Polonsky, Antony, and Joanna B. Michlic.

The Neighbors Respond: The controversy over

the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004. Print.
The Jedwabne massacre was a mass killing of Polish Jews in the summer of 1941. Polish citizens
had a voluntary hand in this killing, so Polish people have been hated by some for supporting
Germany. Antony Polonsky, professor of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University, and Joanna
B. Michlic, professor of Polish-Jewish history at Lehigh University, researched the public
opinion on this massacre from reports of Polish opinion from 1941. They also interviewed some
of the few witnesses that are still alive today and reported their findings in The Neighbors
Respond: The controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland.
Polish people have a bad reputation with some opinionated war resistors because the citizens
sometimes willingly participated in the massacre. A few Polish leaders in war resistance spoke
out against the immoral behavior of their people, including Catholic novelist Zofia KossakSzczucka, who reported, In many localities, the local population has participated voluntarily in
the massacre. We must oppose such disgraceful behavior with all available means (74). Zofia
Kossak-Szczucka further elaborated on his experience and how the public behaved like demons.
He compares it to a disease by claiming, For now no one is raising this issue; the press timidly
passes over it, but the evil is spreading like an epidemic, and crime is turning into addiction
(74).
Other quotes: it is an undeniable fact that old people and children, men and women, were
murdered in Jedwabne in an unbelievable brutal manner at the hands of the Poles (87).
We look on passively, witnesses overcome with terror. We cannot intervene. There have been
heroes who tried to stand up for and protect the condemned and paid for it with their lives (73).

But to what degree is it our fault as Christians that the Jews have remained as they are and
deserved such a terrible punishment? (73).
Analysis: I got all of my information from Part 2: The moral debate. The information covers why
Polish citizens supported and participated in killing, which reveals their opinion and position on
the events of the genocide.
The material is organized by interview, so it is easy to navigate around the book to see different
Polish citizens opinions. It is usually hard to pay attention to the long paragraphs, but the
information is still useful for my research.