The Legacy of Jedwabne

Jedwabne was a small town in northeast Poland in which Jews lived side by side with Christian Poles for two centuries—until one day in July 1941, when nearly the entire Jewish population of the village was slaughtered at the hands of their Christian neighbors, many of whom were reportedly eager to carry out the orders to kill issued by Nazi occupiers (several Jews were forced into a barn that was set on fire—but seven escaped and hid for the next two-and-a-half years on the farm of a sympathetic Polish Catholic family). For 60 years the horrible crime went unnoticed by the outside world, until the publication of Jan Gross' 2001 book Neighbors, which eventually prompted a public ceremony that included a televised apology from Poland's president. Slawomir Grunberg's examination of that traumatic day includes the testimony of witnesses, survivors, and present-day academics and politicians, all of whom weigh in on the massacre. But the larger message that this film conveys is the perennial need to remain vigilant against ethnic and religious intolerance. A sobering, often unsettling piece of work, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (E. Hulse)