Jan Gross “The Neighbors”

by / On March 30, 2022 / In History, Undergraduate

LENGTH: 1,000 words (about 4-5 typed, double-spaced pages). Be prepared to discuss your paper in class.

What crime did Jan Gross uncover in the village of Jedwabne in the summer of 1941?
How does his account differ from the narratives of Jedwabne and similar wartime incidents that prevailed in Poland after the Second World War?
What evidence (whose accounts) did Gross have to rely on in his reconstruction what happened at Jedwabne? What analytical challenges did that sort of evidence pose?
Discuss/explain Gross suggestion for a new approach to sources.
What, according to Gross, was the effect of the crime and its cover-up on postwar Polish society?