When the Nazis occupied Poland during World War II, they set up a multitude of concentration camps or death camps throughout the country. Against the Polish people's will, the camps held hundreds of thousands of prisoners from various backgrounds such as Poles, Jews, gypsies, Russian prisoners-of-war, etc.. As we know too well today, the Nazis tortured and brutally murdered many of these prisoners, leaving many survivors in a corpse-like state.
The Polish government and people strive to preserve Holocaust history to ensure it does not repeat itself; however, they want the world to know the Holocaust was not their fault.
Blame Adolf Hitler for the Holocaust
The highly respected newspaper The Wall Street Journal used phrases such as "Polish concentration camps" and "Polish death camps" in articles pertaining to the Holocaust. Poles became offended, since they believed the phrases insinuated that Poland was responsible for the Holocaust. They protested outside of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation building in New York City.
The result was The Wall Street Journal revised its style guide to eliminate the above phrases. Style and Substance Editor of WSJ Paul R. Martin wrote, "The slip is easy to make, but it understandably raises hackles in Polish camps and shouldn't happen" (News from Poland).
Poles believe the blame should be placed in the hands of those responsible: the Nazis. Therefore, they encourage descriptive phrases such as "Auschwitz Birkenau - the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp" and "Nazi-occupied Poland" to clarify who was responsible for such heinous acts.
Dropping the .pl for Accurate World War II History
In addition to the WSJ protest, Bogdan Zdrojewski, the Polish Minister of Culture, has made a formal plea to Nazi concentration camp museums to drop the '.pl' from their IP addresses. Zdrojewski "has suggested changing the suffix to ‘.eu’, so as to avoid perpetuating the misleading notion that the killing grounds were run by Poles" (News from Poland).
Poles want the misinformation of phrases such as "Polish death camps" to stop on an international level. Therefore, campaigners have issued a Petition on German Concentration Camps for people to sign. So far, 200,000 people have signed this Internet petition, including Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, former president Lech Walesa, Jimmy Carter, Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich and many more famous Poles and Polish-Americans.
Only time will tell if the petition will be successful. In the meantime, Poles and Polish-Americans strive to correct World War II history. With the editing of a few select phrases, it is entirely possible.
Check out the Suite 101 Eastern European History blog.
Sources:
"200,000 sign 'Polish concentration camps' petition" - News from Poland (thenews.pl), January 27, 2011 -- viewed February 2, 2011
"Poland confronts 'deathcamp.pl' dilemma" - News from Poland (thenews.pl), February 2, 2011 -- viewed February 2, 2011
Petition on German Concentration Camps, The Kosciuszko Foundation -- viewed February 2, 2011
Jennifer Ciotta - Jennifer Ciotta is the author of I, Putin (Vladimir Putin novel): http://vladimirputinnovel.com.
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