Abstracts of Presentations by
Panelists in the Session
Jedwabne - A Scientific Analysis
PIASA Annual Meeting, June 8 2002
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Thaddeus Mirecki: Introduction
Discussions about Holocaust studies are important for two reasons. First, the eyewitnesses to the Holocaust are passing from the scene, and the only record of the events will be what has been written. It is therefore vital that what is written reflects the truth of what happened, not some distortion that cannot be refuted because eyewitnesses are no longer present. Second, any distortion or inaccuracy in the written record of the Holocaust provides ammunition for the Holocaust deniers. If they can point out untruths in any part of the record, they claim justification for questioning all of the Holocaust. Only the absolute truth can be an antidote to Holocaust denial.
Thaddeus Mirecki is the President of the Washington Metropolitan Area Division of the Polish American Congress. He was educated as an engineer and computer scientist, and works as a computer consultant. He has been actively involved in leadership roles in Polish-American organizations from the age of 15, in the Polish Scouting Organization (he holds the rank of Scoutmaster), Polish Language Schools, the Polish National Alliance, Polish Parishes, and the Polish American Congress.
Abstracts of Presentations
by Panelists in the Session
Jedwabne - A Scientific Analysis
PIASA Annual Meeting, June 8 2002
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Marek Chodakiewicz: Ordinary Terror: Communist and Nazi Occupation Policies in Jedwabne, 1939-49.
After briefly summarizing the impact of the Communist terror during the first Soviet occupation, this presentation describes the lot of the Polish Christian population following the massacre of the Jedwabne Jews. It compares and contrasts Nazi and Communist crimes between 1941 and 1949. Full text
Marek Jan Chodakiewicz is Assistant Professor at the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies, Miller Center of Public Policy, University of Virginia.
Abstracts of Presentations by
Panelists in the Session
Jedwabne - A Scientific Analysis
PIASA Annual Meeting, June 8 2002
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Charles Chotkowski: Gross’s “Neighbors”: A Review of Reviews
This presentation assesses the impact of the publication of "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland" by Jan T. Gross (Princeton University Press, 2001). Emphasis is placed on reviews appearing in the English language press since the American edition was issued last year. Also examined are the repercussions of the book on Polish-Jewish relations worldwide. The analysis of the reviews considers how well they address the factual and historiographical issues involved. Recent findings by Poland's Institute of National Remembrance are discussed.
Charles Chotkowski is Director of Research, Holocaust Documentation Committee, Polish American Congress. He has been active in Polish-Jewish relations for over a decade as a member of the executive board of the National Polish American - Jewish American Council; the Holocaust Studies Committee of the Kosciuszko Foundation; and the Holocaust Commemoration Committee of the Town of Fairfield, Connecticut, where he resides.
Abstracts of Presentations by
Panelists in the Session
Jedwabne - A Scientific Analysis
PIASA Annual Meeting, June 8 2002
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Prof. Jan Moor-Jankowski, M.D.: Anti-Polish Jedwabne Accusations: WWII German Occupation Realities, and the Legal and Forensic Aspects of that Genocidal Crime
The accusations of Polish participation in the German genocide at Jedwabne,
first brought to the public attention by J.T. Gross’ book Sasiedzi (Neighbors)
in the year 2000, show great discrepancies with the realities of that period as
experienced by myself, who sheltered Polish Jews and was severely wounded at
that occasion (NY Times 7 July 1996).
Gross proposes “…that we ought to accept as true Jewish testimonies about
atrocities committed by the local population until they are proven false…” (p.
140). There are contrary to American jurisprudence laws and practices. The
testimonies of his witnesses and his other reports qualify as hearsay,
contradict each other, and would, therefore, be inadmissible in an American
court. I was 1965-1995 a Research Professor of Forensic Medicine at the NYU
School of Medicine; the first step in elucidating the circumstances of the crime
should have been a complete exhumation of the victims and the surrounding area,
followed by necropsy of each body as it was done, for instance, by the Germans
at Katyn (1941). A “partial” and/or “incomplete” exhumation, as performed at the
crime site by the Polish Institute of National Memory (IPN), is scientifically
and legally irrelevant.
In my telephone conversation with Dr. Med. Maria Dmochowska at IPN in Warsaw, I
was told that complete exhumation was prevented by rabbis on the investigative
team. Poland, however, is not a theocracy. Complete forensic exhumations are
performed in New York when ordered by a judge, as well as in Israel.
Prof. Jan Moor Jankowski, M.D.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, 1924. Polish citizen; naturalized American citizen, 1963
Education: Primary and Secondary School, Poland; MD (including Forensic Medicine) Bern, Switzerland, 1954
WWII: in Poland, USSR, and Germany. Wounded in September 1939, siege of Warsaw; Polish Underground1942-1944; Pawiak 1943; severely wounded in Warsaw Uprising 1944. Sheltering Polish Jews 1942-1944 (see NY Times 7 July 1996); escape to Switzerland early 1945; recognized as 75% disabled veteran caused by German “ethnic persecution” and pensioned since 1954 by German government.
