JULY 28 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

JULY 28

1920

The territorial dispute between Poland and Czechoslovakia over Cieszyn Silesia was settled at the Spa Conference, in Belgium on July 28, 1920.  The western part of the disputed territory was given to Czechoslovakia while Poland received the eastern part, thus creating a Zaolzie region with a substantial Polish minority.  Czechoslovakia also agreed to cede to Poland 13 villages (especially Nowa Biała, Jurgów and Niedzica; 195 km²; pop. 8747) in northwestern Spis and 12 villages in northeastern Orava (around Jabłonka; 389 km²; pop. 16133). The Czechoslovak authorities officially regarded their inhabitants as exclusively Slovak, while Poles pointed out that the dialect used there belonged to Polish language. The Polish government was not satisfied with this result.  The conflict was resolved by the Council of the League of Nations on March 12, 1924, which decided that Czechoslovakia should retain the territory of Javorina and Ždiar and which entailed an additional exchange of territories in Orava - the territory around Nižná Lipnica went to Poland, the territory around Suchá Hora and Hladovka went to Czechoslovakia. The new frontiers were confirmed by a Czechoslovak-Polish Treaty on April 24, 1925 and are identical with present-day borders.

1942

Jewish partisans formed the ZOB resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto:  On Wednesday, July 22, 1942  the Nazis had began the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto.  The Jews immediately called on the Jewish Public Committee to discuss the situation and decide upon what measure could be taken. Opinions were divided. The Zionists, and the left-wing parties called for active intervention in any way possible. The majority however wanted to wait until the situation became clearer. Rumours were already circulating that 50,000 to 70,000 Jews would be deported from the Ghetto. On July 28, 1942, a meeting was held and it was agreed to set up the Jewish fighting Organization (YKA, Yidishe-Kamf-Organizatsie). The organization signed proclamations in the Polish language with the initials ZOB ( Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa, meaning Jewish Fighting Organization.) The members of the Command were: Bresler, Cukierman, Zivia Lubetkin, Mordecai Tenenbaum and Josef Kaplan. At that time there was only one pistol in the entire Ghetto district. The Jews sent a delegation outside to the Aryan side to make contact with the Poles;   Tosia Altman, Plotnicka, Leah Perlstein and Arie-Jurek Wilner, took great risk to make the passage outside to obtain weapons for the ghetto uprising. ( if the Nazis detected them, they would have have been shot on spot.)


Stalin decreed Order No. 227 on July 28, 1942 in which his slogan, "Not One Step Back" became the rallying cry of the renewed Soviet resistance against the German invasion.  At the outset of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, the Soviets experienced very heavy losses, accompanied by a massive retreat by as well as desertion from the Red Army.  Stalin intended Order No. 227 to re-establish discipline, and demand courage of the men in the Soviet Army.   Stalin wrote, "The enemy throws new forces to the front without regard to heavy losses and penetrates deep into the Soviet Union, seizing new regions, destroying our cities and villages, and violating, plundering and killing the Soviet population. Combat goes on in region Voronezh, near Don, in the south, and at the gates of the Northern Caucasus. The German invaders penetrate toward Stalingrad, to Volga and want at any cost to trap Kuban and the Northern Caucasus, with their oil and grain. The enemy already has captured Voroshilovgrad, Starobelsk, Rossosh, Kupyansk, Valuyki, Novocherkassk, Rostov on Don, half Voronezh. Part of the troops of the Southern front, following the panic-mongers, have left Rostov and Novocherkassk without severe resistance and without orders from Moscow, covering their banners with shame...... it is time to finish retreating. Not one step back!.....Military councils of the fronts and first of all front commanders should..... Unconditionally remove from their posts and send to the High Command for court martial those army commanders who have allowed unauthorized troop withdrawals from occupied positions, without the order of the Front command..... From within each Front from one up to three (depending on the situation) penal battalions.... where commanders and high commanders and appropriate commissars of all service arms who have been guilty of a breach of discipline due to cowardice or bewilderment will be sent, and put them on more difficult sectors of the front to give them an opportunity to redeem by blood their crimes against the Motherland........"  Stalin decreed similar punishment to soldiers under their command.

