In an article about the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a German death camp, The Mirror used the false and misleading phrase “Polish concentration camp” to describe it. Thanks to our readers sending hundreds of protest emails and widespread coverage on our social media, we successfully influenced the removal of this shameful phrase!

The British Poles portal has repeatedly responded to slander in the media, intervening to defend Poland’s good name and historical truth. In this case as well, we shared the video „Words Matter” produced by the Polish Embassy in Washington in 2017 at the initiative of then-Ambassador Professor Piotr Wilczek. The film clarifies that the correct term for Auschwitz is “German Nazi concentration/extermination camp in occupied Poland.”

Unfortunately, the change in wording brought a new mistake in describing the historical facts about Auschwitz.

It is crucial to remember that Auschwitz was created in the territories incorporated into the German Reich that had no Polish administration at the time of the Nazi German camp’s functioning, therefore it is not precise to call it an occupation zone as the Polish state was completely erased. 

For some historians and journalists, that fact is sometimes hard to explain as the status of Poland differed from countries such as France or others occupied by the Germans. The difference was also the draconian laws for aiding Jews or any underground activity against the authorities. 

The strict occupation zone for Poles was named the General Government or General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete).

We are reminding that the only phrase reflecting the historical truth in given circumstances to describe Auschwitz and other death camps is “Nazi German death camp”. 

It was thanks to hundreds of our readers sending the protest emails to The Mirror that the change in the article was possible. We want to thank you for that and remind you that such help might be needed in the future, as manipulation regarding historical facts becomes more and more often a tool of political significance. 

The change in the text was made yesterday evening. 

Photo: @X @AuschwitzMuseum

Tomasz Modrzejewski