"Polish death camp" controversy

Misnomer for concentration camps established and operated in Poland by Nazi Germany the controversy over the use of the term the camps in question German camps in occupied Poland during World War II yes June 2020 thumb|Nazi German concentration camps operated on now Polish territory. Germany also built concentration camps in Germany and elsewhere. In historical discussions of World War II, "Polish death camp" and "Polish concentration camp" are ambiguous expressions which, while accurately describing the location of the camps in Poland, are misconstruable as indicating that these Nazi concentration and extermination camps—established by Nazi Germany in German-occupied Poland during World War II—were established or operated by Poles or by Poland.Kassow Samuel Samuel Kassow Poland Reimagines the Holocaust http://www.jewishledger.com/2018/02/conversation-dr-samuel-kassow/ 5 November 2020 Jewish Ledger 14 February 2018 And it's a convenient and expedient issue because everybody can agree that the term "Polish death camps" is a misnomer; that it's incorrect.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002259/225973e.pdf Holocaust Education in a Global Context Conflicting memories: Polish and Jewish perceptions of the Shoah Gebert Konstanty Konstanty Gebert Fracapane Karel Haß Matthias Paris UNESCO 2014 978-92-3-100042-3 33 Some Poles, including politicians, have viewed use of the expressions "Polish death camp" and "Polish concentration camp", by careless speakers, as having been deliberately intended to disinform.Belavusau Uladzislau The Rise of Memory Laws in Poland: An Adequate Tool to Counter Historical Disinformation? Security and Human Rights 2018 29 1–4 36–54 10.1163/18750230-02901011 The Polish government continues to fan a metaphorical fire each time the foreign media or a politician – like President Barack Obama in 2012 – inadvertently refers to 'Polish concentration camps'. This misnomer has been heralded by politicians as a purposeful disinformation exercise and a pretext for new legislation which, as is clear from its formulation, extends beyond the prohibition of 'Polish death camps'. free 1874-7337 Poland's subsequent 2018 Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance prompted objections within and outside Poland. The law criminalized public statements ascribing, to the Polish nation, responsibility in Holocaust-related crimes, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, or war crimes, or which "grossly reduce the responsibility of the actual perpetrators". It was generally understood that the law criminalized use of the expressions "Polish death camp" and "Polish concentration camp". The amendment also prohibited use of the expression "Polish concentration camp" in reference to camps operated by the Polish government after World War II on sites of former Nazi camps.Hackmann Jörg Defending the "Good Name" of the Polish Nation: Politics of History as a Battlefield in Poland, 2015–18 Journal of Genocide Research 2018 20 4 587–606 10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742 81922100 There is, however, a second layer in this debate, as the incrimination of "Polish camps" can also be referred to halt the debate on Polish post-war camps, which have been discussed already since the 1990s for instance regarding detention and labour camps in Potulice or Łambinowice. Recently, the journalist Marek Łuszczyna has called them "Polish concentration camps" with the intention to challenge the right-wing discourse. His argument is based on the fact that these camps used the infrastructure of earlier German camps. In a January 2018 trial, Newsweek.pl was sentenced for referring to the Zgoda camp, operated by Polish authorities between February and November 1945, as a "Polish concentration camp".Gliszczyńska Aleksandra Jabłoński Michał Is One Offended Pole Enough to Take Critics of Official Historical Narratives to Court? https://verfassungsblog.de/is-one-offended-pole-enough-to-take-critics-of-official-historical-narratives-to-court/ 19 October 2020 Verfassungsblog 12 October 2019 A highly problematic trend has emerged just recently, creating a precedent in the Polish legal doctrine. In January 2017, the Polish edition of Newsweek magazine published an article by Paulina Szewczyk entitled "After the Liberation of Nazi Camps, Did the Poles Open Them Again? 'The Little Crime' by Marek Łuszczyna". The author of this article stated that after 1945 Poles reopened the Świętochłowice-Zgoda camp, a branch of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. A lawsuit against Newsweek's editor-in-chief was brought by Maciej Świrski, the president of the Polish League Against Defamation (RDI), based on the press law provisions. In January 2018, the court decided in his favour, ordering the editor-in-chief to publish a corrigendum admitting that the assertion of the existence of "Polish concentration camps" created by Poles is false. This initial ruling was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal and eventually the Supreme Court, the latter finding Newsweek's last resort appeal (cassation) to be unfounded. Wyrok dla "Newsweeka" za "polskie obozy koncentracyjne". Znając badania IPN, trudno się z nim zgodzić https://wyborcza.pl/alehistoria/7,121681,22862675,wyrok-dla-newsweeka-za-polskie-obozy-koncentracyjne-znajac.html 26 October 2020 wyborcza.pl In 2019 Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the portions of the amendment relating to the expressions "Ukrainian nationalists" and "Eastern Lesser Poland" were null and void.https://www.polskieradio24.pl/5/1222/Artykul/2247655,Ekspert-orzeczenie-Trybunalu-Konstytucyjnego-ws-nowelizacji-ustawy-o-IPN-moze-otworzyc-droge-do-dyskusji Ekspert: orzeczenie Trybunału Konstytucyjnego ws. nowelizacji ustawy o IPN może otworzyć drogę do dyskusji Polskie Radio 24 17 January 2019 2019-05-16 pl Historical context The Holocaust in Poland Occupation of Poland (1939–1945) List of Nazi concentration camps German camps in occupied Poland during World War II thumb|Borders of Polish areas before and after 1939 and 1941 invasions thumb|upright=1|Czesława Kwoka, a Polish Catholic girl, 14 when she was murdered by the Nazi Germans at Auschwitz. 