Jews and Christians came together on Sunday in a joint prayer to commemorate the victims of the Kielce pogrom of Jews that happened 75 years ago. Candles were lit in front of a building at Planty 7/9 street where the tragic events took place.
The commemorations, organised by the Jan Karski Society in Kielce, began with a joint prayer of Rabbis and priests of other religions at the Jewish cemetery, next to the grave of the victims of the pogrom. Then, the gathered began the March of Remembrance.
"We have plenty of reasons for grief and regret, at least 3 million. We have many reasons for shame and repentance - dozens, maybe even hundreds of thousands. But today we've gathered because of 46 reasons for our sorrow, tears, mourning, shame and reflection" - said the chairman of the Jan Karski Society Bogdan Białek.
He stressed, that in 1942, every third resident of Kielce had been Jewish.
The Mayor of Kielce Bogdan Wenta said that Kielce Jews, who had experienced the horrors of the WWII and the Holocaust, had not found peace upon returning home.
"It's our duty to remember, it should serve as a warning, that in fact they were our neighbours" - Wenta said.
Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told Polish Press Agency (PAP) that the Kielce pogrom had been a tragedy for all Polish citizens. "Maybe when we remember together, we're making one step further to not ever letting such tragedies to happen again" - he said.
Dorota Koczwańska-Kalita from the Institute of National Remembrance in Kielce told PAP that the 75th anniversary of the pogrom should be a moment of reflection for all sides of the historical dispute over the events of July 4, 1946. She stressed that the political context in which Poland had found itself from 1945 played a very important role in the events relating to the pogrom.
"Constant bargaining whether it was anti-Semitism or provocation should not obscure sources, documents and facts, on which we should base our research" - she said.
"If we keep on wearing either left-liberal or conservative-right corsets, become ahistorical, or create non-academic disputes, we'll never reach our goal - remembrance based on understanding" - Koczwańska-Kalita said.
The Kielce pogrom of 1946 was sparked by a rumour about a Christian boy that had been allegedly kidnapped by Jews and held in a basement.
According to the IPN, during the Kielce pogrom - which involved civilians, militiamen and soldiers - 37 Jews and 3 Poles died. 35 Jews were injured.
Nine people were later found guilty of the violence and sentenced to death by Polish courts.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP