In a story by Russel Myers and Chiara Fiorillo titled „King Charles makes emotional Auschwitz visit and says the horrors must never be forgotten” the British news website again used the phrase “Polish camp” to describe the Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in which 200,000 Poles were imprisoned and 70,000 died. 

Since the British Poles alerted its readers yesterday of the “Polish concentration camp” phrase being used by The Mirror in another article by Lucy Thornton the news website used a false phrase again, this time by calling Auschwitz a “Polish camp”.

It is painful for the Polish community in Britain to once again remind the media to address the German war atrocities in the right way consistent with historical knowledge. 

What is interesting The Mirror uses the phrase “Polish camp” just beneath a picture showing the infamous sign in German, above the entrance to the Auschwitz death camp saying “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work sets you free).

We once again call to our readers to protest against this distortion of history by sending emails to inform The Mirror of their repeated mistakes. 

Our proposition for protest message: 

PROTEST AGAINST THE REPEATED USE OF THE MISLEADING PHRASE “POLISH CAMP” IN YOUR ARTICLE

We believe that the idea expressed by the words “Never Again” regarding the tragic time of the Holocaust shall be persisted for the future generations of humanity. 

Therefore we strongly oppose the use of the misleading term “Polish camp” in your article King Charles makes an emotional Auschwitz visit and says the horrors must never be forgotten by Russel Myers and Chiara Fiorillo.

That phrase misrepresents historical facts by falsely attributing Nazi German crimes to Poland which was under a genocidal occupation of Germany at the time of World War 2 and the Holocaust. 

Polish citizens including Jews and members of other ethnic groups were murdered in German Nazi death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, and Sobibór.

Poles were murdered for assisting Jews, who were brutally persecuted by the German authorities. Despite this, countless Poles risked their lives to save Jews through underground organisations or personal heroic decisions.

We urge that media organisations pay more effort to find proper wording for their descriptions of the Nazi German crimes against humanity, that will truly distinguish between the victim and perpetrator. 

The Mirror email address: yourvoice@mirror.co.uk

Caroline Waterston, editor-in-chief: caroline.waterston@mirror.co.uk

Russel Myers: russell.myers@mirror.co.uk

Chiara Forillo: chiara.fiorillo@reachplc.com

Source: mirror.co.uk, Polskie Radio

Photo: @AuschwitzMuseum

Tomasz Modrzejewski