Princeton professor Jan Tomasz Gross said Poland's new stance on dissociating itself from the Holocaust is "a step back to the dark ages of anti-Semitism," while he decried other anti-democratic policies adopted by the new Polish government.

Liberal Poles accept the overwhelming evidence of Polish guilt in the Jedwabne massacre and have supported public apologies for it. But other Poles argue that the Germans inspired the massacre and armed the local thugs — and that Polish society should not be saddled with the blame.