1943

Jan Karski met with President Roosevelt:  Polish resistance fighter, Jan Karski personally met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Oval Office, to report to him the situation in Poland. Karski was the first eyewitness of the atrocities committed against the Jews in concentration camps. However, during their meeting, Roosevelt asked about the condition of horses in Poland but did not ask one question about the Jews. Karski met with many other government and civic leaders in the U.S. including Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Cordell Hull, William Joseph Donovan, and Rabbi Stephen Wise.  Later Justice Frankfurter expressed his skepticism of Karski's report when he said, "I did not say that he was lying, I said that I could not believe him. There is a difference."  Karski presented his report to the American media, to bishops of various denominations (including Cardinal Samuel Stritch), members of the Hollywood film industry and artists, but without much result.  When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Karski was arrested and forced on a POW train but managed to escape. He joined the resistance movement in Warsaw (the  SZP, and later Armia Krajowa (Home Army) and served as an underground courier. His harrowing experiences led him to the most dangerous mission of all - to infiltrate a concentration camp on a fact-finding mission.  Disguised as an Estonian camp guard, he visited Belzec death camp.  In 1942 Karski began issuing reports to Polish, British and U.S. governments on the situation in Poland, the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Holocaust of Polish Jews. He had also carried out of Poland a microfilm with further information from the underground movement on the extermination of European Jews in German-occupied Poland.

1944

SECRET AND PERSONAL FROM PREMIER J. V. STALIN TO THE PRIME MINISTER, Mr W. CHURCHILL (no. 306) " Your messages of July 25 and 27 concerning the departure of Mikolajczyk have reached me. Mr Mikolajczyk and his companions will be given every help in Moscow.  You know our point of view on Poland, which is a neighbour of ours and relations with which are of special importance to the Soviet Union. We welcome the National Committee of the democratic forces on Polish soil, and I think the formation of this Committee signifies a good beginning for the unification of those Poles who are friendly towards Great Britain, the U.S.S.R. and the United States, and for overcoming the resistance of those Polish elements who are incapable of uniting with the democratic forces.  I realise the importance of the Polish question to the common cause of the Allies, and that is why I am willing to help all Poles and to mediate in achieving understanding among them.  The Soviet troops have done and are continuing to do all in their power to accelerate the liberation of Poland from the German invaders and to help the Polish people regain freedom and achieve prosperity for their country."  (July 28, 1944 )

JUNE 24 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

JUNE 24

1648

Cossacks slaughtered Jews and Poles in the Ukraine:  In the summer of 1648 the detachment of Colonel Maksym Kryvonis engaged in several bloody battles with the Polish nobility's force, led by Prince Jeremi Wiśniowiecki. During this fighting the population suffered terrible losses. The Polish troops systematically killed all Cossacks and peasants, including women, children, and the old people who fell into their hands, while the rebels treated the nobles, Catholic clergy, and Jews, many of whom took the side of the Polish nobles, with similar ferocity.

1812

Napoleon Invaded Russia:   Napoleon ordered his Grande Armee (the largest European military force ever assembled) and numbering over 600,000 troops, to invade Russia.  Napoleon wanted to defeat the Russian army and force Tsar Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies, thus pressuring the UK to sue for peace.  Armies from many other European countries participated, including Polish troops.  A year after the Third Partition and total obliteration of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, a former high-ranking officer of the Commonwealth army, traveled to Paris to obtain support from Napoleon for the liberation of Poland.  Napoleon saw the Poles as a promising source of new recruits, and authorized Dąbrowski to create the Polish Legions, which would be part of the army of the newly created Republic of Lombardy.  Napoleon sought to gain favor with the Poles, thus his official political campaign, named the Second Polish War, included the liberation of Poland from the threat of Russia. (see January 9, 1797 and  June 22, 1941)