230,000 children, most of them Jewish, were murdered in the German camp. During World War II, three million Polish Jews (90% of the prewar Polish-Jewish population) were killed due to Nazi German genocidal action. At least 2.5 million non-Jewish Polish civilians and soldiers perished.https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/collaboration-and-complicity-during-the-holocaust Collaboration and Complicity during the Holocaust 1 May 2015 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 28 January 2018 One million non-Polish Jews were also forcibly transported by the Nazis and killed in German-occupied Poland.https://books.google.com/books?id=0tYVKUsnw9IC&pg=PA217 The History of Poland Since 1863 Leslie R. F. Robert Frank Leslie 1983 Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-27501-9 217 At least half of 140,000 ethnic Poles deported died in the Auschwitz camp alone.https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/poles Poles — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum After the German invasion, Poland, in contrast to cases such as Vichy France, experienced direct German administration rather than an indigenous puppet government.The Polish underground press and the issue of collaboration with the Nazi occupiers, 1939–1944 Tonini Carla April 2008 European Review of History 15 2 193–205 10.1080/13507480801931119 143865402 Collaboration in a "Land without a Quisling": Patterns of Cooperation with the Nazi German Occupation Regime in Poland during World War II Friedrich Klaus-Peter Winter 2005 Slavic Review 64 4 711–746 3649910 10.2307/3649910 free The western part of prewar Poland was annexed outright by Germany.Paweł Dybicz http://www.przeglad-tygodnik.pl/pl/artykul/wcieleni-do-wehrmachtu-rozmowa-prof-ryszardem-kaczmarkiem Wcieleni do Wehrmachtu - rozmowa z prof. Ryszardem Kaczmarkiem 'Conscripted into the Wehrmacht' - interview with Prof. Ryszard Kaczmarek Przegląd 38 2012 pl 11 November 2018 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20121115002324/http://www.przeglad-tygodnik.pl/pl/artykul/wcieleni-do-wehrmachtu-rozmowa-prof-ryszardem-kaczmarkiem 15 November 2012 Some Poles were expelled from the annexed lands to make room for German settlers.http://www.dac.neu.edu/holocaust/Hitlers_Plans.htm Hitler's Plans for Eastern Europe Poland under Nazi Occupation Gumkowski Janusz Leszczynski Kazimierz 1961 Polonia Publishing House Warsaw 7–33, 164–178 11 November 2018 dead https://archive.today/20120527021449/http://www.dac.neu.edu/holocaust/Hitlers_Plans.htm 27 May 2012 Parts of eastern Poland became part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine and Reichskommissariat Ostland. The rest of German-occupied Poland, dubbed by Germany the General Government, was administered by Germany as occupied territory. The General Government received no international recognition. It is estimated that the Germans killed more than 2 million non-Jewish Polish civilians. Nazi German planners called for "the complete destruction" of all Poles, and their fate, as well as that of many other Slavs, was outlined in a genocidal Generalplan Ost (General Plan East).Michael Geyer Beyond Totalitarianism: Stalinism and Nazism Compared https://books.google.com/books?id=IcB3oASHnkAC&pg=PA152 2009 Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89796-9 152–153 Historians have generally stated that relatively few Poles collaborated with Nazi Germany, in comparison with the situations in other German-occupied countries.Why the Poles Collaborated so Little: And Why That Is No Reason for Nationalist Hubris Connelly John Winter 2005 Slavic Review 64 4 771–781 3649912 10.2307/3649912 free The Polish Underground judicially condemned and executed collaborators,https://www.ushmm.org/learn/students/learning-materials-and-resources/poles-victims-of-the-nazi-era/polish-resistance-and-conclusions Polish Resistance and Conclusions United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 4 February 2018 2 January 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180102111652/https://www.ushmm.org/learn/students/learning-materials-and-resources/poles-victims-of-the-nazi-era/polish-resistance-and-conclusions dead https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2017-02-24/ty-article/.premium/poles-werent-tacit-collaborators-with-nazi-extermination-of-jews/0000017f-e5ac-d62c-a1ff-fdff93b50000 Opinion: The Polish People Weren't Tacit Collaborators With Nazi Extermination of Jews Grzegorz Berendt 24 February 2017 HaaretzKermish Joseph Marrus Michael Robert The Nazi Holocaust. Part 5: Public Opinion and Relations to the Jews in Nazi Europe 1989 Walter de Gruyter 978-3-110970-449 499 https://books.google.com/books?id=dFqbKATiYz8C&pg=PA499 