Massacre in Yedwabne

In 10 june 1941, the Jewish population of Yedwabne? was massacred in cold blood. Most of the victims were burned alive in a barn. The number of persons killed is estimated between 380 (latest estimation by Polish IPN) and 1600 (initial findings).

Some historians, namely prof. Gross, claimed that it was a typical pogrom in which Jews were massacred by their Polish neighbours. Others, like prof. Strzembosz, claimed that it was a German provocation. There were German bullets found near the barn at Yedwabne, however IPN 20.12.2001 published its findings which proved that these bullets came from a period years after the massacre, and some probably remained from WWI. Many witnesses saw German soldiers that day in Yedwabne, many others swears that in that day there were no Germans in that town.

That some non-Jewish Poles took active part in this crime is beyond doubt, but controversy still exists: how big was that part? Where there any German units that day in Yedwabne? IPN claims that there were only 8 German policemen.

The President of Poland [Aleksander Kwasniewski]? officially apologized to the Jewish nation for this crime. Many people criticized him for doing so before events were reconstructed with reasonable confidence.