1914

Jan "Karski" Kozielewski (dob) was a Polish World War II resistance movement fighter and later professor at Georgetown University. In 1942 and 1943 Karski reported to the Polish Government in Exile in London and  the Western Allies, on the situation in German-occupied Poland, in particular  the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the extermination of the Jews. After the joint invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939.  Karski was arrested by the Soviet NKVD, and managed to escape the Katyn Massacre (he identified himself as a private, instead of revealing his true military rank, that is, 2nd Lieutenant (of 5th Regiment was a unit of the Kraków Cavalry Brigade). Subsequently, he was handed over to the Germans, and in November 1939 escaped from a POW camp in the General Government and went to Warsaw where he joined the SZP (Służba żwycięstwu Polski) – the first resistance movement in occupied Europe organized by General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski and a predecessor of ZWZ. Later he would join Armia Krajowa, the Home Army (AK). Beginning in 1942, Karski reported to the Polish Government in Exile, and British and U.S. governments on the situation in Poland, in particular the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and the extermination of Polish Jews by the Nazi Germans. Karski also carried out of Poland a microfilm with further information from the underground movement on the extermination of European Jews in German-occupied Poland.  Karski traveled to the US and met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on July 28, 1943 telling him of his eye-witness account of the atrocities in the German camps. Roosevelt did not ask one question about the Jews. He also met with  Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Cordell Hull, William Joseph Donovan, and Rabbi Stephen Wise.

1940

Secret Intelligence Bureau PC Bruno evacuated France:  As the Germans were advancing closer to Paris, the PC Bruno unit, and the Bruno staff commenced evacuation procedures and on the 24th of June,  15 Poles, 50 Frenchmen, and 7 Spaniards boarded in three planes to escape to Algeria, where they continued to work clandestinely to decipher German Enigma messages. PC Bruno was a French-Polish signals intelligence station near Paris and operated from October 1939 until June 1940.  They worked closely with their British counterpart,  Bletchley Park.  Among the cryptologists there were three brilliant Polish mathematicians, Marian Rejewski,  Jerzy Różycki, and Henryk Zygalski, who had broken the Enigma Code before the start of World War II. (see August 16, 1905)

1945

Moscow Victory Parade of 1945: A victory parade was held in Moscow led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov riding a white horse, the traditional Russian mount of a conquering hero. Two hundred captured Nazi banners were ceremonially dragged through Red Square and thrown on the ground before Lenin's Tomb.

1948

Soviets Blockaded West Berlin:  The Berlin Blockade (June 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949) was one of the first major international crises during the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control.  In response the West launched a counter-blockade, halting all rail traffic into East Germany from the British and US zones, which had damaging results on East Germany over the next few months.  On June 25, the Soviets stopped supplying food to the civilian population in the non-Soviet sectors of Berlin and cut off electricity.  Motor traffic from Berlin to the western zones was permitted, however it required an extended detour of 23 km (14.3-mile) to a ferry crossing.  The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche mark from West Berlin.

FAMOUS POLISH QUOTATIONS

Great men and women throughout history are remembered for their magnificent oratory, probably much more so than for their valiant, or infamous deeds. Quotations have always captured our attention and fascination. They exquisitely encapsulate in a few words the scope of human understanding, thoughts and ideas and is a skill that is almost tantamount to wizardry. Who among us does not instantly recognize the following quotations, words which will endure for posterity.  Neither shall we forget their names for they have been written into our collective consciousness.

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills: we shall never surrender.

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.

Be not afraid.

These are inspiring words but there remain a treasure chest of many other great quotations which have yet to capture our attention. The following are a collection of Polish quotations which I have gathered laboriously from countless sources, from famous writers, musicians, and film makers. I would have included many more, but unfortunately many quotes have not been translated to English. These quotations serve to inspire, amaze, educate, liberate, and sometimes, even amuse. The best quotations, I believe, are those which captured the sentiments of a nation in one moment of history, and thus preserved it for all time. Quotations are the signposts of our society - the good ones inspire us to become better than ourselves, while the bad ones alert us to danger, or alas, lead us astray. In any event quotations invite us to delve deeper to explore its meaning, and to understand its past. That is the mission.

To be defeated and not submit, is victory;
to be victorious and rest on one's laurels, is defeat.
Jozef Pilsudski

 In comparison with the NKVD,
the Gestapo methods
are child's play.  

