Warsaw, Poland – Poland’s prime minister said Wednesday he wasn’t completely satisfied with a White House explanation that President Barack Obama misspoke when he referred to “Polish death camps” during a ceremony honoring a World War II hero, saying he wants a “stronger, more pointed” response.
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The phrasing is considered hugely offensive in Poland, where Nazi Germany murdered Poles, Jews and others in death camps it built during World War II on Polish and German territory. Poles have responded with outrage, maintaining Obama should have called it a “German death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland,” to distinguish the perpetrators from the location.
Donald Tusk said he was accepting a White House explanation that Obama misspoke but was still waiting for a “stronger, more pointed reaction” that could eliminate the phrasing “once and for all.” Tusk said it was a “matter of the U.S.’s reputation.” He hinted it should include facts about Nazi Germany’s brutal occupation of Poland.
Former President and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa said the phrase confused henchmen with their victims but that Obama’s mistake might prevent similar statements by others.
The White House said the president misspoke Tuesday in bestowing the Medal of Freedom posthumously on Jan Kozielewski, alias Karski, a Polish emissary who in 1943 alerted Allied leaders to mass killing of Jews. In order to gather first-hand evidence he risked his life and was secretly smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto and a death camp.
Anxious to quell the controversy, the White House also noted that the president had visited the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial while in Poland and that he has repeatedly discussed the bravery of Poles during World War II.
The Polish Embassy in Washington, on its website, has a “how-to guide” on concentration camps that states that references to Polish death camps are “factually incorrect slurs” that should be corrected.
The problem is that for once Obama is actually right the death camps were sanctioned and actively aided by poles they were willing collaborators and deserve some of the blame
I’m still waiting for an apology for the assistance Polish civilians provided to the Germans in rounding up and transporting my grandparent’s family.
When it arrives, I’ll be sure to issue a press release advising the world whether or not I find it satisfactory.
Yes, it’s quite a gaffe. One that’s been in circulation since WWII for a good reason. While plenty of Poles helped and protected Jews and other Nazi victims, millions of Poles were blatantly complicit with the Nazis and were happy to see Jews tortured and killed.
They hate us more than the Germans
Why doesn’t Polish PM acknowledge the assistance hundreds of thousands of Polish anti-semites gave to the nazis YMS in murdering Yidden. And without the help and cooperation of Poles and those who worked in the murder factories (i.e. concentration camps) the nazis, YMS would never have been able to do what they did And what about the pogroms after the end of the war which took place in Kielce and other places. Please respectfully tell PM Tusk to “pocałuj mnie w dupę” on behalf of all the Yidden murdered by the complacent Pollackim. And for all you Frumme Yidden who employ Polishe Goytes, why would you bring a anti-simite into your home. They steal from you and feed your children tarfes.
how about you apologizing for the centuries of hate and progroms committed by the polish people. who do you think you are to disrespect the most powerful leader in the world. crawl back under the rock you came from you nobody.
it’s all horse manure!!.Germans built ALL extermination camps in poland because they knew that they’ll get enthusiastic assistance from 99.999% of the poles! Majdanek,Auschwitz-Birkenau,Belzec,Treblinka,Chelmno,Sobibor ALL on polish soil!!coincidence?? me thinks not!!!!!
it actually is a polish death camp too. the polish the same amount of jews as the germans ymv”
the poles were partners with the nazis the man should shut up and be happy that he got any kind of apology
They’re right about Obama’s statement, but Poles have their own sins to bear. Somewhat like Farrakhan explaining the evils of the KKK.
The partisans excluded, didn’t the Poles enthusiastically help the Nazis (ym”s) during the war?
just goes to show where our President has brought the image and prestige of this Country. teef in drert . Remember in November.
Most Poles believe they suffered at least as much as “the Jews” and perhaps even more. They don’t deny the holocaust per se, but truly believe their own suffering has been ignored to a large extent and that they have been lumped together with the Nazis because a relatively small number of Poles collaborated with the Germany occupation forces (in the same way as some Jews functioned as “kapos” in the camps). Thats their perspective and what is drviving the broigas over Obama’s remarks.
“The Jedwabne affair certainly tarnished Poland’s self-image (…) However, this does not turn Poles into co-perpetrators of the Holocaust or diminish in any way the primary German responsibility for the “Final Solution.”
The fact remains that Poles did not engage, on the whole, in the savage murders carried out against Jews, as did the Lithuanians, Latvians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Hungarians, Croats and other collaborators of the Germans during the war years.”
Robert Wistricht, Israeli historian
“I would attribute roughly 10-20,000 Jewish deaths before, during and after the Holocaust to Polish anti-semites, less than 1% of the total number of Polish Jews who died. That is appalling – yet at the same time, on the scale of the Holocaust, marginal. Assuming that 10-20,000 killings implies 10-20,000 killers, that number of murderous bigots could be found in any country in Nazi-occupied Europe, given the temper of the times.” Steve Paulsson, historian
The Polish had the same hand as the nazis in the killing of 1000,s of jews. The only difference was they where able to hide behind the Nazi regime. Please, they saved us SO did Schindler Strauss and many others & they WHERE NAZIS.