The activities of the Council for Aid to Jews ("Zegota") in Occupied Poland and the Polish Government-in-Exile coordinated resistance to the German occupation, including help for Poland's Jews. Some Poles were complicit in, or indifferent to, the rounding up of Jews. There are reports of neighbors turning Jews over to the Germans or blackmailing them (see "szmalcownik"). In some cases, Poles themselves killed their Jewish fellow citizens, the most notorious examples being the 1941 Jedwabne pogrom and the 1946 Kielce pogrom, the latter taking place after the German occupation had ended.https://www.timesofisrael.com/its-complicated-inaccuracies-plague-both-sides-of-polish-death-camps-debate/ It's complicated: Inaccuracies plague both sides of 'Polish death camps' debate Lipshiz Cnaan 28 January 2018 The Times of Israel 11 November 2018 thumb|225px|Poles publicly hanged by the Germans for helping Jews in hiding, Przemyśl, 6 September 1943 However, many Poles risked their lives to hide and assist Jews. Poles were sometimes exposed by Jews they were helping, if the Jews were found by the Germans—resulting in the murder of entire Polish rescue networks.Christian Martyrs of Charity Zajączkowski Wacław June 1988 Washington, D.C. S.M. Kolbe Foundation 978-0-945-28100-9 152–178 German military police in Grzegorzówka (p. 153) and in Hadle Szklarskie (p.154) extracted from two Jewish women the names of Poles who had been helping Jews, and 11 Polish men were murdered. In Korniaktów Forest, Łańcut County, a Jewish woman, discovered in an underground shelter, revealed the whereabouts of the Polish family who had been feeding her, and the whole family were murdered (p. 167). In Jeziorko, Łowicz County, a Jewish man betrayed all the Polish rescuers known to him, and 13 Poles were murdered by the German military police (p. 160). In Lipowiec Duży (Biłgoraj County), a captured Jew led the Germans to his saviors, and 5 Poles were murdered, including a 6-year-old child, and their farm was burned (p. 174). On a train to Kraków, the Żegota woman courier who was smuggling four Jewish women to safety was shot dead when one of the Jewish women lost her nerve (p. 170). Possibly a million Poles aided Jews;One Million Polish Rescuers of Hunted Jews? Furth Hans G. Hans G. Furth June 1999 Journal of Genocide Research 1 2 227–232 10.1080/14623529908413952 some estimates run as high as three million helpers.Richard C. Lukas, 1989. Poles have the world's highest count of individuals who have been recognized by Israel's Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations — non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from extermination during the Holocaust.http://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/statistics.html Names of Righteous by Country Yad Vashem 28 January 2018 Analysis of the expression Supporting rationale Defenders argue that the expression "Polish death camps" refers strictly to the location of the Nazi death camps and does not indicate involvement by the Polish government in France or, later, in the United Kingdom. Some international politicians and news agencies have apologized for using the term, notably Barack Obama in 2012.https://www.upi.com/Poland-may-criminalize-term-Polish-death-camp-to-describe-Nazi-WWII-Holocaust-sites/1421471464643/ Poland may criminalize term 'Polish death camp' to describe Nazi WWII Holocaust sites Ware Doug G. 17 August 2016 UPI 11 November 2018 CTV Television Network News President Robert Hurst defended CTV's usage (see Mass media) as it "merely denoted geographic location", but the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled against it, declaring CTV's use of the term to be unethical. Others have not apologized, saying that it is a fact that Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, Chełmno, Bełżec, and Sobibór were situated in German-occupied Poland.August 2023 Commenting upon the 2018 bill criminalizing such expressions (see Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance), Israeli politician (and later Prime Minister) Yair Lapid justified the expression "Polish death camps" with the argument that "hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered without ever meeting a German soldier".https://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-poland-was-complicit-in-the-holocaust-new-bill-cant-change-history/ Lapid: Poland was complicit in the Holocaust, new bill 'can't change history' 27 January 2018 The Times of Israel 11 November 2018 In response, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum released a statement calling Lapid's claims a "conscious lie" and accusing him of "using Holocaust as a political game", and likening his allegation to the claims made by Holocaust deniers.https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/yair-lapid-behaving-like-holocaust-denier-auschwitz-museum-says Yair Lapid's rhetoric on Poland feels like Holocaust denial, Auschwitz museum says Jewish Telegraphic Agency Cnaan Liphshiz 30 October 2025 30 October 2025 3 August 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190803050651/https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/yair-lapid-behaving-like-holocaust-denier-auschwitz-museum-says live https://www.timesofisrael.com/auschwitz-museum-slams-lapid-lie-after-he-claim-poles-helped-run-death-camps/ Auschwitz museum slams Lapid 'lie' after he claims Poles helped run death camps The Times of Israel 30 October 2025 8 October 