sources. Professor Gross also writes about the involvement of Germans. He clearly states that this murder would not have been possible without the permission and encouragement from the local Germans. According to some testimonies, several Jews were able to hide in the German germanderie office in Jedwabne. Please read the book and don't let some prejudiced minds to deny you this opportunity. This is history at its best.
  
  

• Important beggining to discution

  
  By A28QPACJDGNISK on 2001-04-04
  I live in Poland and that book was a shock for many of my friends and generally Poles. It showes something very important- that destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne. Jan Tomasz Gross writes that the Poles are responsible for that masacre. As the later relations and facts said: it's propably not true. An author looks at Jedwabne only at his side, he didn't write about a lot of facts that do not correspond with his vision. So- that book is not good historician book.... So- for sure it's a book that you should read. On the other side- definetelly it's not the book you should belive in 100%. We have to wait to the end of investigation about Jedwabne. It is conducted by Institute of National Remembrance Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation...
  
  
  

• "Cautious Skepticism"

  
  By on 2002-11-20
  While interesting reading, and somewhat overdone in terms of the gory detail, one is still lead to not fully take at face value all that is stated by Gross as "fact" in the book.

  By his own admission in the chapter titled "New Approach To Sources", Gross offers us the new way of studying history by suggesting that we should accept "...what we read in a particular account as fact, until we find persuasive arguments to the contrary, we would avoid more mistakes than we are likely to commit by adopting the opposite approach, which calls for cautious skepticism toward any testimony until independent confirmation of it's content has been found".

  If all "historians" were to follow that approach than our historical texts (which are based on empirical evidence) might be full of false information. I am not suggesting that the events described in the book did not happen at all (to the contrary there is independent confirmation of some of what is written), but I am suggesting that all historical subjects be treated with the same "cautious skepticism". The Holocaust of the WW II era should not be afforded any different treatment, just because it may be politically correct to do so.

  Gross has cheated the process by which a historical thesis is made, investigated, proven, and documented, by simply taking a few uncorroborated testimonies at face value. As a respected historian and Professor at New York University, Gross should both know better, and should be ashamed of his behavior as a "historian" in the writing of this book.
  
  

• Does not look into context enough
  By A3737IGS4FMN6O on 2005-11-13
  OK, this book informs about the massacres of Jews in eastern Poland once Germany invaded. It describes the extremes the populations went to in ridding their villages of their Jewry.
  Thus, the portrayals are obvious: Germans - they ordered it but didn't actively take part in it, so they're semi-innocent, semi-guilty; Jews - they were slaughtered, so they're innocent victims; Poles - they did the killing so they're heartless monsters.
  
  I'm Polish and people may claim I'm biased.
  But I've done a lot of reading about the topic of World War II Poland.
  Now, I'm in no way condoning the massacres that occurred at places like Jedwabne. Those that participated in the slaughter are a huge black mark on Polish people. But they in no way represent all Polish people.
  
  The context of the situation that befell the Jews in eastern Poland was this: When 2 years earlier, in September of 1939, the Soviets crossed the border and joined Germany in the partition of Poland, the Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and Jewish ethnic minorities in eastern Poland were largely ecstatic since they never really wanted to be part of Poland. Of course the question comes to mind "why would they want to be part of the Soviet Union when in areas like Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Byelorussia, there was constant starvation and repression on large scales during Stalin's reign even before the war?" Well, those minorities living in eastern Poland were fed by Communist propaganda that life would be so much better for them if they were rid of the Polish "nobles" and joined with the Soviet Union. The Communists in eastern Poland that had orders from Moscow did not tell about the starvations and repressions. Thus, when the Soviets finally did enter these territories, the minorities were welcoming them, according to some accounts, in cities they tore down Polish flags, ripped them in half, and hung the red portion to mimic the communist flag of the USSR. As some Polish troops tried to flee southeast into Romania, when some of the minority groups encountered groups of soldiers, they overwhelmed them and disarmed them. When the Soviets began deporting the Polish population to Siberia and Kazakhstan, many people of the minority groups collaborated with the NKVD agents in listing the intelligentsia and other potential targets, and denounced the Poles to the NKVD to deport them. Granted, the Jews themselves also would come to suffer under Soviet rule as well, but it was many of them and the Byelorussians and Ukrainians that denounced Poles to be deported. It was them that cheered and celebrated the arrival of the Red Army.
  Thus, the remaining Polish population regarded them all as traitors, even though not ALL of them collaborated with the Soviets. This universal condemnation was wrong, but it is the context for the massacre at Jedwabne and other such places in eastern Poland. When the Germans invaded these areas, the Jews were no longer under "Soviet government protection" and Poles were no longer the bottom rung of society over there. Thus, when Germans encouraged and endorsed elimination of the local Jews, the Poles that were not deported in late-1939 and early-1940 had the perfect opportunity to vent their anger and exact revenge.
  This was the contextual situation in eastern Poland. There particularly, the relationship in the inter-war years between Pole and Jew was tense because of the proximity of the Soviet Union which propagated that they would be better off without Polish rule.
  
