The Holocaust In Jan Gross's Neighbors

Neighbors, written by Jan Gross, is a book telling a different side of the Holocaust. Most times when people think of the Holocaust, they believe it just had to do with Germans killing Jews in Concentration Camps. However, there is another side to the story, one that starts on a summer day in a town called Jedwabne. This time it is different because it is not the Germans killing the Jews, it is the Poles. Jan Gross mentions many different sources throughout the book to prove what happened; however, the question still remains if these so called sources can be trusted. But, on this day in July of 1941, it was the Polish people who carried out the Jewish pogrom. Before the war, Jan gross describes how they were friendly with the Jews, “Everybody was on a first-name basis, Janek, Icek… Life here was, I would say, somehow idyllic.” (19) However, as time went on Jan …show more content…
It all starts with Marian Karolak becoming the town’s mayor and bringing his plan to light, “He issued orders to others and was himself otherwise, more practically, engaged throughout the pogrom. He is certainly the evil spirit of this tragedy.” (44) He came up with a master plan to kill these innocent Jews, and the Germans were the only people who could stop this plan from happening. Gross mentions that, “(Germans) They were the only ones who could decide the fate of the Jews. It was in their power to stop the murderous pogrom at any time. And they choose not to intervene.” (47) This is a very interesting part of history because the reader could still claim that the Germans are still responsible for the actions of the Poles. Instead of doing anything to stop it, they just stood there and watched it happened. Gross discusses this topic more in her next chapter titled, “Who Murdered the Jews of Jedwabne?” The next part of the pogrom is the actual murder, as they try to find the most horrible ways to kill a