Jewish grave controversy deepens
By Ray Furlong in Prague, Czech Republic

 

BBC News Online: World: Europe
Monday, 4 June, 2001, 22:24 GMT 23:24 UK

The exhumation of bodies in the Polish village of Jedwabne, the site of a wartime massacre of Jews has uncovered the remains of far fewer people than were originally thought to have died.

Polish Justice Minister Lech Kaczynski said about 200 bodies were found, compared with the 1,600 expected. [Expected by whom? Obviously not by us, but by the Jewish side and their collaborators. K.J.]

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The discovery of bullet fragments at the site suggests that German soldiers were responsible
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The exhumation was begun after controversial allegations last year that Poles had carried out the atrocity and not Germans as originally believed. These discoveries will further fuel the raging debate in Poland about the country's wartime role.

Mr Kaczynski said the crime at Jedwabne was not as large as generally assumed although it was atrocious.

Germans or Poles?

Furthermore, the discovery of bullet fragments at the site suggests that German soldiers were responsible for the massacre.

This was long believed to be the case until last year when a Polish-American historian alleged that Poles alone carried it out.

His book provoked a nationwide debate. Were Poles only victims of Nazism or also perpetrators of atrocities?

This exhumation does not answer the questions. There may be more bodies buried near the site of the dig and the participation of Poles in the massacre still cannot be ruled out.

In July, on the 60th anniversary of the Jedwabne pogrom, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski is due to apologise for it.

But the investigation might not uncover exactly what happened in time for that.

Polska Agencja Prasowa (PAP)
5 June 2001 16:30

The Institute of National Memory accepts that the Germans who were present in Jedwabne most probably fired at the victims when they tried to break out of the barn after it was locked, advised prosecutor Lucjan Nowakowski. He arrived at this preliminary conclusion after finding around 100 German bullet shells and magazines during the exhumation.

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