  Note that there were no such events of Poles massacring Jews in western Poland and central Poland. Why? Because the central-Polish and western-Polish Jews didn't buy the Soviet propaganda of life being better without Poland. In western Poland (incorporated into Germany) and central Poland (made into the General Government, under virtually complete German rule since there were not enough Poles collaborating to create a stable Polish puppet state) the Poles and Jews shared the same fate right from the start - elimination.
  
  So this in no way represents ALL Poles. Just as not ALL Jews collaborated with the Soviets during the Soviet annexation and deportation of Poles. Just as not ALL Germans were Nazis or aware of the mass murder.
  I personally am outraged that anyone here would say that it shows how racist Polish people are and how deceitful Poles are in manipulating the world into thinking that Poland was always the victim and never the wrongdoer.
  If anyone would make these generalizations about an American - that ALL Americans are stupid, or racist, or any other bunch of negative characteristics - there would be international outrage. If anyone would say all Russians are hardcore Communists or all Germans are hardcore Nazis, there would be international outrage. But yet it's completely OK to make these generalizations about Poles or any other ethnicity that isn't a major world power just because they're living in a small country?
  
  People have to recognize that calling EVERYONE in an ethnic group a racist or any other kind of insult, IS racism.
  
  This book would be so much better if it actually presented the context of the situation rather than just the situation. In the form it is currently, it's just the same as drawing conclusions from one sentence of an entire page-long essay without looking at the rest of the essay.
  
  
• Illuminating Study Of Local Massacre During The Holocaust!
  By ALR35EFI69S5R on 2002-10-22
  I first became aware of the controversy over this historically based event with a report on "60 Minutes" a number of months ago in which the author of the book and a variety of various participants, victims' relatives, and others were interviewed some fifty years after the fact about the murderous events that transpired in Jedwabne, Poland in 1941. Of course, Polish authorities deny any such event took place, or that fellow villagers were among those who brutally and systematically murdered more than a thousand of their neighbors with savage efficiency, in some cases using clubs spiked with nails to bludgeon their victims to death. This is truly one of the signal events of the era, serving to illustrate beyond all doubt how much pent-up envy, hostility, and craven greed motivated many of the people who participated in the massacre.

  As was common elsewhere in Europe during the years leading up to the Holocaust, the neighbors of local indigenous Jews were all too ready, willing, and able not only to help in the swift and brutal dispatch of so many innocent people who lived among them, but were also swift in redistributing all of the earthly possessions of the victims, from the houses, farms, and apartments to furniture, clothing, bank accounts, and the rare automobile. Since quite often the local Jewish victims were prominent in the local community, victimizing them usually meant a hefty payday in terms of the material dividend of the acts of wanton murder. Obviously recalling such avarice, lack of remorse, and savage disregard for others is a painful prospect, so Polish authorities are quick to either deny or attempt to explain away any evidence of a local rampage by citizens against their Jewish and Bohemian neighbors.

