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August 12, 2003 Book Review Editor
New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, New York 10036
Dear Book Review Editor;In the review of William Gaylin's book, Hatred: The Psychological Descent Into Violence, (Sunday New York Times Book Review, August 3, 2003, p.12) both the author and the reviewer, Melvin Konner, cite Jan T. Gross' book, Neighbors, as if it were the final word on the terrible and shocking massacre of Jews in Jedwabne, in German occupied Eastern Poland in July 1941, during World War II. One should avoid taking a fundamentalist view of this book (or any book for that matter), especially in citing such details as "the Christian half of the town of Jedwabne, Poland, brutally murdered the Jewish half, some 1600 people". There is no doubt that some Poles were involved in the murder of Jews of Jedwabne. This was one of many massacres and acts of mass violence committed during World War II in former Eastern Poland, now western Belarus and western Ukraine in which Poles at times were also victims. Nothing can excuse those who committed those crimes and the guilty should be condemned, as, indeed, they were by the President, Prime Minister, Primate and bishops of Poland in July 2001.Readers of the New York Times Book Review should be informed that the final report of a legal investigation presented by Prosecutor Radoslaw Iwanow of the Polish Institute of National Memory on July 9, 2002 included the conclusion that the massacre was planned with German involvement, but that the Polish inhabitants, numbering at least 40 men, carried out the crime. On the basis of a partial exhumation carried out in 2001, the number of victims was estimated at around 300-400.Furthermore, the Jedwabne massacre was thoroughly investigated by the Institute of National Memory in Poland, which published a two volume work on the subject (Warsaw, November 2002). This publication consists of an investigation under criminal law and a historical examination of the crime committed on July 10, 1941. It is discussed in detail in an article in The Polish Review, vol. XLVIII (New York) no. 1, 2003, titled "The Jedwabne Massacre: Update and Review", written by Dr. Anna Cienciala, Professor of History, University of Kansas. Thaddeus V. Gromada 2722 Old Oak Walk, Johns Is., SC 29455 tel. 843 768-3276
Professor Emeritus of History, New Jersey City University;
Executive Director, Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America
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