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211008234713/https://www.timesofisrael.com/auschwitz-museum-slams-lapid-lie-after-he-claim-poles-helped-run-death-camps/ live Criticism of the expression Opponents of the use of these expressions argue that they are inaccurate, as they may suggest that the camps were a responsibility of the Poles, when in fact they were designed, constructed, and operated by the Germans and were used to exterminate both non-Jewish Poles and Polish Jews, as well as Jews transported to the camps by the Germans from across Europe.Poland World War II casualties Tadeusz Piotrowski Tadeusz Piotrowski (sociologist) 2005 http://www.projectinposterum.org/docs/poland_WWII_casualties.htm 15 March 2007 Project InPosterum https://web.archive.org/web/20070418175341/http://projectinposterum.org/docs/poland_WWII_casualties.htm 18 April 2007 liveŁuczak Czesław Czesław Łuczak Szanse i trudności bilansu demograficznego Polski w latach 1939–1945 Dzieje Najnowsze 1994/2 1994 Historian Geneviève Zubrzycki and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have called the expression a misnomer.Zubrzycki Geneviève The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland 2006 119 University of Chicago Press 978-0-226-99305-8 https://books.google.com/books?id=6HI5Bbn9e8sC&pg=PA119 enhttps://www.jta.org/2012/05/30/news-opinion/united-states/white-house-regrets-reference-to-polish-death-camp White House 'regrets' reference to 'Polish death camp' Ron Kampeas JTA 30 May 2012 It has also been described as "misleading" by The Washington Post editorial board, The New York Times, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, and Nazi hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff. Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem described it as a "historical misrepresentation",https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/28/fury-israel-poland-proposes-ban-referring-nazi-death-camps-polish/ Fury in Israel as Poland proposes ban on referring to Nazi death camps as 'Polish' 28 January 2018 The Daily Telegraph 28 January 2018 and White House spokesman Tommy Vietor referred to its use a "misstatement".White House apologizes for Obama's 'Polish death camp' gaffe https://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-offends-poles-in-death-camp-slip-up/ The Times of Israel 30 May 2012 Abraham Foxman of the ADL described the strict geographical defence of the terms as "sloppiness of language", and "dead wrong, highly unfair to Poland".Foxman Abraham H. Abraham Foxman Poland and the Death Camps: Setting The Record Straight http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/poland-and-the-death-camps-setting-the-record-straight/ The Jewish Week 12 June 2012 Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Adam Daniel Rotfeld said in 2005 that "Under the pretext that 'it's only a geographic reference', attempts are made to distort history". Public use of the expression As early as 1944, the expression "Polish death camp" appeared as the title of a Collier's magazine article, entitled "Polish Death Camp". This was an excerpt from the Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski's 1944 memoir, Courier from Poland: The Story of a Secret State (reprinted in 2010 as Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World). Karski himself, in both the book and the article, had used the expression "Jewish death camp", not "Polish death camp".Polish Death Camp Karski Jan 14 October 1944 Collier's 18–19, 60–61https://books.google.com/books?id=5_wC3eOyk0MC&pg=PA320 Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World Karski Jan 22 February 2013 Georgetown University Press 978-1-58901-983-6 320 As shown in 2019, the Collier's editor changed the title of Karski's article typescript, "In the Belzec Death Camp", to "Polish Death Camp".http://justiceforpolishvictims.org/polish-experience/the-real-source-of-misnomer-polish-death-camps-jacek-gancarson-ms-natalia-zaytseva-phd/ The real source of misnomer "Polish Death Camps" – Jacek Gancarson MS, Natalia Zaytseva PhD – Justice For Polish Victims 7 October 2018 en-US 2020-01-21Piasecki Waldemar 2018-04-30 Jak przypisano Janowi Karskiemu polski obóz śmierci? https://niedziela.pl/artykul/35260 2022-12-16 niedziela.pl plGancarson Jacek Zaitceva Natalia 2019-07-01 Is the Name "Polish Death Camps" a Misnomer? http://eprints.rclis.org/43623/1/Is%20The%20Name%20Polish%20Death%20Camp%20a%20Misnomer.pdf Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal en 11 2 10.5817/cphpj-2019-022 2336-1654 Other early-postwar, 1945 uses of the expression "Polish death camp" occurred in the periodicals Contemporary Jewish Record,Contemporary Jewish Record (American Jewish Committee), 1945, vol. 8, p. 69. Quote: "Most of the 27,000 Jews of Thrace ... were deported to Polish death camps." The Jewish Veteran,Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America 1945, vol. 14, no. 12. Quote: "2,000 Greek Jews repatriated from Polish death camps." and The Palestine Yearbook and Israeli Annual,The Palestine Yearbook and Israeli Annual (Zionist Organization of America) 1945, p. 337. Quote: "3,000,000 were foreign Jews brought to Polish death camps." as well as in a 1947 book, Beyond the Last Path, by Hungarian-born Jew and Belgian resistance fighter Eugene WeinstockBeyond the Last Path Weinstock Eugene 1947 New York Boni & Gaer 43 and in Polish writer Zofia Nałkowska's 1947 book, Medallions.https://books.google.com/books?id=YZYo-U_NcD0C&pg=PA45 Medallions