Anyone remember PRAGUE THE SHUL THATS STILL THERE was filled with Jewish blood. If I where the Polish PM I wouldn’t be so fresh and demand apologies, BUT I guess a Polack stays polack forevermore “!!!!!!!
learn history about 2,000,000 polish people Non Jews where killed by the Germans
one story
During the occupation, communities were held collectively responsible for Polish attacks against German troops and mass executions were conducted in reprisal.[23] In the area in and around Bydgoszcz, about 10,000 non-Jewish Polish civilians were murdered in the first four months of the occupation (see Bloody Sunday).[24] German army and paramilitary units composed of Volksdeutsche also participated in executions of civilians.[25]
The Nazis took hostages by the thousands at the time of the invasion and all during their occupation of Poland.[24][26] Hostages were selected from among the most prominent citizens of occupied cities and villages: priests, professors, doctors, lawyers, as well as leaders of economic and social organizations and the trade unions. Often, however, they were chosen at random from all segments of society and for every German killed a group of between 50 and 100 Polish civilians were executed.[24] About 20,000 villagers, some of whom were burned alive, were killed in large-scale punitive operations targeting the rural settlements suspected of aiding the resistance or
I always grew up hearing the classic line that while the Nazis y”shm were “following orders” the Poles were enjoying themselves.
It has always been a particular pleasure to see Polish workers shvitzing for their Jewish bosses.
lotta irrational hatred towards the Poles in some of these comments. Yes there was alot of Polish anti-semitism but the Poles were hardly instrumental in the holocaust. They suffered alot as well during world war 2 and then lost their independence for over 40 years to the soviets.
The truth Hurts –
I just told my Polishe Goyte that i am very sorry for how Obama expressed himself and she said she will forgive me if she gets a $ 4.00 raise an Hour..
I’m not justifying the acts of the many Poles that were in compliance with the Nazi agenda. Many of them were as bad or worse then the Nazis. However, it wasn’t Poland’s national agenda to exterminate the Jews. Polish people, not Poland, only complied with the Nazis after the Nazis conquered Poland.
Many Poles are proud of the fact that Poland was the only Eastern European nation to actually fight the German Army. Every other Eastern European nation, essentially, let the Nazis in where they proceeded to exterminate the Jewish population found there.
Frater, please go to David Irving’s website. You’ll be more comfortable there.
You are a liar and a Nazi aplologist.
Be honest about it – you got your hatred of Jews in your mother’s milk. Polish persecution of Jews is as old as Poland itself.
The Nazis of the Holocaust have & will be dealt with by Hashem. Germans, Poles & Jews of the future are the ones who need our prayers.
There hasn’t been one comment about the lack of cooperation, from their Polish neighbors, which the Yidden encountered during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. The few arms which the Jews were able to buy from the Poles (and even those were restricted) were sold at exhorbitant prices. Yet, the Poles to this day complain about how they suffered during their uprising in Warsaw in 1944. They claim that the Russians refused to come to their aid. I’ll have to agree with #7 , who stated that a preponderance of the large death camps were built in Poland, as the Nazis knew that the Poles would not be sympathetic to the Jews. Even when the Jews managed to escape from Treblinka and Sobibor, they had to deal with a hostile civilian population, who were only too willing to turn them in. I’m glad that Obama ruffled the feathers of the Poles.
Thanks Anonymous, shredready, 1234, kvetcher, thegabmeister and ayinglefunadorf. I like Jewish people and Jewish culture and have often fought with anti-Semites in my community. I know that internet forums are not representative and a fertile ground for all sorts of bad behavior, but it’s good to meet nicer people.
I just learned learned something very interesting last night.
The Polish government has paid employees who monitor public media for mention of Poland’s role in the murder of our famalies and pretending to be just private citizens use out of context distortions of the truth to post mmisleading information that to the uninformed appear to absolve the Poles of all blame for their ugly actions.
That is correct, the Polish government has workers who are paid to sit on the internet and LIE about their role in the slaughter of our famalies.
Armed with out of context and incomplete quotes, they use every trick in the book to appear as anything but propaganda spreaders.
Case in point: Uncle Frater regularly quotes author Deborah Lipstadt (without exact source, of course).
Frater than claims he never heard of Irving, using the trick of calling him Daniel Irving instead of David Irving to bolster the appearance that Frater never heard of Irving.
One problem though: If you have read Lipstadts work enough to quote her as an expert you cannot claim you’ve never heard of David Irving.
Frater, go tell you Polish government bosses it isn’t working. You left too many zhids alive to tell the truth about your country gleeful support and participation in the barbaric slaughter of our people.
I was in Ghetto Lodz, Czenstochau and finally Buchenwald. In Buchenwald Ukrainians attacked Jews but were stopped[ beaten ] by political prisoners who protected the Jews. The political prisoners, Czech,Germans, and Russians andFrench. My mother comes from Lemberg, Lwow and now Lviv. Upon the entry of the German Army in 1941 the local Ukrainians made of massacre killing Jews and the Germans all had to do watch and let them do their savagery. Shame a neutron bomb is not available and dropped on the Ukrainians will keep the building intact and kill all those scum
You were defending Israel on some other website and were accused of being paid by Hasbara? Happened to me as well when I argued with anti-Semites. I’m living a good life with all the money I get from various governments. But honestly the Polish state is not so organized.
“She essentially argues that the reason the death camps were located in Poland was for the sake of efficiency, not because of Polish anti Semitism, but strictly coincidental to Polish antii Semitism.”
Right. That’s why camps are not “Polish” and this is what the whole discussion was about. Crimes actually committed by Poles during the Holocaust are another story. I never said they didn’t happen. But if you want to convince Poles to think about those issues you have to talk about them and not bring the bogus argument about the camps. It’s a deal-breaker and when you make this accusation Poles stop listening to anything you say.
In 1939 Nazi Germany and Soviet Union invaded Poland. Poland was the first country to fight with Hitler’s Germany. There were thousands jews in Polish army. All of our soldiers fight Nazis despite their personal political views. About 6m of polish citizens lost their lives during WWII (roughly 3m jews and 3 christians).