Though mostly victims of World War II, the Poles were also the perpetrators of violence against Jews, culminating in the Jedwabne massacre when Jewish residents of the town were burned alive, as Geoffrey Roberts recounts.

People’s hands flew to their faces and some wept as they witnessed Pope John Paul’s struggle in front of a microphone, where he managed only a few sounds before he gave up and delivered his Easter blessing with a sign of the cross.

Pope John Paul II is planning to make a pilgrimage to Poland, the land of his birth, in June if his health permits it, Poland’s primate was quoted as saying yesterday after returning from a visit to the Vatican.