Posted on 07/12/2006 1:48:31 PM PDT by lizol
Poland wins name change for Auschwitz death camp
WARSAW (Reuters) - The United Nations has agreed to rename Auschwitz concentration camp to stress that Nazi Germans, not Poles, were responsible for the world's most notorious death camp, Poland's Culture Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Auschwitz Concentration Camp", a U.N. heritage site, will be renamed "the Former Nazi German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz", the ministry of culture said in a statement.
Poland asked the U.N. in April to rename Auschwitz, where 1.5 people, mostly Jews, died in World War Two.
Warsaw objects to references to "Polish gas chambers" at the "Polish concentration camp" in foreign media. Nearly 3 million non-Jewish Poles died at Nazi hands, and Poles see themselves as victims of the war.
Because of this image, the role of Poles in the deaths of millions of Polish Jews, and at Auschwitz, is a sore topic.
This month, Jewish and Polish officials marked anniversaries of two massacres of Jews carried out by Poles before and after World War Two, and some accounts say Poles assisted the Nazis at Auschwitz, where 6,000 died every day during 1944.
But Poles say their fellow nationals risked their lives to hide Jews. Poles are the largest group awarded Israel's Righteous Among the Nations title for helping to save Jews.
Some Jews were angered that Poland's communist government portrayed Auschwitz as a place of martyrdom of Poles, too, in the 1940s and 1950s. Poles, Gypsies, homosexuals and Russians also died at the camp.
But Poles say their fellow nationals risked their lives to hide Jews. Poles are the largest group awarded Israel's Righteous Among the Nations title for helping to save Jews.
Poles helped both the Nazis and the Jews. As did the French, Dutch, Norwegians, Italians, Russians, Germans, etc. In short, there are good people and bad people in every nation. I cannot imagine that anyone worth paying attention to believes or says otherwise - so why the fuss? It is perfectly clear and without dispute that the nation of Poland and all of its people were horribly victimized by the Germans in World War II. In fact, Poland lost a larger percentage of its population than any other nation - so no one is blaming the Polish nation for anything.
BTW, my wife's Polish-born uncle was at Auschwitz/Berkenau, and all of the members of his family were murdered by the Nazis. After escaping from Auschwitz with a few fellow Bialystokers, he went to his home to find it occupied by the same Polish family that had identified his family as being Jews to the Germans. My wife's uncle doesn't talk about the war, at least not now...but my understanding, from older cousins of my wife, is that this family didn't see the next day's sunrise.
Jews helped both the Nazis and the Jews, so why the fuss?
True. There's good and bad in every one of us, let alone in the individuals comprising every nation or religion. However, I'd bet that 99% of the Jews that helped the Nazis did so with the intent of saving their own, or their family's skins, rather than to get back at someone they didn't like, or to be rewarded with someone else's property.
Only 1.5 people died? Sounds like they interviewed that psychopath in Iran.
Did we forget a few zeros?
I don't have a problem with the name change. Poland suffered a great loss of their Jews, %-wise.
Of their Poles too.
Comparable number.
That is true too. It was a NAZI death camp and should be forever known as one.
Poland lost about 90%, IIRC.
Of their Jews, that is.
Roger, I know that. A few members of my family emigrated to the US from Poland. I don't know the %s of non-Jewish deaths I wasn't trying to downplay their losses.
One thing that always irks me when we hear about the Holocaust is we only hear of the Jews who died, plenty of others went to the camps as well.
I saw that error too.
Yes, after the Jews, the Poles had the largest number of people killed. Many of them Catholics.
It's no wonder that Poland is mostly Catholic today!
Polish citizens, both Jews and Christians, suffered horribly during WW II.
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