 Leopold Okulicki

Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this earth, and not a title to glory.          Irena Sendler

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

  Pope John Paul II

I belong to a nation which over the past centuries has experienced many hardships and reverses. The world reacted with silence or with mere sympathy when Polish frontiers were crossed by invading armies and the sovereign state had to succumb to brutal force.

 Lech Walesa

 

But if Russia is to be part of this larger zone of peace it cannot bring into it its imperial baggage. It cannot bring into it a policy of genocide against the Chechens, and cannot kill journalists, and it cannot repress the mass media.       Zbigniew Brzezinski

Warsaw is not waiting for empty words of praise, for expressions of recognition, not for assurances of sympathy. Warsaw is waiting … Warsaw is waiting … for weapons and ammunition.  
  General Kazimierz Sosnkowski

Polish soldiers fight 

for freedom

of other nations 

but dies only

 for Poland. 

General Stanislaw Maczek 

Comrades, I took the red tram of socialism to the stop named Independence, but that's where I got off.

Jozef Pilsudski

This homage has been rendered not to me - for the Polish soil is fertile and does not lack better writers than me - but to the Polish achievement, the Polish genius.         
Henryk Sienkiewicz 

 

The Holocaust committed by the Nazis turned this country, where most of the European Jews used to live and where their culture used to flourish, into a massive grave. This is why initiatives to revive Jewish culture in Poland is so important.
  Marek Belka

 

Ludzi coraz więcej, a człowieka coraz mniej -  

There is more and more people in the world, but less and less humanity.

          Edward Stachura







 

It has been said that Poland is dead, exhausted, enslaved, but here is the proof of her life and triumph. 

 Henryk Sienkiewicz

It is often said that Poland is a country where there is anti-semitism and no Jews, which is pathology in its purest state.  Bronislaw Geremek





 
May God permit us both
to return to a free 
and independent
Poland.
General Wladyslaw Anders

But I am a Christian Jew. I am a practicing Catholic. Although I am not a heretic, still my faith tells me the second original sin has been committed by humanity: through commission, or omission, or self-imposed ignorance, or insensitivity, or self-interest, or hypocrisy, or heartless rationalization....This sin will haunt humanity to the end of time. It does haunt me. And I want it to be so.      Jan Karski 

My most ardent desire is that my country will recapture its historic opportunity for a peaceful evolution and that Poland will prove to the world that even the most complex situations can be solved by a dialogue and not by force.    Lech Walesa

 
During the first 3 years
at Auschwitz, 
2 million people died; 
over the next 2 years -
3 million.   Witold Pilecki

 

So I think that I can say, as the President of Poland, we're proud that I am coming from Poland, which is different and what's more important, much better than before. President Aleksander Kwasniewski







 
There is a fundamental difference between the Polish experience of the state and the Russian experience.  In the Polish experience, the state was always a foreign power. So, to hate the state was a patriotic act.    Ryszard Kapuscinski

[Lenin was] merely a psychopath to whom ideas barely mattered and whose only motivation is to dominate and to kill.        Richard  Edgar Pipes 







To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.  Copernicus 




 


The weakest link in the chain is also the strongest. It can break the chain.  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec







Poland is an ally of the United States of America.  It was our duty to show that we are a reliable, loyal and predictable ally.  America needed our help, and we had to give it.  Adam Michnik





 
We expected that people were just waiting for the collapse of the Soviet Union, or at least for its retreat, and they were going to be full of initiative in all areas of life - in culture, in economy and in politics.  Andrzej Wajda

I did the following routine during practice:
round off, whip, whip, whip, whip, whip, flip, double back straight 
with four twists.
Jozef Wadecki

When the world is shifting and new competitors arise, standing still is not sufficient. Institutions and procedures that have worked in the past are not enough. Incremental change is not enough. You have to adapt fast enough even to retain your position.  
Mr. Radek Sikorski (Foreign Minister of Poland)




In a democracy, one does not know what the next government will be like. Under fascism there is no next government.    
        Michal Kalecki



  



It is not so important what I did or how I did it but what is between the notes. That is what matters.  Pope John Paul II said at the beatification of Fra Angelico, "his belief became art, which in turn became faith. The art became a prayer.  You don't have to have a strong belief to make religious art but art and faith follow similar paths.     Henryk Gorecki
 


 

All the common people kissed my hands, my feet, my clothes; others only touched me, saying, 'Ah, let us kiss so valiant a hand!

