On 10 July 1941 hundreds of Jewish men, women and children were forced out of their homes in the Polish town of Jedwabne. They were viciously beaten and humiliated before being herded into a barn and burned alive. Polish journalist Anna Bikont’s investigation into exactly what happened that terrible day is hard to read. Not because it is badly written – far from it – but because this is history at its most horrific. In her book, translated by Alissa Valles, historical chapters alternate with extracts from her research journal, an approach that makes the story utterly compelling.
Bikont admits to being obsessed by “ghosts of the past”. One survivor asks her: “Why dig it all up after so many years?” The reason is because Bikont’s dogged and courageous investigation reveals the shocking truth about Jedwabne: this act of barbarity was perpetrated not by Nazis, but by the victims’ neighbours. It was the result of centuries of virulent antisemitism which, as Bikont shows, continues to this day, dividing the town over what happened. A powerful and important study of the poisonous effects of racism and hatred within a community.
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