Museum Condemns Desecration of Holocaust Memorial Site in Poland, Attack on Jews Commemorating Jedwabne Massacre

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is outraged by the desecration of the memorial site to the victims of the Jedwabne massacre and the violent disruption of the commemoration of the event. The monument commemorates victims of the massacre carried out on July 10, 1941, when Polish residents of Jedwabne, a small town located in then German-occupied Poland, participated in the murder of several hundred of their Jewish neighbors. These facts have been documented and agreed upon by serious historians in Poland and beyond for many years.  

The site desecration involved the placing of seven large boulders with plaques bearing revisionist and antisemitic texts next to the monument. Demonstrators disrupted this year’s memorial commemoration of the massacre using loudspeakers and a denialist film, while threatening Jews who had gathered for the observation. The incident coincided with the antisemitic denial of the Holocaust by Polish MP Grzegorz Braun, who stated in a radio interview, “Ritual murder is a fact, and Auschwitz with gas chambers is a fake,” evoking the centuries-old blood libel myth. This rhetoric is especially dangerous coming from an elected leader. Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz Memorial, appropriately described this as a "conscious lie and an act of ideological, antisemitic hatred." 

These events require immediate decisive action to condemn and hold accountable those responsible. 

A nonpartisan federal, educational institution, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, dedicated to ensuring the permanence of Holocaust memory, understanding, and relevance. Through the power of Holocaust history, the Museum challenges leaders and individuals worldwide to think critically about their role in society and to confront antisemitism and other forms of hate, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. For more information, visit ushmm.org.