Nałkowska Zofia 2000 Northwestern University Press 978-0-8101-1743-3 45 Not tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, but millions of human beings underwent manufacture into raw materials and goods in the Polish death camps. A 2016 article by Matt Lebovic stated that West Germany's Agency 114, which during the Cold War recruited former Nazis to West Germany's intelligence service, worked to popularize the term "Polish death camps" in order to minimize German responsibility for, and implicate Poles in, the atrocities.https://www.timesofisrael.com/do-the-words-polish-death-camps-defame-poland-and-if-so-whos-to-blame/ Do the words 'Polish death camps' defame Poland? And if so, who's to blame? Lebovic Matt 26 February 2016 The Times of Israel 11 November 2018August 2023 Mass media On 30 April 2004 a Canadian Television (CTV) Network News report referred to "the Polish camp in Treblinka". The Polish embassy in Canada lodged a complaint with CTV. Robert Hurst of CTV, however, argued that the term "Polish" was used throughout North America in a geographical sense, and declined to issue a correction.http://www.auschwitz.org/muzeum/aktualnosci/polskie-czy-niemieckie-obozy-zaglady,596.html pl 23 July 2004 Polskie czy niemieckie obozy zagłady? Polish or German extermination camps? Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau w Oświęcimiu The Polish Ambassador to Ottawa then complained to the National Specialty Services Panel of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. The Council rejected Hurst's argument, ruling that the word "'Polish'—similarly to such adjectives as 'English', 'French' and 'German'—had connotations that clearly extended beyond geographic context. Its use with reference to Nazi extermination camps was misleading and improper."http://www.mfa.gov.pl/Canadian,CTV,Television,censured,,for,inaccurate,and,unfair,reporting,in,referring,to,%E2%80%9EPolish,ghetto%E2%80%9D,and,,%E2%80%9EPolish,camp,of,Treblinka%E2%80%9D,2075.html Canadian CTV Television censured for inaccurate and unfair reporting in referring to "Polish ghetto" and "Polish camp of Treblinka" 13 June 2005 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland 11 November 2018 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200119/http://www.mfa.gov.pl/Canadian%2CCTV%2CTelevision%2Ccensured%2C%2Cfor%2Cinaccurate%2Cand%2Cunfair%2Creporting%2Cin%2Creferring%2Cto%2C%E2%80%9EPolish%2Cghetto%E2%80%9D%2Cand%2C%2C%E2%80%9EPolish%2Ccamp%2Cof%2CTreblinka%E2%80%9D%2C2075.html 27 September 2007 In November 2008, the German newspaper Die Welt called Majdanek concentration camp a "former Polish concentration camp" in an article; it immediately apologized when this was pointed out. In 2009, Zbigniew Osewski, grandson of a Stutthof concentration camp prisoner, sued Axel Springer AG.http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6928930,_Polish_Camps__in_Polish_Court.html 'Polish Camps' in Polish Court Wawrzyńczak Marcin 14 August 2009 Gazeta Wyborcza 11 November 2018 The case started in 2012;http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,8311,title,Ruszyl-proces-wobec-Die-Welt-o-polski-oboz-koncentracyjny,wid,14923227,wiadomosc.html Ruszył proces wobec "Die Welt" o "polski obóz koncentracyjny" 13 September 2012 Wirtualna Polska 31 January 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20150502012403/http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,8311,title,Ruszyl-proces-wobec-Die-Welt-o-polski-oboz-koncentracyjny,wid,14923227,wiadomosc.html 2 May 2015 dead in 2015, the case was dismissed by Warsaw district court.Polnisches Gericht weist Klage gegen die "Welt" ab https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article138107227/Polnisches-Gericht-weist-Klage-gegen-die-Welt-ab.html 4 November 2020 DIE WELT 5 March 2015 In the 16 November 2009 edition of Maclean's magazine, the journalist Kathie Engelhart in an article about John Demjanjuk called him a man who had been mistaken for "a notorious sadist at Poland's Treblinka death camp", spoke about "Poland's Treblinka death camp", and stated that Demjanjuk had "served at three Polish camps" as a guard.Wells Paul Sorry Poland https://www.macleans.ca/uncategorized/sorry-poland/ 27 December 2021 Maclean's 20 November 2009 Engelhart's article led to a formal complaint from Piotr Ogrodziński, the Polish ambassador in Ottawa, who stated: "It's absolutely false that Poles had anything to do with concentration camps, with the exception that they were the first prisoners". On 23 December 2009, historian Timothy Garton Ash wrote in The Guardian: "Watching a German television news report on the trial of John Demjanjuk a few weeks ago, I was amazed to hear the announcer describe him as a guard in 'the Polish extermination camp Sobibor'. What times are these, when one of the main German TV channels thinks it can describe Nazi camps as 'Polish'? In my experience, the automatic equation of Poland with Catholicism, nationalism and antisemitism – and thence a slide to guilt by association with the Holocaust – is still widespread. This collective stereotyping does no justice to the historical record."https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/dec/23/poland-catholicism-nazis-difficult-past The Guardian London As at Auschwitz, the gates of hell are built and torn down by human hearts 23 December 2009 18 April 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20091226053227/http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/23/poland-catholicism-nazis-difficult-past 