JEDWABNE, Poland ? The last time a large number of Jews gathered in the market square in Jedwabne in northern Poland, it was a prelude to the massacre of a community. Exactly 60 years ago, the non-Jewish citizens of Jedwabne turned on their Jewish neighbors, killing as many as 1,600 men, women and children.

?This was a particularly cruel crime. It was justified by nothing. The victims were helpless and defenseless,? Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski said at a grim, rain-soaked ceremony attended by over 3,000 people from around the world. ?For this crime, we should beg the souls of the dead and their families for forgiveness. This is why today, as a citizen and as president of the Republic of Poland, I apologize.?

The speech and dedication of a new memorial, broadcast live on Polish national television, not only marked the 60th anniversary of the massacre, it added fuel to the debate in Poland on who was responsible for the crimes.

Though Kwasniewski?s apology was straightforward, many of the Jewish officials and dignitaries present did not approve of his contention that the killing was ?committed with Nazi permission, at Nazi inspiration.?

After Kwasniewski?s speech, the crowd, including some elderly massacre survivors and dozens of relatives of victims, many of whom came from the United States and Israel, marched silently out of the village for a ceremony at the site of a barn where the Jews of Jedwabne were locked inside and burned alive.

A new monument was unveiled that read, ?In memory of the Jews of Jedwabne and surrounding areas, men, women, and children, fellow-dwellers of this land, murdered and burned alive at this site on 10 July 1941.??

The inscription was deliberately left ambiguous because an investigation to get at the truth of what happened left several questions unanswered. There is no mention of the perpetrators.

Israeli ambassador to Poland Shevach Weiss said he hoped for the day when the names of the Polish perpetrators will be inscribed on the monument.

?I have come here to this vale of tears to severely condemn this evil massacre, and to emphasize that no one will be able to bring our victims back to life,? said Weiss, who also reminded the attendees that while this was a case of Poles killing Jews, there were also Poles who saved Jews.

Rabbi Jacob Baker, who was born in Jedwabne but left before the massacre, gave a description of Jewish life in pre-war Jedwabne, describing in moving detail the beauty of the community and the vibrancy of its people.

Rabbi Michael Shudrich of Warsaw and Lodz, joined by survivor families, recited Tehillim. Also participating in the event were Rabbi Baker and the world-renowned cantor Joseph Malovany.

Among the attendees at the memorial were Ronald S. Lauder, who generously supports many Jewish programs in Poland. Also among those present was Rabbi Hertz Frankel of Brooklyn, long active in the restoration and preservation of Jewish cemeteries around the world.

Rabbi Frankel observed that Jedwabne is only the tip of the iceberg in Poland. ?There are many similar sites throughout the country and they all deserve the same dignity,? he said.

Not everyone was sympathetic to the day?s events, ?We do not apologize,? read a sign on the door of a grocery store. ?It was the Germans who murdered Jews in Jedwabne. Let the slanderers apologize to the Polish nation.?

The message was signed by the ?Committee for the Defense of the Good Name of Poland,? a group whose members mounted a protest that led to a quick police response and a few dozen arrests.

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