  The author attempts to locate the events in a context in which a virulent form of anti-Semitism was deliberately unleashed by the Nazis, who were only too happy to let their Polish dupes do their all dirty work for them. What the local Poles didn't realize was that the Nazis had a similar fate planned for them. Yet he also shows how the Nazis were only the precipitating factor in these massacres, and why the local population has to bear the brunt of blame for the events that transpired. He does so in the interest of accurate history, and to set the record straight so that future generations of Poles can benefit by learning the truth about what happened here and why. Only through such honest and sober appraisal of the grisly facts can we learn the lessons of how to avoid such horrific events in the future. The subject matter is controversial, yet the author manages to write a stirring, often passionate account that does credit to his powers of exposition and his humanity. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in an important case study of the details of the Holocaust.
  
  

• A Look into the Dark Side of Human Behavior and Thought
  By A34NE66UZBDBK7 on 2001-06-13
  "Neighbors" makes "Lord of the Flies" look like a kindergarten primer. The deeply disturbing episode, well documented and profoundly moving, is overshadowed by the community's subsequent need to hide its darkest moment. Even generations later, the community's willing denial of its history suggests that people have a compulsion to hide their family secrets from the outside world.

  The book asks more questions than it answers. Yet the questions are nonjudgmental and beg more answers than anger and blame. I shall never forget this story and I recommend it to any who would believe that history cannot be rewritten.
  
  

• The Bigger Picture
  By on 2001-07-09
  Read this book, but look at all the available documentary evidence that is also available. Bear in mind that J.T G's main witness was a member of the Stalin's Gestapo (UB) in communist occupied Poland at the time of the trial against the Poles that were supposed to have been involved. His secound main witness turned out not to be an eye-witness at all, but had been in the Soviet Union under arrest for theft. Himmler was in Bialystok near Jedwabne, on July 1st he issued Himmler order no2- instigate actions against the Jewish population and make them appear as if they are local initiatives. If everybody thinks the Poles did it, maybe that is what everyone was intended to think. No explanation has been given by J.T.G. of the spent German cartridge cases littered around the area of the barn entrance. The main victims of communist and nazi at the outset of the war were Catholic Poles. By the time of the invasion of the Soviet Union 1.6 million had been deported from Poland's eastern territories and half were already dead. These people were being deported from areas around Jedwabne and all across Poland's eastern borderlands. Add to this the tens of thousands of Poles killed by the invading Germans and the tens of thousands that were being arrested and sent to concentration camps in western Poland you may begin to see a picture, if you want to, of a Poland that J.T.G will not show you. The shocking picture that J.T.G. conjures up for readers of Poles this case 'helping' nazis, takes readers eyes off the bigger picture in eastern (and western ) occupied Poland at this time which even J.T.G. wrote about in his earlier books. That some Jews collaborated with the Soviets. Two million Poles were murdered by the communists and the country only regained its freedom 10 years ago. Despite this the ordinairy people never accepted the values that the communists tried to impose. There is little written about their sacrifices. Read the book, but look at the bigger picture to get a better understanding.
  
  
• Accepts questionable testimony, ignores others
  By AM0HTTAYQXK9O on 2002-01-16
  There is little doubt something terrible happened to the Jews of Jedwabne. There is also little doubt that Poles had something to do with it, and bear some responsibility. Yet Prof. Gross takes the extremely detailed testimony of mostly one person as unquestioned truth, and does not seriously consider other witness accounts, for instance, of primary Nazi rather than Polish involvement.
  This, of course, is another manifestation of the Polish-Jewish historical conflict being painted only in colors of black and white: All Jews good... All (except perhaps .001%) Poles bad.
  "Neighbors" briefly touched on a core issue in this region in Poland. At the time of the Soviet invasion from the east, many Poles were removed from their homes. Some were killed, many were sent to work camps (copper mines and the like) in Siberia. The infrastructure that removed the Poles from the area (with Soviet blessing) was "90% Jewish", based on many eyewitness accounts. Could this have turned some good Poles into bad? Gross brushes this aside with an attitude implying complete irrelevance and/or disbelief. Why do Gross and other Holocaust writers not consider ALL inhumanity, not simply the specific inhumanity they want to see?
  Poles and Jews need to come to terms with their past. This did not seem necessarily true-one sided-one witness version of a terrible act will do more harm than good.
  
