"Die Welt" apologizes for false historic statement (calling Nazi camp Polish).

polskieradio.pl ^ | 25.11.2008

[lizol]

Die Welt apologizes for false historic statement

25.11.2008

The Polish embassy in Berlin has received a letter of apology from the editor of Die Welt newspaper in connection with its publication of an article in which the Nazi wartime death camp of Majdanek had been described as ‘a former Polish concentration camp’.

In the letter, the paper’s editor Thomas Schmid expressed regret over the publication and surprise at the possibility of making such a mistake by his staff.

He also pledged to rectify the false statement in print. An acknowledgement of the mistake has already been put up on the Die Welt website.

The newspaper’s editor agreed in full with the note of protest filed by Polish ambassador Marek Prawda stating the description used in the article is in absolute disagreement with historic facts and is slanderous towards Poland.

[Deb]

Oh, these kids today.

[lizol]

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[Sherman Logan]

Well, it was in Poland.

[dfwgator]

Well, it was in Poland.

No, it was in the "Generalgouvernement", Poland did not exist during the war.

[Sherman Logan]

I was using the term “Poland” to designate a geographical area, not a political unit.

[x]

Use your brain before posting, please.

[lizol]

No, it was on Polish soil, there was no Poland at that time.

Following that logic - attack on WTC on 9/11 was an act of American terror.

[Fiji Hill]

No...there was no Poland at that time.

Try explaining that to the Polish Home Army!

[lizol]

Polish Home Army fought actually to bring Poland back to this land, and to get rid of Nazi Germany, ocuppying it.

[DTA]

>>>>>Oh, these kids today.<<<<<

This is not a kids game, this is Holocaust revisionism at work. Poland has complained about this for year, to little success.

This is perhaps for the first time they apologized. Calling Nazi extermination camps "Polish camps" is a Holocaust revisionist ploy going on for more then a decade.

English is even more ambiguous than German. So, for example, "Armenian genocide" can mean both "genocide of the Armenians" and "genocide perpetrated by the Armenians".

Depending on the political climate and orders given to PR agencies, many times the actual victims are promoted to perpetrators by the scumbags in the top echelon of power.

"Polish concentration camps" should not be taken lightly. I suggest suing media to the fullest extent of the law.

[wolf78]

"Polish concentration camps" should not be taken lightly. I suggest suing media to the fullest extent of the law.

For what? Shoddy writing? I know this is a sensitive issue and the Welt editor is a bonehead for using an ambiguous wording, but a.) every schoolchild in Germany knows that the KZs were built by the Nazis and not Poles (actually, as the poles were victims, too, the whole issue of historical Polish antisemitism is never touched upon in German history class, further preventing any misunderstanding of the Welt article) and b.) the context of the German article was geographic, so the only sensible meaning is indeed "located in Poland" as opposed to "located on German territory", Belarus or whatever.



The problem was that the writer adressed a German audience that would never assume the concentration camp was run by Poles. His "crime" was not Holocaust revisionism, but plain idiocy for not realizing that one's gotta be specific nonetheless because you can actually never really know the educational / informational background of one's audience, or in short: If you assume you make an ass out of...

[Revolting cat!]

KZs were built by the Nazis

Ah, yes those mythical 'Nazis', the nation that doesn't exist any more! "Polish concentration camps built by Nazis", right?

[Revolting cat!]

Well, Die Welt apologized, but it’s the Walter Duranty’s employer that leads the world in repeatedly referring to “Polish concentration camps” to the mythical Nazis, and to the “historical Polish anti-semitism”, never apologizing for anything!

[wolf78]

Ah, yes those mythical 'Nazis', the nation that doesn't exist any more! "Polish concentration camps built by Nazis", right?

Well, you're stating the obvious, now aren't you? "Grossdeutschland" doesn't exist anymore. Pomerania, Silesia and parts of East Prussia belong to Poland today and Austria is a nation state of its own. (I see your sarcasm and raise you irony.).

[PoliticsAndSausages]

Meh. Let’s be realistic, how should Holocaust revisionism actually work? In short, it doesn’t and I think you’re being a bit paranoid. I can understand why the Poles are not amused, though.

[DTA]

To paraprase Kissinger, being a bit paranoid helps to figure out how they are doing it.

The Holocaust is a historical event that took place in Europe in the 1940s. Six million Jews were murdered by German Nazis and their helpers.

They were murdered in Nazi extermination camps.

Calling German Nazi camp "Polish camp" is a ploy to put the German Nazis out of the picture and relativize the crime.

Average person today has no clue of history. Polish coil, Polish joke, Polish beer, Polish extermination camp. Who are the perpetrators of The Holocaust?

That's how Holocaust revisionism works.

In Germany, it is a punishable offense to claim that The Holocaust did not happen or to claim that Nazis are not responsible for it. By calling it "Polish extermination camp" blame is shifted to the victims.

Almost 3 million ethnic Poles were slaughtered by the German Nazis.

[PoliticsAndSausages]

As a German, I can assure you I had absolutely no chance of getting to this point in history without learning what the Holocaust is and who did it. One lousy headline from the Welt won’t change that.