Marmot1
02-02-2005, 05:49 AM
Recently press worldwide (US,Canada,even Sweden) many times refered to "Polish Concentration Camps..." you may ask so what? Well this lead to confusion and falseing of history, it resulted i.e. to article in Sweden where Poland instead of Nazi Germany was accused of running concentration camps.. so far only Poland tried to correct this and prevent it in future (several diplonatic notes, press replied by polish diplomats etc.) and now I found this statement. So I would like to thanx that finaly Jewish organisation joined efforts to correct this. For many of you it is obvious who created those camps but many times during my journeys abroad (and so far i visited quite a few countries ;-) ) I'v meet ppl whose only knowledge about Poland was: "A..... Poland, I know where it is, you have build those camps during WW2..." I's quite embarasing to me and many fellow poles, especially since I have heard it from Jews too.
Anyway I would like to thank AJC for this statement since it might help to improve Polish-Jewish relations.
Marmot
Statement on Poland and the Auschwitz Commemoration
January 30, 2005 - New York - American Jewish Committee Executive Director David A. Harris issued the following statement today:
The American Jewish Committee wishes to express appreciation to Poland for hosting the commemorative event to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and gratitude to Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski for his eloquent and stirring words at the ceremony.
We would also like to remind those who are either unaware of the facts or careless in their choice of words, as has been the case with some media outlets, that Auschwitz-Birkenau and the other death camps, including Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka, were conceived, built and operated by Nazi Germany and its allies.
The camps were located in German-occupied Poland, the European country with by far the largest Jewish population, but they were most emphatically not "Polish camps".
This is not a mere semantic matter. Historical integrity and accuracy hang in the balance.
Poland was the first nation attacked by the Third Reich, which ignited the Second World War on September 1, 1939. Polish forces fought valiantly, but were overwhelmed by the larger and better equipped Nazi army that invaded from the west, and then by the Soviet army, an ally of Hitler at the time, which attacked from the east. Nonetheless, Polish forces in exile continued the struggle against Hitler, together, of course, with other Allied troops, until the war's end. And it should also never be forgotten that, in addition to Polish Jews, who were targeted for total annihilation by the Nazi Final Solution, other Poles, including political prisoners such as Professor Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, who spoke so movingly at Auschwitz on January 27, and who was a key figure in the Polish underground, were also seized by the Nazis and incarcerated in concentration camps.
Any misrepresentation of Poland's role in the Second World War, whether intentional or accidental, would be most regrettable and therefore should not be left unchallenged.
New York, January 30, 2005
Contact: Kenneth Bandler (212) 891-6771 PR@ajc.org
Lisa Fingeret Roth (212) 891-1385 rothl@ajc.org
http://www.ajc.org/InTheMedia/PressReleases.asp?did=1499
Anyway I would like to thank AJC for this statement since it might help to improve Polish-Jewish relations.
Marmot
Statement on Poland and the Auschwitz Commemoration
January 30, 2005 - New York - American Jewish Committee Executive Director David A. Harris issued the following statement today:
The American Jewish Committee wishes to express appreciation to Poland for hosting the commemorative event to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and gratitude to Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski for his eloquent and stirring words at the ceremony.
We would also like to remind those who are either unaware of the facts or careless in their choice of words, as has been the case with some media outlets, that Auschwitz-Birkenau and the other death camps, including Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka, were conceived, built and operated by Nazi Germany and its allies.
The camps were located in German-occupied Poland, the European country with by far the largest Jewish population, but they were most emphatically not "Polish camps".
This is not a mere semantic matter. Historical integrity and accuracy hang in the balance.
Poland was the first nation attacked by the Third Reich, which ignited the Second World War on September 1, 1939. Polish forces fought valiantly, but were overwhelmed by the larger and better equipped Nazi army that invaded from the west, and then by the Soviet army, an ally of Hitler at the time, which attacked from the east. Nonetheless, Polish forces in exile continued the struggle against Hitler, together, of course, with other Allied troops, until the war's end. And it should also never be forgotten that, in addition to Polish Jews, who were targeted for total annihilation by the Nazi Final Solution, other Poles, including political prisoners such as Professor Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, who spoke so movingly at Auschwitz on January 27, and who was a key figure in the Polish underground, were also seized by the Nazis and incarcerated in concentration camps.
Any misrepresentation of Poland's role in the Second World War, whether intentional or accidental, would be most regrettable and therefore should not be left unchallenged.
New York, January 30, 2005
Contact: Kenneth Bandler (212) 891-6771 PR@ajc.org
Lisa Fingeret Roth (212) 891-1385 rothl@ajc.org
http://www.ajc.org/InTheMedia/PressReleases.asp?did=1499