  
• Misleading book
  By on 2002-09-25
  The book is written in American style of the Wild West and not cold analysis. Gross attempts to shock the reader with tumbling heads and other macabre scenes of pornographic proportions. The author does not understand the basic principles of historical scholarship which strive at understanding and not sensationalism. The main theses are painted with heavy strokes of brush: the bigger the splash the better. Hence the unproven thesis in the book that the Polish part of Jedwabne murdered the Jewish one. The majority of incidents Gross describes are based on personal testimonies of people who were not present in Jedwabne during the day of the massacre. Some of them were as far away from Jedwabne as Siberia on that fateful day and learned of the massacre only after their return to Jedwabne after the war. The other body of documents Gross draws on are the court documents from the Stalinist trials where people were beaten in order to extort false confessions. This is not a reliable account, it rather amounts to an elementary ABC for aspiring Polonophobes. By writing this book the way he wrote Gross violated the memory of those who were murdered in Jedwabne.
  
  
• At least it has spurred a search for the real truth
  By AS5MRO35AN3GQ on 2001-07-24
  The author would like to take the tragedy of Jedwabne and construct around it a tale of Polish anti-Semitism and cruelty. But any serious reader of this book owes it to the memory of the victims, that the story of their suffering is not used to distort history, for whatever motives. What happened at Jedwabne? There are differing views. Unfortunately, the author does not give serious credence to any viewpoint except his own. The intellectually lazy approach to historical research employed here would not pass muster at any university. The only good that could come of this work is that it has at least opened a debate, and intensified a search for the real truth, among more serious scholars. Whether the massacre at Jedwabne was in reality perpetrated by the Poles or the Germans, we may someday find out... But not as any direct result of this author's seriously flawed sensationalist effort.
  
  
• Ignores German Archives and Much Other Pertinent Data
  By on 2001-08-12
  The information from German archives, totally ignored by Gross, together with other evidences likewise omitted by Gross, virtually establish the Germans and not the Poles as the perpetrators of the crime against Jews at Jedwabne. As for why books such as these are written, read the book (The Holocaust Industry) written by a courageous Jewish author, Norman Finkelstein.
  
  
• Mr. Gross's book is a gross mistake..
  By A21RJQEVWDK1O9 on 2002-02-14
  It amazes me, that once every couple of years a book like this one comes out and is sadly taken by some as the actual account of what really happened. I find this book not only inaccurate but mostly simply presumptuous and lacking any sort of historical data. Once the investigation has been completed, there needs to be another book to set the record straight. One wonders if the next publication from this author will try to proove that Hitler was Polish...
  
  
• Something happened
  By on 2002-09-19
  "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne,
  Poland" is a controversial book whose reputation suffers the more
  independent research is done on it. Gross' number of 1600 victims has been reduced to 400 or less, as the mass graves were investigated by authorities with Rabbis standing by.

  (In comparison 3,000,000 Polish-Jews were killed in the rest of Poland by Nazis. Notably also 2,000,000 (half by Soviets) non-Jewish Poles died at the same time. How many at the hands of the hundreds of (well documented) Jewish Commissars? Probably many times more than 400.)

  By his own admission in recent interviews; Gross concludes that his exploration of the evidence was "incomplete", as the presence of German soldiers everywhere was brought out by witnesses some from as far away as Israel. What was the purpose of this book - one could speculate - self hatred?

  It's a narrowly (amateurishly) researched book, long on drama short on verity. Many exist significantly more broadly based.
  
  

• A Terrible but True Story
  By A3328WLU66BC49 on 2001-04-06
  ... Gross's book is well researched and documented and includes accounts of Polish villagers in Jedwabne, including massacre participants, and not just the few Jewish survivors. He documents a pattern of Polish wartime and postwar violence toward Jews, not just in Jedwabne but in other cities and towns across Poland. It was a shocking eye-opener. This is definitely a book worth reading for those interested in an unvarnished portrait of wartime Polish-Jewish relations.
  