26 December 2009 live In 2010 the Polish-American Kosciuszko Foundation launched a petition demanding that four major U.S. news organizations endorse use of the expression "German concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Poland".http://www.wbj.pl/article-51918-petition-against-polish-concentration-camps.html?typ=ise Petition against 'Polish concentration camps' 3 November 2010 Warsaw Business Journal 4 November 2010 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110716080801/http://www.wbj.pl/article-51918-petition-against-polish-concentration-camps.html?typ=ise 16 July 2011https://www.thekf.org/kf/our_impact/petition/ Petition on German Concentration Camps The Kosciuszko Foundation 11 November 2018 3 December 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211203153814/https://www.thekf.org/kf/our_impact/petition/ dead Canada's Globe and Mail reported on 23 September 2011 about "Polish concentration camps". Canadian Member of Parliament Ted Opitz and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney supported Polish protests.http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/56366,Canadian-MPs-defend-Poland-over-Polish-concentration-camp-slur Canadian MPs defend Poland over 'Polish concentration camp' slur 10 June 2011 Polskie Radio 27 July 2012 6 April 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120406143514/http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/56366,Canadian-MPs-defend-Poland-over-Polish-concentration-camp-slur dead In 2013 Karol Tendera, who had been a prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau and is secretary of an association of former prisoners of German concentration camps, sued the German television network ZDF, demanding a formal apology and 50,000 zlotys, to be donated to charitable causes, for ZDF's use of the expression "Polish concentration camps".http://fakty.interia.pl/news-byly-wiezien-auschwitz-skarzy-zdf-za-polskie-obozy,nId,999725 Były więzień Auschwitz skarży ZDF za "polskie obozy" Former Auschwitz prisoner complains to ZDF for "Polish camps" 22 July 2013 Interia pl 24 September 2014 ZDF was ordered by the court to make a public apology.https://www.zdf.de/doku-wissen/richtigstellung-tendera-102.html Entschuldigung bei Karol Tendera Apology to Karol Tendera ZDF 23 December 2016 de 31 January 2018 Some Poles felt the apology to be inadequate and protested with a truck bearing a banner that read "Death camps were Nazi German - ZDF apologize!" They planned to take their protest against the expression "Polish concentration camps" 1,600 kilometers across Europe, from Wrocław in Poland to Cambridge, England, via Belgium and Germany, with a stop in front of ZDF headquarters in Mainz.https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-38842087 Death camps billboard in 1,000-mile trip 2 February 2017 BBC News 31 January 2018 The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage recommends against using the expression,https://books.google.com/books?id=AfbaCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage: The Official Style Guide Used by the Writers and Editors of the World's Most Authoritative News Organization Siegal Allan M. Connolly William G. 2015 Three Rivers Press 978-1-101-90544-9 72https://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/03/adjectives The New York Times bans "Polish concentration camps" 22 March 2011 The Economist 4 February 2018 as does the AP Stylebook,https://www.imediaethics.org/ap-updates-its-stylebook-on-concentration-camps-polish-foundations-petition-for-change-has-300000k-names/ AP Updates its Stylebook on Concentration Camps, Polish Foundation's Petition for Change has 300,000K Names 16 February 2012 iMediaEthics 4 February 2018 and that of The Washington Post.https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/polish-death-camps/2018/01/31/13c4dcd6-05e4-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html Opinion: 'Polish death camps' 31 January 2018 The Washington Post 4 February 2018 However, the 2018 Polish bill has been condemned by the editorial boards of The Washington Post and The New York Times.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/opinion/poland-holocaust-bill-parliament.html Opinion: Poland's Holocaust Blame Bill 29 January 2018 The New York Times 6 February 2018 Politicians In May 2012 U.S. President Barack Obama referred to a "Polish death camp" while posthumously awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski. After complaints from Poles, including Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and Alex Storozynski, President of the Kosciuszko Foundation, an Obama administration spokesperson said the President had misspoken when "referring to Nazi death camps in German-occupied Poland."https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-reference-to-polish-death-camp-while-honoring-polish-war-hero-faulted-by-polish-group/2012/05/29/gJQAbt12zU_story.html White House: Obama misspoke by referring to 'Polish death camp' while honoring Polish war hero 29 May 2012 The Washington Post 30 May 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120531233000/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-reference-to-polish-death-camp-while-honoring-polish-war-hero-faulted-by-polish-group/2012/05/29/gJQAbt12zU_story.html 31 May 2012http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-06-01/news/31965746_1_concentration-camps-polish-death-camp-polish-catholics