Posted on 04/23/2009 2:45:20 PM PDT by lizol
CNN made to apologize for offending Poles 23.04.2009
The American CNN television station has apologized for using the term "Polish death camps" on the air.
In their Tuesday coverage of the March of the Living - an annual commemoration of the German Nazi Holocaust held in Poland, CNN displayed the words "Polish death camps" on the breaking news scroll.
As a result of the quick intervention of the Polish embassy in Washington, CNN promised the Polish Foreign Ministry to issue a statement apologizing for the offensive mistake. In the past, the term "Polish concentration camp" was mistakenly used by ABC News, CBS News and the New York Times, as well as by Die Welt and The Guardian.
Łukasz Kamiński, historian of the Institute of National Remembrance says that repeating such untrue and harmful statements can build a false image that it was Poles and not Germans, who were responsible for mass murders in World War Two concentration camps: 'Time passes and the level of public knowledge of World War Two decreases. The more we hear about "Polish death camps" the less we will think about what it really means - if it means they were built in Poland, or by Poles. We must defend the historic truth on this matter with determination.'
In Poland, using the term "Polish concentration camps" is a breech of law about Holocaust denial.
Shame on CNN.
Unbelievable. CommuNazi Network.
I still don't like speech codes though
In an analytic language, like English, "Polish Sausage", "Polish Death Camp", etc. must be evaluated in terms of the context of the full statement.
As all "Polish sausages" (that is "kielbasa") are not necessarily manufactured and eaten in Poland, so to with the "German death camps in Poland" ~ they had nothing to do with Poland other than geographic determinants.
The Poles still keep getting excited about how English (and Chinese for that matter) handle these structures ~ and they'll not be satisfied until they, too, adopt English as their first language and quit trying to stuff English into a Polish casing!
It should be “Nazi Concentration Camp”. Poland wasn’t even a nation then, most of modern Poland, was part of the German Reich, even before the war.
Poles didn’t even work in the camps, however Lithuanians and Ukrainians did work in the camps as guards.
Then you’ll also be happy to know that Poland is about to ban the display of Che Guevara’s picture.
As is the case with the NYT, it was likely intentional, and no semantic gyrations can excuse it.
“The more we hear about ‘Polish death camps’ the less we will think about what it really means - if it means they were built in Poland, or by Poles.”
I think pretty much everyone knows it was built by Nazis. If there’s any historical event immune to the memory hole, at least here in the West, it’s the holocaust.
Impressive that you speak fluently all those "synthetic" languages.
Is it so hard to say Nazi Concentration Camp.
Don't be so sure of that.
lol.
who knew there was a such a thing as anti-commie speech codes?
“In CNN’s defense, it’s not possible to talk about a ‘Polish death camp’ in Polish, or French, or German, or almost any other synthetic language.”
I don’t get what you mean by “synthetic”. English in part derives from French and German, what does that make it?
Don't take it to the bank. Polls in Britain show widespread ignorance about anything history related and especially regarding the Holocaust. You can be sure that it's not any better in the US. I bet most Americans wouldn't know where Auschwitz is.
So why don’t you call them - let’s say - “Jewish death camps”, as mostly Jewish people were killed there?
You're nice, but very naive.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.