King John III Sobieski (an excerpt from a letter written to his wife, after victory in the Battle of Vienna)










He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word.  The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.     Joseph Conrad


 

The difference between western and eastern intellectuals is that the former have not been kicked in the ass enough.   Witold Gombrowicz







The Pole listening to Chopin listens to the voice of his whole race.   Ignace Paderewski

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.  Marie Sklodowska (Curie)

Normal love isn't interesting. I assure you that it's incredibly boring.   
Roman Polanski




 



There are no miracles.
There is only what one does oneself.
Tamara de Lempicka








 



I am the master! I stretch forth my hands, even to the skies! I lay my hands upon the stars, as on the crystal wheels of the harmonica. Now fast, now slow, as my soul wills, I turn the stars. I weave them into rainbows, harmonies. I feel immortality! I create immortality!  
             Adam Mickiewicz




 
 
It is only our exactions of life that are terrible. It is only our impossible conceptions of beauty and good and justice that are terrible--because they never are realized, and at the same time they prevent us taking life as it is. That is the real source of all our sorrow and suffering.  
Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont

We have to oppose the widespread view that if the Russians are provoking us, we shouldn`t react because that could be perceived as a confirmation of Poland`s alleged Russophobia.  Let`s remember that Russia is not only provoking us but also checking how far it can go.  Recently, it went definitely too far.  We must react when we have to do with obvious nonsense, like the Russian foreign ministry`s recent statement that Yalta resulted in a strong, free, and democratic Poland.  President Lech Kaczynski

President Lech Kaczynski

December 23, 2005 to April 10, 2010

Petition Against the term "Polish Concentration Camp"

Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp

Imagine how overjoyed Hitler would be if he were alive today, to know that more than 60 years after the end of World War II, many people around the world are using the phrase, "Polish concentration camp", when referring to concentrations camps located in Poland. Individuals, and Media, who insist on using these words today are guilty of spreading propaganda. This terminology is grossly inaccurate, misleading, and slanderous and offensive to the Polish people.  It sets a dangerous precedent towards historical revisionism. The correct terminology is "German Nazi Camps".

Concentration camps or death camps during World War II were not constructed by Polish Christians, but solely by the Nazis who were also its administrators and guards.

When Poland was invaded in September 1939, western areas of Polish territory in addition to the Free City of Danzig were annexed to the Third Reich, while the eastern sector of Poland was incorporated into the Soviet Union. The central area, renamed Generale Gouvernement, was placed under the dictatorship of a Nazi Governor, Dr. Hans Frank.

Though Polish Christians were not interned in ghettos as were the Jews, they were brutally oppressed, arrested, and executed, often by hanging at makeshift gallows, or by firing squad.  In fact the Generale Gourvernement was in essence a vast penal colony in which the Nazis rounded up the Polish intelligentsia, and members of the  Resistance, and executed them by the thousands. (Poland Under Nazi Terror)  Many Polish Christians were imprisoned and murdered in German Nazi camps such as Auschwitz, Stutthof, Belzec.

Hitler's objective (as well as that of Stalin's) was to erase all traces of Polish culture. Polish Christians as well as Polish Jews were targeted for destruction. Hitler instructed his Commanders to kill " without pity or mercy, all men, women and children of Polish descent or language - only in this way can we obtain the living space (lebensraum) we need."  Heinrich Himmler echoed Hitler's declaration, by saying, " All Poles will disappear from the world. It is essential that the great German people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles."


Despite constant surveillance by the Nazis, Polish Christians (men, women, as well as children) secretly enlisted in the Home Army and organized thousands of covert operations in an effort to destroy and sabotage German Nazi supply routes and transportation. Moreover, the Polish Underground also discovered, and reported to the Allies, the horrible living conditions of the Jews in the ghettos, and their terrible fate in the German Nazi concentration camps and death camps.

In 1942, Jan Karski, a Polish Christian, and member of the Polish Resistance movement, was smuggled into the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, disguised as a Ukrainian camp guard. He witnessed first hand the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jews and reported his findings to the outside world. Yet the British and US governments did not believe him. The western world could not fathom the reality that the "cultured" German people could resort to such savagery.

