Murderers Next Door

Local woman travels to memorial in Poland for ancestors who died at the hands of their neighbors.

R

HARRY KI RS BAUM

Staff Writer

ita Rochlen thought it would
be very emotional, but it
didn't turn out that way.
On July 19, 2001 — a
cold, rainy day in a small Polish town
northeast of Warsaw — the
Bloomfield Township resident, her
eldest daughter and 38 other Jews
from around the world gathered at a
memorial dedication ceremony to
remember a horror that happened
exactly 60 years before.
On July 10, 1941, half the popula-
tion of the town of Jedwabne —
1,600 Jews — were either beaten to
death, or rounded up into a barn that
was then torched by their neighbors.
For years, a stone marker at the site
blamed the Nazis as the perpetrators, but
a book, Neighbors: The Destruction of the

Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland

by Jan T Gross, told a different story.
When the book, released in March
2001, proved who the murderers really
were, the Polish government decided
to replace the marker with a monu-
ment and invited some of the descen-
dants to a ceremony honoring the
60th anniversary of the tragedy.
Rochlen knew very little of the story
until a relative explained that her
grandmother's father, her great-grand-
father, was beaten to death that day
and her great-grandmother was
burned to death in the barn.
A genealogical Web site provided
Rita with the name of other descen-
dants of the tragedy. The Polish gov-
ernment's invitation took her to a
country she normally would never
consider visiting.
"I thought that this ceremony would
be an incredible personal, moving
emotional feeling where I would feel
connected to the people who came
from this town and this terrible thing
that happened that day," Rochlen said.
Instead, she heard Krzysztof
Godlewski, Jedwabne's mayor;
Aleksander Kwasniewski, Poland's presi-
dent; and Shevach Weiss, Israeli ambassa-
dor to Poland, give speeches in the town
square — in Polish, with no translation.
Later on, she was told the president
had begged for forgiveness on behalf

8/3

2001

12

of the Polish people for what they
did that day. Some Poles regarded
this as a political maneuver on the
part of their president who want-
ed inclusion into the European
Economic Community.
Ty Rogers, a New York lawyer
who served as the point-person
for the descendants, said the pres-
ident spoke for the minority.
"It was important for the leader
of the Polish nation to do what
he did. I think in the future, the
Poles will embrace his words,"
Rogers said.
"Today, Poland is very divided, 48
percent opposed the apology and
only 30 percent support it. I hope
that future generations will be happy
that he said what he said."
With the spires of the Catholic
Church looming above, Rochlen
said the local priest did not attend,
and anti-Jewish sentiment was
written on a banner across the
street from the church.
According to Agnieszka
Magdziak-Miszewska, Poland's
Consul General in New York, the
K.
Polish Episcopate expressed grief
and offered apologies for all the
Leslie Rochlen and her mother Rita.
harm done to Jews in Jedwabne
by some of the Polish citizens in a
special ceremony six weeks before,
During the ceremony, the Polish
on May 27, 2001.
army goose-stepped towards the base
"During that ceremony, Polish bishops
of the monument with a huge wreath,
on their knees asked God for forgiveness
she said. The plaque says the Jews died,
of sins committed against their fellow
but it doesn't say who killed them.
citizens," the Consul General said.
"It was an unimaginably heinous
An official representative of the
crime, because these were people who
Catholic Church participated as well as
lived next door to each other for a
the bishop of the Polish Lutheran and
very long time," she said. "They knew
Evangelic Churches and a representa-
each other; they knew their children,
tive of the German Episcopate.
their parents, and half the town bru-
After the speeches during the most
tally killed the other half. Something
recent ceremony, Rochlen and the group,
happened that allowed these people on
walked 10 minutes to the memorial in
that day to lose their humanity."
the field where the barn once stood.
Why did so few people step forward
and save more people, she wondered.
Why were those who saved people
Unimaginable Crime
hounded for doing this?
Hundreds of media from all over the
"It's very difficult to understand.
world covered the ceremony, but the
The incident brings up more ques-
townspeople were told to stay. away.
tions than answers," she said.
"They were behind barricades, and
That night, the group was invited to
hanging out from their windows," she
a reception at the presidential palace.
said. "They weren't a part of this in
This time, they wore headphones that
any way"
translated the speeches.

The president and the Israeli ambas-
sador spoke again. Gross, author of the
book that started it all, attended as
well. Rochlen said author Gross was
incognito, low-keyed, afraid for his life.
Then a woman who saved seven
Jews on that day spoke.
"The pressure that she received was
so terrible for saving Jews that she left
town," Rochlen said. "Her life was
made a hell there, so she moved. I
thought it's very interesting because
there is a lot of anti-Semitism to this
day, and there aren't any Jews there —
it'., very institutionalized."

Hard Feelings Linger

Rochlen, married with three grown
children, made the eight-day trip with
her eldest daughter, Leslie Rochlen, of
Stamford, Conn.
In Lodz for two days, Krakow two days
and Warsaw for four days, Leslie Rochlen
said she felt uncomfortable the whole
time and hated the country.
"Whenever you travel and spend
money in places, it shows a tacit sup-
port for what's going on in that coun-
try," she said. "And Poland is still rife
with anti-Semitism. It's a kind of, 'Oh,
we'll do this public apology for this
awful thing that not even everybody is
admitting that the Poles actually did.'
Showing up there seemed like a clo-
sure type of thing that certainly is not
yet appropriate."
The younger Rochlen had really
strong security concerns from the day
her mother mentioned the trip.
"I was really worried there wouldn't
be adequate security and that we could
get hurt, and she wasn't worried about
that one bit," she said.
Her mother said they met young
Poles who said they were ashamed it
happened in their country.
"Anybody we talked to who knew
English would be more educated and
sophisticated," she said. "So these are
the leaders, and maybe in the future it
will be better."
Rita Rochlen felt fortunate for the
experience.
"To be in the place where my grand-
mother was born, I feel lucky," she .
said, "but I wouldn't have any desire
to go back." El

