Akta postępowań cywilnych z lat 1947-1949 w sprawach dotyczących zmarłych żydowskich mieszkańców Jedwabnego

Persak, Krzysztof

Akta postępowań cywilnych z lat 1947-1949 w sprawach dotyczących zmarłych żydowskich mieszkańców Jedwabnego

Abstract

Documents of the Civil Proceedings of 1947–1949 in Cases Involving the Jewish Victims of the Jedwabne Massacre. Selected and introduced by Krzysztof Persak. Documents from three civil cases regarding the return of real estate were found during archival research, as well as those from eleven civil cases which declared the deaths of the town’s Jewish residents. All these cases were heard during the years 1947–1949 in the Court of original jurisdiction in Lomza. Those documents included a total of 45 statements given by 30 individuals, of which 19 were Poles and 11 were Jews. Most of them testified about the date, reasons for, or circumstances surrounding the deaths of the individuals who were the subject of the court cases. Twenty witnesses, in 31 statements, said that it was the Germans who carried out the massacre of Jews in Jedwabne. Nine individuals, including five Jews, said they had personally witnessed the burning of the Jews in the barn. At first, these newly discovered documents confused both historians and the public, since the testimonies about the course of events in Jedwabne during the massacre contradicted what researchers had established up to that time. It was only after the documents were subjected to a more critical analysis and their context was discovered that they could be interpreted properly. This raises several questions to be considered. First, the civil cases heard in the Court of original jurisdiction had nothing to do with establishing the identity of the murderers in Jedwabne. The judges, just like later during the actual trial in 1949, were careless and superficial in dealing with this issue. Second, no one who participated in those proceedings was interested in demonstrating that Poles had participated in the massacre of Jews in Jedwabne. Both the Jewish petitioners and the witnesses called by them (including some who would later acquire real estate that had previously belonged to Jews) were interested exclusively in their cases being heard in court as advantageously and as quickly as possible. Third, common knowledge about Poles participating in the crime was a taboo subject which, on that occasion, there was no point in broaching. Blaming the Germans sounded believable, and was in agreement with the official version of events established by institutions created specifically to deal with such matters. In addition, anyone who proved brave enough to betray the secret would have had reason to fear for his own safety. Finally, the documents published here from civil cases attest to the illegal seizure of former Jewish property. This was done by first identifying property belonging to Jews who had died, and then taking possession of it through court cases involving fictitious heirs and witnesses. These activities (in which both Jews and Poles were involved) most probably began in 1946, and continued until the autumn of 1947. As a result, over a dozen properties were taken in Jedwabne, as well as several buildings in Lomza. This procedure was continued even after the truth behind these activities had been revealed. One of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in those three civil cases regarding the return of property had, in 1949, also defended several Polish residents of Jedwabne who had been accused of taking part in the massacre of that town’s Jews. Thus, it should come as no surprise that this lawyer did not call his former clients – who had previously blamed the Germans for the crime at the court of original jurisdiction – as witnesses for the defense. He must have been convinced that presenting such evidence would not have been tenable in criminal proceedings.