Why the words 'Polish death camps' cut so deep Corky Siemaszko 1 June 2012 New York Daily News 31 January 2018 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20150403084940/http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/words-polish-death-camps-cut-deep-article-1.1087670 3 April 2015 On 31 May 2012 President Obama wrote a letter to Polish President Komorowski in which he explained that he used this phrase inadvertently in reference to "a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland" and further stated: "I regret the error and agree that this moment is an opportunity to ensure that this and future generations know the truth."http://doc.rmf.pl/rmf_fm/store/letter_from_president_obama.pdf Letter to President Komorowski Obama Barack 31 May 2012 RMF FM 11 November 2018 Polish government action Media The Polish government and Polish diaspora organizations have denounced the use of such expressions that include the words "Poland" or "Polish". The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs monitors the use of such expressions and seeks corrections and apologies if they are used.http://www.msz.gov.pl/Interwencje,6509.html Interwencje Przeciw 'Polskim Obozom' Interventions Against 'Polish Camps' 20 June 2006 Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych pl 11 November 2018 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20060801074256/http://www.msz.gov.pl/Interwencje,6509.html 1 August 2006 In 2005, Poland's Jewishhttps://www.jta.org/2005/03/15/archive/polands-foreign-minister-is-jewish-but-most-people-say-its-no-big-deal Poland's Foreign Minister is Jewish, but Most People Say It's No Big Deal 15 March 2005 Jewish Telegraphic Agency 11 November 2018 Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld remarked upon instances of "bad will, saying that under the pretext that 'it's only a geographic reference', attempts are made to distort history and conceal the truth."http://www.msz.gov.pl/gallery/serwis/rot_rzecz_1251.html Interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Prof. Adam Daniel Rotfeld Rzeczpospolita 25 January 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20080627030817/http://www.msz.gov.pl/gallery/serwis/rot_rzecz_1251.html 27 June 2008http://www.msz.gov.pl/Wystapienie,Ministra,w,jezyku,angielskim,1162.html Government information on the Polish foreign policy presented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Adam Daniel Rotfeld, at the session of the Sejm on 21st January 2005 1 February 2012 Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych 11 November 2018 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120204100515/http://www.msz.gov.pl/Wystapienie,Ministra,w,jezyku,angielskim,1162.html 4 February 2012 He has stated that use of the adjective "Polish" in reference to concentration camps or ghettos, or to the Holocaust, can suggest that Poles perpetrated or participated in German atrocities, and emphasised that Poland was the victim of the Nazis' crimes. Monuments In 2008, the chairman of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (the IPN) wrote to local administrations, calling for the addition of the word "German" before "Nazi" to all monuments and tablets commemorating Germany's victims, stating that "Nazis" is not always understood to relate specifically to Germans. Several scenes of atrocities conducted by Germany were duly updated with commemorative plaques clearly indicating the nationality of the perpetrators. The IPN also requested better documentation and commemoration of crimes that had been perpetrated by the Soviet Union.http://fakty.interia.pl/polska/news/akcja-ipn-mordowali-niemcy-nie-nazisci,1225157 Akcja IPN: Mordowali "Niemcy", nie "naziści" IPN initiative: Murderers "German", not "Nazis" 9 December 2008 Interia pl dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120212135355/http://fakty.interia.pl/polska/news/akcja-ipn-mordowali-niemcy-nie-nazisci,1225157 12 February 2012 The Polish government also asked UNESCO to officially change the name "Auschwitz Concentration Camp" to "Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau", to clarify that the camp had been built and operated by Nazi Germany.https://www.theguardian.com/secondworldwar/story/0,,2112948,00.html Poles claim victory in battle to rename Auschwitz Tran Mark 27 June 2007 The Guardian 11 November 2018https://jewishjournal.com/news/world/13028/ Auschwitz Might Get Name Change Spritzer Dinah 27 April 2006 The Jewish Journal 11 November 2018https://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Yad-Vashem-for-renaming-Auschwitz Yad Vashem for renaming Auschwitz 11 May 2006 Associated Press The Jerusalem Post 31 March 2018https://www.expatica.com/de/news/country-news/UNESCO-approves-Auschwitz-name-change_146793.html UNESCO approves Poland's request to rename Auschwitz 27 June 2007 Expatica Expatica Communications B.V. 19 October 2017 At its 28 June 2007 meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee changed the camp's name to "Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940–1945)."https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/363 World Heritage Committee approves Auschwitz name change 28 June 2007 UNESCO World Heritage Committee 11 November 2018https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/01/secondworldwar.unitednations Auschwitz may be renamed to reinforce link with Nazi era Nicholas Watt 1 April 2006 The Guardian 27 July 2012 Previously some German