Jan Karski 1914-2000

VIDEO TESTIMONY OF JAN KARSKI
March 1995
Length: (01h:09m)

Witold Pilecki was a soldier as well as founder of the Secret Polish Army. As a member of the Polish Resistance during WW2, he volunteered to be imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, with the mission of gathering information and evidence of the German Nazi atrocities committed against the Jews. He also organized a resistance movement among the Jewish inmates. When he escaped, he reported to the Polish Government in Exile in London, after which, finally, the western allies were convinced of the reality of the Holocaust. Witold Pilecki survived the war, but slipped back into Poland to spy on the post-war Communists. He was arrested and subjected to a mock trial at which the Polish Prime Minister (and fellow Auschwiz survivor) Jozef Cyrankiewicz provided incriminating testimony. Pilecki was judged guilty of espionage and possession of weapons. He was executed on May 25, 1948 by a single shot to the back of the head.

Witold Pilecki 1901-1948

The Polish Underground,  or Resistance,  was the largest one of its kind in Europe and its members came from a wide cross section of Polish society. Zegota is one such underground organization. It is the codename of organization "Rada Pomocy Zydom" (Council to Aid Jews). It was formed under the auspices of the Polish Government in Exile, through the Government Delegation for Poland, in Warsaw. Their sole objective was to help the Jews find places to hide in Nazi-occupied Poland, as well as provide falsified passports and documents to help them escape Nazi persecution. But in doing so, many Poles risked their lives. The Nazis declared the death penalty to any Poles providing assistance to the Jews.  Despite the dangers, many Poles were strongly committed to save the lives of  their Jewish compatriots.

It was well documented that many Poles had saved Jewish lives during the war. Over 6,000 Polish heroes have been honoured and are remembered by Yad Vashem as well as by the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews. It is a fact that Poland ranks highest in the world for the number of non-Jewish citizens who helped the Jews escape extermination during the Holocaust.

HALL OF NAMES (POLISH RESCUERS OF JEWS WW2), YAD VASHEM

   

MONUMENT DEDICATED TO POLES, 'RIGHTEOUS OF THE WORLD",  WHO SAVED THE JEWS 1939-1945

(click on the above link for information about the monument.)

The Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, commented that "accusing Poles of participation in the Holocaust is a sin." Yet on a regular basis, American journalists do just that by calling Auschwitz(-Birkenau) a "Polish concentration camp." This is Holocaust revisionism.

Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich with (Late)President Lech Kaczynski

More than ever we demand accountability from every institution in our society and raise strong objections whenever we detect any impropriety - yet we do not scrutinize media news reports with the same degree of vigor! Perhaps it is because of fear that it might be construed as censorship. Our
Canadian Constitution guarantees every citizen "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other means of communication".  While the media is free to  formulate whatever opinion it holds, it must be based on facts and evidence. To do otherwise would be misleading, unethical, and in many cases, slanderous.

Freedom is not a free ticket to slander.

Free speech must be accompanied by Responsibility and Truth.

Please read the Petition near the end of this blog and sign it

and send the link to everybody you know.

Thank You. 

The following are only a few examples that I have been able to find online concerning offenses committed by the media.  It is by no means a complete list.

NEW YORK TIMES

October 20, 2010.  The newspaper printed an obituary of Dr. George Mathe which mentioned that he had been taken to a "Polish" concentration camp during the war.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

June 2010.  In one of their articles, the newspaper used the phrase, "Nazi Poland" when they meant Nazi-occupied Poland.


WALL STREET JOURNAL
 
May 2010.   In two separate articles, the newspaper persistently used the phrase, "Polish" concentration camps.

June 16, 2010 A New York City police officer, Stefan Komar was so enraged by the slander printed that he demanded a correction, and  public apology from the newspaper.  He expressed every intention of persuading advertisers to withdraw their ads from the Wall Street Journal, yet the newspaper refused to comply.  He has already sent a letter to an advertiser, Sprint Nextel, a telecommunications company, informing them that their affiliation with the newspaper will harm their company's image, and warned them that Polish Americans would stop using Sprint's services, as long as they continue to associate with the Wall Street Journal.  (The population of Polish Americans is in the millions)

CNN

2004.  In a news report, they referred to Treblinka as a Polish concentration camp, and evoked an outrage of protest from Poles.