  
  
• We Don't Know the Facts Yet
  By A26808CI11GOUY on 2001-11-14
  It amazes me that this book is placed in the nonfiction category of books. The reader should not be misled, as this is not a historical documentary. The official state investigation in Poland is not completed. The verdict is not in yet. All of the relevant evidence indicates that it was a German, not Polish, crime. One hundred bullets found in the area of the barn are German ones--and the Poles had not access to German arms at that time. There is a pattern of consistent German crimes in that geographic area, based on the same scenario, during this very small interval of time. There is no other example of Poles committing such a large crime against the Jews from that period of time. Jan Thomas Gross, the author, never visited Jedwabne prior to writing this book. He never interviewed Polish Catholic witnesses. Gross used second-hand denunciations from the NKVD officer (Wasserstejn), said during the postwar period, aimed at accusing the Polish population of a crime that he had not witnessed himself. At best, this book can be viewed as a treatise on Gross' private vision of events during, few of which are confirmed by forensic research.
  
  
• Let's get the facts straight
  By on 2003-01-09
  This book is a rather poor effort in describing an event of World War 2. Gross only looks at one side of the issue...the plight of the Jews, and doesn't take into consideration what was going on in Poland during the war.

  Let's remember that Poland was invaded by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and that the Poles fought to the best of their ability. The Poles that were able to escape formed the 4th largest Allied army of World War 2. Only 2 European countries never collaborated with Nazi Germany....Great Britain and Poland.

  No where is mentioned the massacre at the Katyn Forest, where the Soviet secret police under orders from Stalin, assassinated captured Polish officers.

  Only in Poland was the act of hiding a Jew punishable by death! No other Occupied European country had this punishment.Yet Poles did hide and protect their Jewish neighbors even in face of this punishment. Those Jews who where hidden by the Poles have admitted that they could not perform such an heroic act if the roles were reversed. That is how great the Poles were willing to sacrifice!

  Israel has honored those who protected the Jews during the war. More Poles are honored than any other nationality!
  
  

• Isn't is enough of Jewish exploitaton of the history?
  By on 2001-08-10
  A book rising the blood pressure in those who know true history. Very narrowly the author addressed an issue of Jedwabne. Why now? After almost 60 years? Is it because there is no more people who wittnessed this happening? Is it better to speak when accused are not among us anymore? Can you imagine 1600 peolpe fitting into the barn? Isn.t it impossible? Now they have proofs it is impossible, but so many people read this book. Why did it even happen? A lot of historians write articles now about the reasons. ...those who researched this story know that there were reasons which started the whole proces. It wasn't just because. Poles had a war on their land. ...Neverless so many Poles helped jews to survive. Some of the Poles paid with their own lifes. ...Recent articles present reasons behind Jedwabne happening bringing more and more into the picture. Those of you who read this book should follow up to find out more. There are alwys reasons for certain historical situations. Let's have the whole picture. ...I wish readers will further research this story and not base their views on this very biased opinion.
  
  
• Disappointing
  By A3700D4RVR369Y on 2001-08-16
  I had high hopes for this book after reading several print reviews of it. My hopes were tempered after reading some of the criticisms by readers here. Sadly, after reading it I agree more with the negative reviews than the positive ones.

  The subject matter is shocking, no doubt. But the dry, academic and amateurish way in which Gross presents it detracts from the book's value. In addition, the author rarely backs up his statements with evidence--I'm talking about statements like "a society's history is comprised of discrete events; therefore all events impact all other events" (paraphrase)--not so much the anecdotes regarding the actual mass murder.

  Compared to Ambrose, who writes a compelling and character-based narrative with seeming ease; and with Prange, whose exhaustive research regarding Pearl Harbor was brought to the page with density and complexity but still with drama; and even Toland, whose politics I disagree with but whose writing style is exciting; Gross has a long ways to go. This reads like an average Master's Thesis. Maybe it is, I don't know.
  
