The correct name is Oswiecim, not Auschwitz. After Germans invaded and occupied Poland, they annexed the Oswiecim region and renamed it Auschwitz.
They made there a camp mostly for the ethnic Poles. Next they made the other camp mostly for the Jews located a few kilometers away in Brzezinka (renamed by them Birkenau). It added to the confusion in the West. It is in Brzezinka where the Jews were being exterminated.
So how many of you have heard about Brzezinka? 1%?
Did you all hear the royal historian on Bill O'Reilly last night? He said that Harry is a "very strange guy" with a temperament that is similar to that of the polo player...what's his name...Hewitt. The historian went on to say things about Harry that were not favorable at all. The transcript would be worth the read.
Many Poles served in the RAF during WW II (1 in 8 flyers were Polish) fighting the Nazis, and helping to save England's bacon during the "Battle of Britain". Their country was destroyed and yet they helped to fight for England in her hour of need. They got stabbed in the back at Yalta, and the Polish soldiers serving in England were treated as peons by the British public.
It was well documented, that Hitler planned to exterminate all Poles by 1975, but unlike with the Jews, he figured to keep them alive as slaves until they all died out.
I've heard of Birkenau but not often and not as much as Auschwitz. I grew up in that era and the images have haunted me all my life. That's why I give money to the Fellowship of Christians and Jews to help feed elderly Jews in Russia who would otherwise starve if organizations like FCJ didn't help them. I feel I have to. It's not a duty by any means but I know God wants us to help the Jewish people and it's an honor to be able to do even this little bit.
If the point is that the Nazis slaughtered many Poles like St. Maximilian Kolbe or non-Jewish laymen whose names are not familiar to us at these places, fine. Maybe it is better that these places are known by their German names for the Holocaust period since the atrocities in question were, unquestionably, German Nazi atrocities and not Polish atrocities.
You are right that I have not previously heard of Brzezinka and, now that I have, I have no reason to think any differently of what went on there and who perpetrated what against whom. I also am far more concerned about the ignorance of British youth (are our own more knowledgeable?) as to Auschwitz, Berkenau, Bergen-Belsen, and so many other locations of Holocaust horror.