Dear Ambassador of Israel, Dear Rabbi Baker, Dear Representatives of Jewish
Milieus, Dear Mr. Mayor, Dear Residents of Jedwabne, Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fellow Countrymen!
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Pres. Aleksander Kwasniewski apologizing on behalf of the Polish people |
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Sixty years ago, on 10 July 1941, crime was committed against Jews on this
land, at that time conquered and occupied by the Nazi Germany. This was a
dreadful day. Day of hatred and cruelty.
We know much about this crime, though not yet everything. May be we will
never learn the whole truth. But this did not prevent us from being here today.
To speak in an open voice. We know enough to stand here in truth - facing pain,
cry and suffering of those who were murdered here. Face to face with the
victims' families who are here today. Before the judgment of [our] own
conscience.
This was a particularly cruel crime. It is justified by nothing. Among the
victims, among the burned were women, there were children. Petrifying cry of
people closed in the barn and burned alive - continues to haunt the memory of
those who witnessed the crime. The victims were helpless and defenseless. The
criminals had a sense of being unpunished since German occupants incited them to
such acts.
We know with all the certainty that Poles were among the oppressors and
assassins.
We cannot have any doubts - here in Jedwabne citizens of the Republic of
Poland died from the hands of other citizens of the Republic of Poland. It is
people to people, neighbors to neighbors who forged such destiny.
At that time - sixty years ago -Poland was to be wiped out from the map of
Europe. There were no Polish authorities in Jedwabne. The Polish state was
unable to protect its citizens against the crime committed with the Nazi
permission, at Nazi instigation. But the Republic of Poland should persist in
the Polish hearts and minds. And the standards of a civilized state, the state
with ages-old traditions of tolerance and amicable co-existence of nations and
religions should be binding on its citizens. Those who killed, beat, took part
in the dead set, set fire - committed crime not only against their Jewish
neighbors. They are also guilty towards the Republic of Poland, its history and
glorious traditions.
We are standing on a tormented land. The name Jedwabne, by a tragic ordain of
fate had become for its today's citizens a byword recalling to human memory the
ghosts of fratricide. It is not only in Jedwabne that superstitious prejudice
was enkindled into the murderous flame of hatred in the "furnace era". Death,
grief and suffering of the Jews from Jedwabne, from Radzilowand other
localities, all these painful events which lay a gloomy shadow on Poland's
history are the responsibility of the perpetrators and instigators. We cannot
speak of collective responsibility burdening with guilt the citizens of any
other locality or the entire nation. Every man is responsible only for his own
acts. The sons do not inherit the sins of the fathers. But can we say: that was
long ago, they were different?
The nation is a community. Community of individuals, community of
generations. And this is why we have to look the truth into the eyes. Any truth.
And say: it was, it happened. Our conscience will be clear if the memories of
those days will for ever evoke awe and moral indignation.
We are here to make a collective self examination. We are paying tribute to
the victims and we are saying - never again.
Let us all be the citizens of Jedwabne today. Let us feel what they feel! Let
us remain with them in a common sense of grievance, despair, shame and
solidarity. Cain could have killed Abel anywhere. All communities could have
been tried in the same way. The trial of evil, but also of good. Of meanness and
nobility. Righteous is the one who was able to demonstrate compassion in face of
human suffering. How many Poles - also inhabitants of the neighborhood also of
Jedwabne deserve to be called righteous!
Let us recall all of them today with greatest gratitude and with highest
respect.
Thanks to a great nation-wide debate regarding this crime committed in 1941,
much has changed in our lives in 2001, the first year of the new millennium.
Today's Poland has courage to look into the eyes of the truth about a nightmare
which gloomed one of the chapters in its history.
We have become aware of the responsibility for our attitude towards the dark
pages in our history. We have understood that bad service is done to the nation
by those who are impelling to renounce that past. Such attitude leads to a moral
self-destruction.
We who have gathered here today, with all the people in our country who have
clear and sensitive conscience, with the lay and religious moral authorities,
consolidating our adherence to basic values, paying homage to the memory of the
murdered and most deeply deploring the despicable perpetrators of the crime,
give expression to our pain and shame, we manifest our determination to learn
the truth, courage to overcome the evil past, firm will of understanding and
agreement.
For this crime we should beg the souls of the dead and their families for
forgiveness. This is why today, the President of the Republic of Poland, I beg
pardon. I beg pardon in my own name and in the name of those Poles whose
conscience is shattered by that crime.
In the name of those who believe that one cannot be proud of the glory of
Polish history without feeling, at the same time, pain and shame for the evil
done by Poles to others.
I wish with all my heart that the name of this village bring the memories of
not only the crime but that it become the sign of the great self-examination,
that it become the venue of reconciliation. Polish bishops prayed on 27 May "for
all those who cherished anxiety and resentment towards the Jewish nation that
they accept the grace of a change in their hearts". These words express only too
well the feelings of a great part of the Poles. May, then, this change occur.
Let us spare no effort for it!
The tragedy which took place here cannot be annihilated. Evil cannot be wiped
out; Suffering cannot be forgotten.
The truth about what happen will not redress what happened. The truth is not
so potent. But only truth - even the most aching and painful - will allow to
purify the wounds of the memory.
This is the hope that we cherish. This is what we are here for today. We are
saying today the words of sorrow and pain, not only because of human decency.
And not only because others expect us to. Not because they will be a
compensation for the murdered. Not because the world is listening.
We are saying these words because this is what we feel. Because we ourselves
need them most of all. We are doing it to be better, stronger with moral
strength, free from prejudice, animosities and hatred. To respect and to love
men. To turn the wrong into the right.
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