SPAIN

In January 2009, a Spanish daily newspaper, Publico, printed a caption, as part of an advertisement for the film, "The Pianist" by Roman Polanski, which stated the following:"A heart-breaking story taking place in the Nazi Poland."

CANADA

On November 8, 2003, CTV news broadcasted a report about the Warsaw Ghetto and referred to it as a "Polish" ghetto for Jews.  The Polish Ambassador to Ottawa, Pawel Dobrowolski issued a letter of complaint to the president of CTV Robert Hurst on November 13, demanding a correction and apology.  In his letter on November 20, Hurst stated that the phrase was used only to indicate geographical location.

Mr. Dobrowolski cited a similar incident having taken place in 1988 when the Ottawa Citizen newspaper had printed an article referring to "Polish" concentration camps. A complaint was filed then by the Canadian Polish Congress and was upheld by the Ontario Press Council. However, Hurst remained undeterred and proclaimed that the Ontario Press Council has no business in electronic media.

On April 30, 2004, CTV broadcasted a report about John Demjanjuk, as having been a suspected guard at the "Polish" camp of Treblinka. On May 26, Ambassador Dobrowolski sent another letter of complaint to the President of CTV, but was rebuffed. CTV president Hurst staunchly defended his position claiming that the reference was appropriate and was used only to describe the location of the camp.  He was of the opinion that such expressions are valid and widespread among North American media and teaching establishments.

Finally, on August 18, 2004, an open letter written by the Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz was printed in many of Canwest's newspapers, calling attention to the inappropriate use of terminology to describe German Nazi camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. The same day, Hurst sent a memorandum to all CTV editors and journalists instructing them to refrain from such practices however, no retraction was broadcast on air.  The issue was not over yet.

The Polish Embassy, with the support of the Canadian Polish Congress, Polish-Canadian newspapers, and expats, made a concerted effort to resolve this impasse.  On September 17th, the Embassy filed a complaint with the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television and Telecommunciations Commission) who subsequently handed the case over to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for review.

On May 16, 2005, the CBSC published its decision, in favor of the Polish Embassy.  They concluded that CTV had indeed committed a serious breach in the code of journalistic ethics by intentionally broadcasting inaccurate and deleterious information.  The CBSC wholeheartedly rejected Hurst's argument that the phrase was widely used throughout North America and ordered CTV to announce on the air the decision made by the panel to censure CTV.  Hurst was also required to sent a letter to the Polish Embassy informing them of the outcome.

GERMANY

November 2008.  An article was printed in Die Welt, referring to Majdanek as a "Polish" concentration camp.  It provoked sharp criticism from the Polish Foreign Ministry who promised " a serious lawsuit".  It never reached the courts as the editor-in-chief of Die Welt issued a formal apology for a "phrase that slanders Poland" and went so far as to correct the text on the their news website.  Far from being over, the grandson of a concentration camp survivor filed a lawsuit against the newspaper, demanding apologies for all Poles, and guarantees that the offence never happen again.  Unfortunately, the lawsuit was rejected on a technicality: it was brought against "the editors of Die Welt". Nevertheless, the suit was filed a second time, with the assistance of attorney, Lech Obara. (I have no information about the conclusion of this case.


FRANCE

May (?) 2009.  French TV Channel 24, made a report about the deportation of John Demjanjuk, from the US to Germany for his involvement in the murder of thousands of Jews at the "Polish concentration camp" of Sobibor.  Despite a protest by the Polish Embassy, Channel 24, defended themselves with the feeble excuse, saying " We did not mean Polish concentration camp, we meant a Nazi concentration camp that was placed in Poland. We also recognize the difference between those two terms. We would like to express our deepest apologies for the mistake." ( This letter was issued by Vincent Giret, head of the information programs department.

The following is an excerpt from a speech given to the Sejm, by Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs,  Prof. Adam Daniel Rotfeld, January 21, 2005.  That the controversy has occupied the attention of the Polish government, should alert us all to the seriousness of the matter.



