Polish Prosecutors Start Formal
Investigations Into Second 1941 Massacre
Mar 30, 2001 -- (BBC Monitoring)
Excerpt from report by Polish news agency PAPWarsaw, 30 March: The National
Remembrance Institute has commenced an investigation into the murder of Jews in
Radzilow [northeastern Poland] that took place on 7 July 1941, three days before
the events in nearby Jedwabne. "According to initial findings, between 600
and 800 victims were murdered in Radzilow, by being burnt to death in a barn and
also by being shot," PAP has been told by Witold Kulesza, head of the
investigations section of the IPN. He added that the name of the locality
Radzilow appears in the testimony of certain witnesses whose accounts relate to
Jedwabne. "That is why the need has arisen to issue a separate decision for
an investigation into the atrocity in Radzilow. It could be that a need will
arise to gather documentation concerning similar events that took place in other
localities," Kulesza added.
The murder of the Jews in Radzilow took
place on 7 July 1941, three days before the murders in Jedwabne. "The
hypothesis has been taken up that the events in Radzilow had a similar course to
the events in Jedwabne. The closeness in time gives a basis for positing such a
hypothesis," Kulesza evaluated.
That there would be a commencement of an
investigation concerning the murder in Radzilow (on the territory of which the
same German unit was active as in Jedwabne) was announced in mid-March by the
IPN chairman, Leon Kieres. He explained that many witnesses testifying in the
IPN investigation concerning Jedwabne were saying that a similar murder of Jews
as there had taken place in Radzilow...
Source: PAP news agency, Warsaw, in
Polish 1049 GMT 30 Mar 01
Copyright © 2001 BBC Monitoring
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