media, including Der Spiegel, had called the camp "Polish".http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4863026.stm Poland seeks Auschwitz renaming 31 March 2006 BBC News 11 November 2018https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/27/secondworldwar.marktran Poles claim victory in battle to rename Auschwitz Mark Tran 27 June 2007 The Guardian 27 July 2012 Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance On 6 February 2018 Poland's President Andrzej Duda signed into law an amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, criminalizing statements that ascribe collective responsibility in Holocaust-related crimes to the Polish nation,http://orka.sejm.gov.pl/opinie8.nsf/nazwa/771_u/$file/771_u.pdf Ustawa z dnia 26 stycznia 2018 r. o zmianie ustawy o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej – Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, ustawy o grobach i cmentarzach wojennych, ustawy o muzeach oraz ustawy o odpowiedzialności podmiotów zbiorowych za czyny zabronione pod groźbą kary Act of 26 January 2018 amending the act on the Institute of National Remembrance - Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, laws on graves and war cemeteries, laws on museums and the act on the liability of collective entities for acts prohibited under penalty 29 January 2018 Parliament of Poland pl 2 February 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20190429210234/http://orka.sejm.gov.pl/opinie8.nsf/nazwa/771_u/$file/771_u.pdf 29 April 2019 live [Anyone] who, in public and against the facts, ascribes to the Polish Nation or to the Polish State, responsibility or co-responsibility for Nazi crimes committed by the Third Reich,< ...> or who otherwise grossly reduces the responsibility of the actual perpetrators of said crimes, is subject to a fine or [to] imprisonment for up to 3 years. < ...> No offense referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall have been committed if the act was performed as part of artistic or scholarly activity. It was generally understood that the law would criminalize use of the expressions "Polish death camp" and "Polish concentration camp".https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/27/it-could-soon-be-a-crime-to-blame-poland-for-nazi-atrocities-and-israel-is-appalled/ Israel and Poland try to tamp down tensions after Poland's 'death camp' law sparks Israeli outrage 28 January 2018 The Washington Post 11 November 2018https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-poland/israel-and-poland-clash-over-proposed-holocaust-law-idUSKBN1FH0S3 Israel and Poland clash over proposed Holocaust law Jeffrey Heller Marcin Goettig 28 January 2018 Reuters 11 November 2018https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/poland-grants-initial-approval-controversial-death-camp-bill-180967975/ The Controversy Around Poland's Proposed Ban on the Term 'Polish Death Camps' Katz Brigit 29 January 2018 Smithsonian.com 11 November 2018 After international backlash, the law was revised to remove criminal penalties, but also the exceptions for scientific or artistic expression. The law met with widespread international criticism, as it was seen as an infringement on freedom of expression and on academic freedom, and as a barrier to open discussion on Polish collaborationism,Hackmann Jörg Defending the "Good Name" of the Polish Nation: Politics of History as a Battlefield in Poland, 2015–18 Journal of Genocide Research 2018 20 4 587–606 10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742 81922100 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/01/polands-senate-passes-holocaust-complicity-bill-despite-concerns-from-u-s-israel/ Poland's Senate passes Holocaust complicity bill despite concerns from U.S., Israel Noack Rick 2 February 2018 The Washington Post 2018-02-02 0190-8286 in what has been described as "the biggest diplomatic crisis in [Poland's] recent history".Cherviatsova Alina Memory as a battlefield: European memorial laws and freedom of speech The International Journal of Human Rights 2020 25 4 675–694 10.1080/13642987.2020.1791826 225574752 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8707936/file/8723071 subscription References External links Truth about camps, website created by Institute of National Remembrance Map of the German Death Camps on occupied Polish territories. Concentration camps' functionaries and biographical notes and witness' accounts created by Institute of National Remembrance Libionka Dariusz "Truth About Camps" or the Uneventful 1942 Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały 2013 Holocaust Studies and Materials 579–589 10.32927/zzsim.841 https://www.zagladazydow.pl/index.php/zz/article/view/841 en 2657-3571 free http://www.yadvashem.org/blog/in-response-to-comments-regarding-death-camps-in-poland.html In Response to Comments Regarding Death Camps in Poland 29 January 2015 Yad Vashem http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-24/life-next-to-the-worlds-most-notorious-concentration-camp/9480916 What's It Like to Live next to the World's Most Notorious Concentration Camp Glenday James 24 February 2018 Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Category:Anti-Polish sentiment Category:Controversies in Poland Category:Media bias controversies Category:Holocaust historiography Category:Israel–Poland relations Category:Naming controversies * Category:Polish nationalism Category:Articles with quotation marks in the title