Participation of Poles in crimes against Jews in the Swietokrzyski region

This article is based primarily on an analysis of hitherto unused trial records related to the so-called August Decree of the PKWN (Polish Committee of National Liberation), which was the basis for indictment of those suspected of committing crimes against Jews or complicity in such crimes. Additional sources are contemporary interviews with eyewitnesses of those events, known as 'Oral History'. The authors attempt to analyse the then situation in rural areas in order to study, in this context, the typology of acts committed, the perpetrators, passive participants and eyewitnesses. The article contains rich sources to exemplify the events described.