Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland
ISBN 9788386872138 | |
Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland is a book published in 2000 written by Princeton University historian
The book was first published in Polish as Sąsiedzi: Historia zagłady żydowskiego miasteczka (lit. Neighbors: The History of Destruction of a Jewish Town). An English translation was published in 2001.[1]
Background
In 1988 Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Arnold went to Jedwabne with a film-crew and produced two documentaries based on interviews with the local villagers. Gdzie mój starszy syn Kain (1999, “Where Is My Older Son Cain”) was inspired by an ongoing debate in the Polish print media. The second one, Sąsiedzi (2001, “Neighbors”), was aired by the Polish TVP II Channel.
Gross has said that watching Arnold's films inspired him to write his book. With her approval, he used her transcriptions of interviews, in addition to other materials, and her second film title for the title of his book.[2][3] Arnold was unhappy about the effects of the book on the Jedwabne people.[4]
Content and impact
The book describes the perpetration of the massacre by Polish civilians (a fact first noted by
At the time of the book's publication, the Nazi plan
Neighbors provoked an intensive two-year debate in Poland on Polish-Jewish relations.[15] In response to Neighbors, the Polish Parliament ordered an investigation of the Jedwabne pogrom, the IPN investigation. From May 2000 onward, Jedwabne became a frequent topic of discussion in the Polish media. A list compiled by the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita counted over 130 articles in Polish on the pogrom.[16] The Catholic periodical Wiez published a collection of 34 articles on the Jedwabne pogrom, Thou shalt not kill: Poles on Jedwabne, available in English.[17] In 2003 an extensive collection of articles from the Polish debate, in English translation, was compiled by Joanna Michlic and Professor Antony Polonsky of Brandeis University and published under the title The Neighbors Respond.[18]
Neighbors sparked a controversy in Poland. Some readers refused to accept it as a factual account of the Jedwabne pogrom. While Polish historians praised Gross for drawing attention to a topic that had received insufficient attention for a half-century,[19] Marek Jan Chodakiewicz and Tomasz Strzembosz criticized Neighbors for including accounts they considered uncorroborated, and for editorial decisions they believed Gross had made, such as favoring testimonies that presented the Poles in the worst possible light when there were conflicting accounts.[20][citation needed]
Neighbors inspired among Poles "a new curiosity in Polish Jewish history," including for the Polish film director and screenwriter
Reception
Polish edition
As noted by Joshua D. Zimmerman in his book about contested Polish history, Neighbors inspired a wide-ranging debate in Poland on its release in 2000. While the mainstream Polish press expressed consensus regarding the basic accuracy of Gross's findings, specific details and questions about Gross's methodology were debated by Polish scholars.[22][page needed]
According to Jaroslaw Anders, although the book has been criticized in Poland, it has also generated acknowledgment from leading Polish figures such as
Stanisław Musiał, who had been a leading figure in advocating a Catholic-Jewish dialogue and Polish-Jewish reconciliation, wrote that Gross' book had shattered the myth that Poles were solely victims who "themselves never wronged anyone."[27][page needed] Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska, a former deputy editor-in-chief of the Polish Catholic magazine Znak and Polish consul-general, wrote "I am convinced that Neighbors is a book which had to be written and which is needed. Facing up to the painful truth of Jedwabne is, in my conviction, the most serious test that we Poles have had to confront in the last decade."[28][page needed]
According to
Gross defended the conclusions he drew from his use of testimonials, and insisted that he differentiated between types of testimony. He pointed out that Neighbors contained "an extensive justification why depositions produced during a trial conducted in Stalinist Poland, extracted by abusive secret police interrogators, are credible in this case."[31][32]
English edition
Neighbors was a 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist and a 2001 National Book Award Finalist.[33][34] The publication of Neighbors was credited with launching a debate about the Polish role in the Holocaust.[35][36] Bernard Wasserstein described the book as having "played a productive role in refreshing Polish collective memory of this aspect of World War 2."[37]
In other media
Neighbors and its surrounding controversy inspired
Further reading
- Antony Polonsky and Joanna Michlic (eds), The Neighbors Respond (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004)
- Marek Chodakiewicz, The Massacre in Jedwabne July 10, 1941. Before, During and After (Boulder CO: East European Monographs, 2005)
- Israel Bartal, Antony Polonsky, Scott Ury, (eds.) Jews and their Neighbours in Eastern Europe since 1750 (Oxford: Littman, 2012).
References
- ^ Neighbors By Jan Tomasz Gross, Princeton University Press, 2001. Google Books
- ^ 65. urodziny Agnieszki Arnold (On the 65 birthday of Agnieszka Arnold). Archived 2012-10-06 at the Wayback Machine Stowarzyszenie Filmowców Polskich, 2010.
