Jedwabne massacre anniversary draws far-right protest

Poland's Jewish community, political leaders and citizens commemorated the 85th anniversary of the Jedwabne massacre on Friday at a ceremony opposed by far-right demonstrators.

AFP journalists saw a heavy police presence at the site of the 1941 massacre, a former barn where local Polish farmers locked up around 300 Jews, including women and children, before setting it on fire.

Next to the ceremony, about 1,000 people attended demonstrations and a Catholic mass organised by far-right parties. Those groups refuse to acknowledge the responsibility of Polish villagers and argue that exhumations of the victims, halted in 2001 for religious reasons at the request of the Jewish community, should resume.

An official investigation confirmed in 2003 that the massacre was carried out by Poles from Jedwabne rather than by Nazi German occupiers. Around 40 other Jews from Jedwabne were killed by villagers in ways other than in the burning barn, and several other massacres of Jews took place in the region during the German occupation of Poland in World War II.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who did not attend the ceremonies, said the anniversary should serve as "a lesson about Poland's national conscience". He said Poles should be able to take responsibility for what they are proud of and also for what "does not do us honour".

The history of the Jews of Jedwabne resurfaced in 2001 when Polish-American historian Jan T. Gross highlighted the role of Polish villagers in his book "Neighbors". The revelations led to an official apology to the Jewish community from then-president Aleksander Kwasniewski.