Honors: DeGiacomi Foundation Fellow, Swiss Soc. Natural Sc. (1952-3);
Geneva University Prize “Prix Arthur de Claparede”(1956);
Trumpeldor medal for consultancy in experimental medicine, Mrs. Golda Meier,
Prime Minister of Israel (1970);
Medal, USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Institute of Experimental Pathology and
Therapy (1978);
G. Budé medal, College de France, Paris (1979);
Chevalier, French Ordre National du Merite as “eminent Resistance fighter” and
for scientific achievements (1984);
“William J. Brennan, Jr. Defense of Freedom Award”, by the Libel Defense
Resource Center, New York (1994) in recognition of the victorious 1983-1991
freedom of speech suit, twice before the U.S.Supreme Court;
National Academy of Medicine (French), Foreign Corresponding Member,
unanimous election (1995);
Tribute read into the Congressional Record by Sen. D’Amato of New York (May 15,
1995);
Officer of the Polish Order of Merit, bestowed by Lech Walesa (1995)
Selected Professional Activities: National Academy of Medicine (French), Division of Biological Sciences (1995-Lifetime); Research Professor of Forensic Medicine, New York University School of Medicine (1965-1995); Director, interuniversity Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery, LEMSIP (1965-1995); Director, WHO Collaborating Center, at LEMSIP (1975-1995); Professeur invité College de France, Paris (1979); Special Research Fellow of the US National Institutes of Health at Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, UK (1959-1962); Director Swiss interuniversity team studying genetics of Alpine population isolates, sponsored by the Swiss National Fund for Scientific Research (1953-1957)
Publications: Author and editor in English, French and German of numerous books, monograph series, periodicals and of more than 200 scientific papers
Abstracts of Presentations by
Panelists in the Session
Jedwabne - A Scientific Analysis
PIASA Annual Meeting, June 8 2002
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Zofia Korbońska: The Jedwabne Issue Against the Background of Polish-Jewish Relations Under German Terror
Discussion of the Jedwabne crime are conducted without any historical context of the time – the horrible terror imposed upon the entire population by the German and Soviet occupiers. This presentation explores how the Polish Underground State approached the issue of assistance to the Jews and Polish-Jewish relations under the occupation. Full Text
Zofia Korbońska is the widow of Stefan Korboński, the co-founder of the Polish Underground State (1949-1945) and its last Chief, and also the Chief of the Directorate of Civil Resistance throughout the war. Zofia was not only his wife but also his closest collaborator. First of all she became one of the founders of a secret radio network of the Directorate of Civil Resistance, and director chief encryption operator of the radio station ŚWIT (dawn) for communication with London.
After the war, she and her husband were again repeatedly threatened by arrest by the Communists, so they manage to escape in dramatic circumstances to the United States in November of 1947. Their escape is described in Stefan Korboński’s book “In the Name of the Kremlin,” published by the Literary Institute in Paris, and secretly in Poland. Later, when Poland became free, the book was published openly in Poland.
In the United States, she and her husband were active in the Assembly of Captive European Nations, and she worked in the Polish section of Voice of American radio station as a writer, editor and speaker. After the death of Stefan Korboński in Washington on April 23 1989, she visited Poland many times and gave many interviews there; she also published many articles about those visits in the United States. Presently, she is retired and is preparing her memoirs.
Abstracts of Presentations by
Panelists in the Session
Jedwabne - A Scientific Analysis
PIASA Annual Meeting, June 8 2002
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski: Jedwabne: The Politics of Apology and Contrition,
Defamation: The Price of Poland's Heroism
The great deeds of the heroic age of Poland of the 20th century benefited the
entire world. They were the derailing of Lenin's world revolution based on the
Moscow-Berlin axis in 1920 and the derailing of Hitler's strategy for the
domination of the world in 1939. Poland's heroic age lived on in form of the
wartime combat of Polish soldiers, airmen, and seamen, as well as Europe's
largest resistance movement and the Polish secret state under the occupation.
Polish armed resistance continued during the postwar years of the pacification
by the Soviet terror apparatus of the betrayed Polish nation.
Against this backdrop the tragedy of Jedwabne will be discussed on the basis of
the evidence of the two mass graves and German archives. The "politics of
apology" will be evaluated. Full text.
Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski is the author of books on the history of Poland, such “A Historical Atlas on Polish History and Prehistory,” “Jews in Poland, a Documentary History,” and “Poland : An Illustrated History” as well as dictionaries, including the Unabridged Polish-English Dictionary of 200,000 entries. He taught at the University of Tennessee where he graduated (BS an MS) and at Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University as adjunct professor. He is a survivor of over five years of Gestapo prisons and the Death March of Brandenburg from Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp near Berlin to Schwerin, Germany.