  

• hysteria is no substitute for history
  By on 2001-04-07
  Gross has tried to write a careful and responsible history. I can understand why some Poles and Polish Americans are so upset and angry about this book--they accept guilt by association. But unless they were in Jedwabne and participated in the events the book describes, this book should not be a source of shame. It is absolutely true that a number of Poles risked their lives to save the lives of Jews during the Nazi occupation. It is also true that a number of Poles took advantage of the opportunity provided by the Nazis to murder and rob Jewish neighbors, or to profit from betraying Jews in hiding to the authorities. The whole point of this book, it seems to me, is that each of us must accept responsibility for what we do, and for what we ought to have done and didn't, as well as insist that others accept responsibility for what they do. What other basis for a just society can there be?
  
  
• Will true historical justice ever be done?
  By A3QBM06L55UP6K on 2005-05-09
  In recent years, many historians, especially from the U.S., have accused Poles of being rabid anti-Semites during the war years, willing to turn in Jews to the Nazis. Although anti-Semitism existed in Poland, it was much lower than in many other nations. In fact, many- Poland excluded- have collaborated in their extermination with the Germans (including Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Latvians, and, yes, the "Allied" French. Poland was the only Axis-occupied country in which a Gentile would receive the death penalty for aiding Jews, making this difficult. The fact that 85% of Poland's Jews spoke no Polish or spoke it with a challenging dialect made hiding them even harder. Nonetheless, over half (the #1 nationality) honored at the Righteous Among the Nations in Israel (which honors Gentiles who aided Jews) are indeed Poles. Those honored represent only a small percentage, since most were caught by the Nazis and killed. Few Poles collaborated with Germans. After all, Hitler killed 3 million Polish Catholics and hated them just slightly less than Jews. Auschwitz was originally built to murder Poles, regardless of ethnic origin, and thus mostly non-Jewish. During the Middle Ages, Jews from all over Europe flooded to Poland where they were treated well and could practice their religion unlike in most other countries. If you don't believe me, visit Krakow. If this tragedy was perpetrated by Poles, then it is indeed a tragedy and a shame. However, it has been over-commercialized and now many people try to blame an entire nation for one violent incident in a rural backwards village. You're telling me that there never were anti-black massacres in rural America? Germany, the U.S.S.R., and Japan all committed thousands of atrocities against people of other nations during World War II that happened over the course of years, not one day. Prof. Gross should stop trying to make lots of money at the expense of an entire nation. For a clearer look at Poland during World War II, read Wladyslaw Szpilman's The Pianist (which is written by an actual Polish Jew who survived the occupation of Warsaw), Norman Davies' Rising '44 and The Forgotten Holocaust, and Olson's A Question of Honor.
  
  
• Not Exactly Logical in Its Reasoning
  By on 2003-03-31
  This book is worthwhile for those who need apparent support for their anti-Polish prejudices. It includes the Germans, who would be all too happy to try to dilute their guilt, as well as western Europeans (notably the French, Norwegians, etc.) who were the big league collaborators with the German Nazis. Even if Gross was entirely correct, many more Jedwabnes would be needed for the Poles to even approach the level of guilt of the western Europeans. No wonder that positive reviews of this book were written by buck-passing western Europeans. It also serves as one more symptom of how Holocaust education has departed from historical truth. The fact that some politically-correct Poles may support it does not change this fact. However, the most striking thing about this book is the lack of logic in several of Gross' arguments. For instance, Gross tries to deny the extensive Jewish involvement in Communism by pointing out the (correct) fact that many Jews were deported to Siberia along with the Poles. This would negate the large Jewish collaboration with the Communists only if one Jew would never betray another Jew. Using the same illogic, one could argue that the Judenrat never existed vis a vis the German-made Holocaust. Gross' selective presentation of evidence to support his position is little better than his logic.
  
  
• Nieghbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwab
  By on 2001-05-08
  The emotional response to this book may be the best reason to read it. This book not only unveils history - it also makes it. Polish antisemitism is a historical fact. Those in denial should do a little reading (something as basic as "The Doll" by Boleslaw Prus, in which he almost predicts the Holocaust) before posting hostile internet messages. They are an embarrasment to all rational Poles. But the good news here is that "Neighbors" has galvanized a spirited debate and prompted a lot of soul-searching in Poland. Young people are finally taught history as it happened, not the romanticized version invented by nationalistic writers, backed by communist revisionists, and accepted by a generation of Poles with a guilty conscience. There may be a time when Gross' book will be remembered as a turning point in Polish-Jewish relations -- a turning point that also marked Poland's transition into a mature nation at last free to deal truthfully with its past.
  
