28 November 2001
A symposium was held at Yad Vashem in November 2001, to mark the publication, of the book “Neighbors” - The Destruction of the Jewish community in Jedwabne, Poland - by Prof. Jan Tomasz Gross. The book was published by Yad Vashem and Yediot Aharonot.
The book tells the story of the 1941 massacre of Jedwabne’s 1,600 Jews by their Polish neighbors, and on its publication in Poland over a year ago opened a huge pandora’s box on Polish –Jewish relations during the Holocaust which historians, philosophers, politicians and journalists are still debating.
The author Jan Tomasz Gross- a Polish born Jew, today based in the US - is a Professor of Political Science at New York University.
The symposium took place in co-operation with the Institute of Polish Culture, in the presence of Polish Ambassador in Israel, Maciej Kozlowski; Israeli Ambassador in Poland, and Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, Prof. Szewach Weiss; Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, Avner Shalev; Head of the Polish Institute in Israel, Agnieszka Maciejowska; and with the participation of Prof. Jan Tomasz Gross; Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem, Prof Israel Gutman; Polish journalist, Sergiusz Kowalski; and Polish Director, Agnieszka Arnold whose film titled “Where is my older son Cain?” – based on interviews with Jedwabne residents including with the daughter of the owner of the barn in which the town’s Jews were burned - inspired the book.
