Polish Massacre of Jews (#15034)
by editor on July 11, 2003 at 3:56 PM

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Ottawa Citizen

July 10, 2003 Thursday Final Edition

SECTION: News; Pg. A16

LENGTH: 264 words

HEADLINE: Prosecutors close probe into 1941 Jewish massacre

SOURCE: The Associated Press

DATELINE: WARSAW

BODY:
WARSAW -- Prosecutors examining the 1941 massacre of hundreds of Jews by their Polish neighbours have closed their investigation without charging any new suspects.

Still, Jewish leaders yesterday praised the three-year investigation into the massacre in the town of Jedwabne, saying it has helped prompt a reckoning with history in Polish society.

The investigation was formally closed last week, a week before the 62nd anniversary of the July 10, 1941, killings.

Investigators from the National Remembrance Institute, which investigates Nazi- and communist-era crimes, interviewed 111 witnesses, partially excavated the massacre site and sketched out the topography of wartime Jedwabne to reach their conclusions.

The prosecutors, who will sum up their findings in a 203-page document, determined at least 340 Jews were killed or burned alive in a barn by Poles after the Nazis seized territory in northwestern Poland formerly occupied by the Soviets.

Communist-era historians blamed Nazis for the massacre and insisted Poles only assisted the occupiers. In 1949, the court gave prison sentences to 12 villagers for assisting German forces in the massacre.

A book by a Polish emigre historian prompted the investigation, and sparked painful soul-searching among Poles, many of whom were disbelieving that their countrymen had committed the atrocities.

Prosecutors said yesterday they were sending the decision about the formal end of the proceedings to 12 living relatives of the victims. They have the right to contest it if they consider it incomplete or unfair.