  
• "The Rabble" Did It
  By AGSWTH7SP2256 on 2001-08-14
  There are a couple of things to remember when analyzing Gross' highly disturbing little book. First, as he points out, "divide and conquer" is one of the main strategies of totalitarian governments. Groups are set against other groups so that the state remains supreme above all else. In this case Christians were set upon Jews, but the principle remains frighteningly relevant in today's "identity politics." When races, genders, or ethnicities are unable to settle their differences in a civilized way, those who lust only after power have an opening. Second, Gross quotes the political philosopher Eric Voegelin in saying that totalitarianism appeals to "the rabble"--people who are spiritually dead, who cannot be influenced by spiritual or rational means, but only by who's got the guns and the authority . "The rabble" are distributed among all classes and nations, not just one or two. They were the backbone of *both* Hitlerism and Stalinism. As a reviewer in the press said about this terrifying account, "Why did the people of Jedwabne murder their neighbors? The answer is chillingly simple: because they could."
  
  
• Anti-Polish Trash Teaches a Valuable Lesson
  By on 2001-10-22
  Gross,the author,falsely accuses the Poles of herding the Jews of Jedwabne into a barn and setting them on fire. Never mind the fact that actual witnesses, conveniently ignored by Gross, indicate that it was the Germans who committed this atrocity. But I give this book three stars because it nevertheless is valuable: All of the uncritical adulation this mendacious book has gotten in academia and the media serves as a valuable indicator of the depth of anti-Polish bias that exists in these pseudo-intellectual circles. Well done, Herr Jan Thomas Gross. Goebbels would have been proud.
  
  
• My "Primary" Sources of Information Versus Gross'
  By A3Q04XXGGED746 on 2002-04-01
  The claims of this book must be neither blindly accepted (as a host of TV programs have done) nor blindly rejected. Having read it, I have also interviewed some near-witnesses living in the Chicago area (they lived several kilometers away from Jedwabne). While none of them are direct eyewitnesses to the Jews being pushed into the local barn and burned there, neither are any of Gross' "witnesses", one of whom was a Communist with an obvious axe to grind. This itself says something about the quality of Gross' book! My sources of indirect information are UNANIMOUS in their immediate word-of-mouth reports implicating the Germans, and NOT the local Poles, as the killers of Jedwabne's Jews. These sources also report the local Poles being FORCED to participate in the roundup of Jews. So either all of my sources of information are lying, or Gross' tendacious sources are lying. Which is it? Now, as a Polish-American, I have no problem admitting Poles' faults if they are true, but will NEVER accept a false or questionable accusation as truth. I urge the same to the professional Polonophobes, as well as those Poles (including those in the present government, and even in the investigating commission) who are evidently more interested in political correctness than in arrival at the truth. I also urge that the FULL story be told. Gross' denials to the contrary, the Jewish collaboration with the Soviet Communists was large, and certainly existed as a major provocation in Polish-Jewish relations then. BOTH sides were capable of resorting to murder: Hundreds of Polish civilians, including women and children, were killed by bands of Jews in the villages of Naliboki and Koniuchy. Perhaps it is no surprise that Gross fails to discuss these facts at all. Let us hear only the truth and the full truth of these tragic events which affected both Poles as well as Jews.
  