- ^ Michał Okoński (2001), archival copy of Sprawiedliwi z Jedwabnego (Righteous from Jedwabne) published by Tygodnik Powszechny. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
- ^ Robert Walenciak (March 2008), archival copy of Polacy, Żydzi i... strach Tygodnik Przegląd. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
- ^ Jedwabne, July 10th, 1941: an Interview with Pawel Machcewicz Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, Director, Office of Public Education, Institute of National Remembrance.
- ^ Craig Whitlock, "A Scholar's Legal Peril in Poland", Washington Post Foreign Service, Friday, January 18, 2008; Page A14
- ^ "The Institute of National Remembrance | Manslaughter of Jewish Inhabitants of Jedwabne". Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2015-05-12.
- ^ "Findings of Investigation S 1/00/Zn into the Murder of Polish Citizens of Jewish Origin in the Town of Jedwabne on 10 July 1941", pursuant to Article 1 Point 1 of the Decree of 31 August 1944. In: Antony Polonsky & Joanna B. Michlic, eds. The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland. Princeton University Press, 2003.
- Senate of the Republic of Poland. Stenograph, part 2.2. Archived 2008-04-23 at the Wayback Machine Report by Leon Kieres, president of the Institute of National Remembrance for the period from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001. Donald Tuskpresiding.
- ^ Postanowienie o umorzeniu śledztwa IPN, June 30, 2003 (in Polish)
- ^ Dariusz Stola, 'A Monument of Words', Yad Vashem Studies, 2003. In Michlic "Letter to the Editor."
- ^ Joanna B. Michlic and Antony Polonsky. Letter to the Editor, History. January 2008, Vol. 93 Issue 309.
- ^ Norman Davies describes Neighbors as "deeply unfair to Poles". Source: Davies: "Strach" to nie analiza, lecz publicystyka Archived 2008-01-28 at the Wayback Machine, Gazeta Wyborcza, January 21, 2008. (in Polish)
- S2CID 249189545.
- ^ "The Jedwabne Tragedy", "Jedwabne Tragedy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
- ^ Rzeczpospolita list of articles on Jedwabne, http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/tematy/jedwabne/ Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 'Thou Shalt not Kill,' Poles on Jedwabne, 34 articles
- ISBN 0-691-11306-8
- ^ Dariusz Stola, A Monument of Words, Shoah Resource Center, Yad Vashem, http://yad-vashem.org.il/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205414.pdf
- ^ Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, 'Research Before Conclusion: The Problems of Shock Therapy in Jedwabne,' "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-03. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b "In the Polish Aftermath". Tablet Magazine. 17 April 2013.
- ^ Joshua D. Zimmerman. Contested Memories: Poles and Jews during the Holocaust and its Aftermath, Rutgers University Press, 2003.
- ^ Steiner, George (8 April 2001). "Poland's willing executioners: Jan T Gross's unflinching account of anti-Semitic atrocities in the war, Neighbors, has awakened a nation to its systematically hidden and falsified past". The Observer.
- ^ "Jedwabne Questions about the Past and the Future." Polish News Bulletin, July 26, 2001.[verification needed]
- Internet Wayback Machine
- ^ Prof. Tomasz Strzembosz, "Ultimate debunking of Gross" Polish original published in Rzeczpospolita, 31 March 2001.
- ^ Joshua D. Zimmerman. Contested Memories: Poles and Jews during the Holocaust and its Aftermath., Rutgers University Press, 2003.
- ^ Joshua D. Zimmerman. Contested Memories: Poles and Jews during the Holocaust and its Aftermath. Rutgers University Press, 2003.
- ^ Joanna Michlic. "The Soviet Occupation of Poland, 1939–41, and the Stereotype of the Anti-Polish and Pro-Soviet Jew," Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, and Society. Spring/Summer 2007, Vol. 13, No. 3:135-176.
- ^ "Introduction to The Neighbors Respond" (PDF).
- ^ Jan Tomasz Gross, "Podtrzymuję swoje tezy," Gazeta Wyborcza, April 3, 2001, 16-17.
- S2CID 233360956.
- ^ National Book Critics Circle. All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists.
- ^ The National Book Foundation. The National Book Awards Winners & Finalists, Since 1950 Archived 2010-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Padraic Kenney, "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland," The American Historical Review. Washington: Jun 2002. Vol. 107, Iss. 3.
- ^ John Connelly, "Poles and Jews in the Second World War: the Revisions of Jan T. Gross" Contemporary European History. Cambridge: Nov 2002. Vol. 11, Issue 4.
- ^ Bernard Wasserstein, "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland." The English Historical Review, Vol. 116, No. 469, 1303-1304.
- JSTOR j.ctv1rmk6w.
- ISSN 8756-6583.
- ^ a b Hayes, Peter (2017). Why? Explaining the Holocaust. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 240.
- ^ "The Past Can Hold a Horrible Power". The New York Times. 25 October 2013.