Allow me, Mister Speaker, to make a short digression at this point. I believe the time is ripe, 60 years after the end of the war, for the elementary truth about what really happened in occupied Poland to come to the awareness of the representatives of the media in the community of the democratic states – in Europe, the United States and Canada– about who was the aggressor, the occupier, who built the death camps and murdered people there, and who was persecuted, subjugated and subjected to the German, Nazi policy of extermination. It was in Polish territories that the Germans created the largest camps of annihilation, where – alongside the Jewish people – Poles and members of other European nations were murdered on a mass scale.

A few days from now, on 27^th January – marking the 60^th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau - the leaders of almost 40 nations will come to attend ceremonies in remembrance of those murdered at the site of that death camp. Today, a few days before the ceremonies that will focus the attention of the whole world, I call on representatives of press organizations, the Association of Polish Journalists and other organizations representing the Polish media, to address – independently of the appeals, corrections and diplomatic representations of the Polish MFA - a letter to their colleagues, and partner organizations of journalists around the world , telling them that the thoughtless or intentional use of the term “Polish death camps” is insulting and shameful. It not only conceals the truth about the perpetrators of that crime, but slanders our nation, which was the first victim of the criminal practices of Nazi Germany.

"Nie ma już tych miasteczek, przeminęły cieniem 

"These townlets do not exist any longer, they passed away with a shadow

I cień ten kłaść się będzie między nasze słowa, 

And this shadow will cast itself between our words,

Nim się bratersko zbliżą i złączą od nowa

Before two nations fed with the same suffering 

Dwa narody karmione tym samym cierpieniem" 

will come closer in brotherly manner and reunite"

                                                                    

"Elegy for Jewish townlets"

by Antoni Słonimski

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO SIGN THE PETITION.

PETITION AGAINST "POLISH CONCENTRATION CAMP"

http://www.thekf.org/events/news/petition/

THANK YOU!

 
Recommended Links:

"Against Polish Camps"
http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/przeciw/peleg_ang.html

"We Shall Not Let Our Country Be Libeled"
http://www.msz.gov.pl/gallery/serwis/rot_rzecz_1251.html


"The media's slander of Poland: Ignorance, lazy editing, or malicious libel?
http://cosmopolitanreview.com/component/content/article/312

"Polish concentration camp" headlines enrage NYPD cop" 
http://www2.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/ru/news/artykul133723.html 

"Poland in foreign eyes"

http://www.thenews.pl/international/artykul122671_poland-in-foreign-eyes.html


"Polish Embassy in Spain protests against "Nazi Poland"
http://www.thenews.pl/news/artykul100214.html


"Canadian CTV Television censured for inaccurate and unfair reporting in referring to "Polish Ghetto" and "Polish Camp of Treblinka"
http://www.mfa.gov.pl/Canadian,CTV,Television,censured,,for,inaccurate,and,unfair,reporting,in,referring,to,%E2%80%9EPolish,ghetto%E2%80%9D,and,,%E2%80%9EPolish,camp,of,Treblinka%E2%80%9D,2075.html

"Will the NY Times ever get it straight'
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/18520


"NYT Polish death camp slur,"ignorant, lazy, malicious"
http://www.thenews.pl/international/artykul142596_nyt-polish-death-camp-slur-ignorant--lazy--malicious.html


"Apologies for 'Polish Concentration Camp' "
http://news-poland.com/result/news/id/2320


"Polish Camps" in Polish Court
http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6928930,_Polish_Camps__in_Polish_Court.html


"Against Polish Death Camps" (on Facebook)
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=127208305180


"Markowa, Poland - Poland to create 'Righteous Among Nations' Museum"
http://www.vosizneias.com/67093/2010/10/28/markowa-poland-poland-to-create-e28098righteous-among-nationse28099-museum/


"Presidential Ceremony Honoring Polish Righteous Among Nations to Take Place Wednesday in Warsaw President Kaczynski and Yad Vashem Chairman Shalev to Speak  (OCTOBER 9, 2007)
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/pressroom/pressreleases/pr_details.asp?cid=255