  
• This Mediocre Work was Actually Nominated for a Book Award
  By on 2001-11-21
  It is incredible that a book whose thesis rests on a few non-eyewitnesses (one of them a pro-Soviet, anti-Polish Jewish Communist--Wassersteyn), and which is so soundly contradicted by other sources omitted by the author Gross, could be so highly acclaimed and even nominated for a Book Award. There is little doubt that it was the German Nazis, and not the local Poles, who murdered approximately 150-400 (not 1,600)local Jews by pushing them into a barn and then setting it on fire. Either the critics have somehow forgotten all of the standards for judging the accuracy of books that purport to deal with historic events, or there is some agenda afoot to blacken Poland's reputation. Perhaps this is part of the Holocaust Industry, in this case the attempt to extort "reparations" money from Poland (for further discussion of this, see the Jewish author, Norman Finkelstein, and his book, THE HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY).
  
  
• For shame
  By on 2002-03-13
  As a Catholic Pole, I must apologize for the embarassing ignorance and arrogance of my fellow countrymen, apparently so many of them antisemitic, who can't stand to hear anything but the usual story of the martyr nation. Real Poles, those in Poland, are better able to confront their past than ethnic Poles in this country. This is an excellent book, its findings cannot be denied, and even the Polish government now acknowledges this.
  
  
• seminal study of Polish participation in Holocaust murders
  By AX724J32HPG1J on 2002-06-16
  In the small Polish city of Jedwabne, a stone monument notes that some 1600 Jedwabne Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II. Professor Jan Gross' concise and convincing monograph, "Neighbors," marshalls direct historical evidence and a creative historiography to prove "beyond reasonable doubt, and as Jedwabne citizens knew all along, it was their [Polish] neighbors who killed them." Gross, with excruciating detail, dissects the July 10, 1941, murder of practically every Jewish man, woman and child in that small Polish city. What makes Gross' research important is that this slaughter was not Nazi-inspired, but initiated, orchestrated and celebrated by Poles themselves. This direct indictment of Polish involvement (not mere complicity or helpless bystanding) shatters a half-century of Polish myth-making about that nation's alleged victimhood during World War II.

  Professor Gross does not sensationalize the actual murder itself. A day-long orgy of violence, which was at once primitive and comprehensive, featured the climax of burning alive those Jews who had not perished in the mayhem of the day. In fact, not only did the non-Jewish Poles of Jedwabne participate; participants from other nearby Polish communities, themselves veterans of other pogroms, journeyed to Jedwabne to commit depredations on the Jewish population. Instead, Gross focuses on the impact this research may have on Polish national identity. In this sense, Gross simultaneously adds to and departs from standard interpretations of the Holocaust.

  His research is the least creative in his reaffirmation of the now widely-accepted thesis that those involved in the destruction of European Jewry did so volitionally. Jedwabne's murderers are "willing executioners" in the purest sense of the word. "Everybody who was in town on this day and in possession of a sense of sight, smell or hearing either participated in or witnessed the tormented deaths of the Jews of Jedwabne." Yet "Neighbors" will not leave its mark on Holocaust historiography as a mere reaffirmation of the Browning/Goldhagen thesis of uncoerced genocide. Professor Gross' monography deserves praise for the questions it poses and the new directions it stakes out.

  More important is Gross' investigation of how thoroughly Jew hatred has saturated Polish society and how that vicious prejudice found outlet through the Nazi policy of annihilation. His research disabuses theorists who propound a "modernist" interpretation of the Holocaust. His analysis of the Jedwabne massacre asks for a "heterogeneous" interpretation of the event; one which acknoledges that many participants acted with the most primitive of instruments, without bureaucracy to direct their efforts and from a myriad of purposes and motivations. He challenges future historians to accept and cherish the accounts of survivors instead of treating them with skepticism. "The greater the catastrophe the fewer the survivors. We must be capable of listening to lonely voices reaching us from the abyss."

  Finally, Professor Gross may make his greatest contribution to the future of a genuinely free Poland with his invocation to an inclusive history of Poland's involvement in the destruction of its own population, its own Jews, during World War II. Eschewing collective responsibility, Professor Gross nonetheless warns Poles of the danger of ignoring this extraordinary event in its past. To ignore involvement in mass murder vitiates future claims to moral coherence. It is this call to conscience that makes the terse "Neighbors" a critical additition to Holocaust historiography.
  
  

• Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
• Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz
• Survival In Auschwitz
• War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust (Critical Issues in History)
• Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany (Studies in Jewish History)