Obama refers to "Nazi Death Camps as "Polish Death Camps"

President Obama Causes Outrage with Reference to ‘Polish Death Camp’

Poles and Polish-Americans expressed outrage today at President Obama’s reference earlier to “a Polish death camp” — as opposed to a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland.

“The White House will apologize for this outrageous error,” Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski tweeted. Sikorski said that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk “will make a statement in the morning. It’s a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and incompetence.”

Sikorski also tonight tweeted a link to an Economist story noting that “few things annoy Poles more than being blamed for the crimes committed by the Nazi occupiers of their homeland. For many years, Polish media, diplomats and politicians have tried to persuade outsiders to stop using the phrase ‘Polish death camps’ as a shorthand description of Auschwitz and other exemplars of Nazi brutality and mass murder. Unfortunately this seems to have escaped BaracK Obama’s staff seem not to have noticed this.”

The president had been trying to honor a famous Pole, awarding a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter who sneaked behind enemy lines to bear witness to the atrocities being committed against Jews. President Obama referred to him being smuggled “into the Warsaw ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/20 ... eath-camp/

I don't know how to feel about this. I realize that President was simply reading from his TelePrompTer, he had 13 people to honor at the Medal of Freedom ceremony and this event was squeezed into his Daily Briefing, his senior advisors, Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Defense Panetta. Busy day for the President.

But was he too busy to review his TelePrompTer text for the Medal of Freedom ceremony? Was his staff writer(s) too incompetent (or uneducated) to know that the death camps in Poland were not owned and operated by the people or government of Poland? Did the President know that?

This bothers me. The President is the community organizer for the world. He makes the choices for who are going to be given the Medal of Freedom. Did he choose the people he did because of an informed knowledge of these persons achievements, or were these 13 people picked because they represented a demographic which he sought to impress, a demographic that mirrors certain voting blocks?

I'm sitting here with a first edition of Jan Karski's book "Story of a Secret State," his story of the Polish Underground. The book was Karski's plea to the world to pay attention to what was happening to the Jews in Poland and all over Europe. It's signed by Karski. He signed it in the 1990's, here in Colorado. He was speaking at a Governor's Holocaust Remembrance day event, and there were many Holocaust survivors in the audience. He explained to them how the Warsaw Resistance had published numerous books and tracts about what was presently going on in Europe. He recounted how the exiled Polish government in England attempted to convince the countries of the world, especially the United States, that a wholesale slaughter of human beings was taking place all across the continent. Many of the survivors in the room were still angry at the lack of attention that the world had paid to the facts that were being smuggled out of Europe, facts that were ignored by many.

Now I know how I feel. I'm angry too. Angry that we have a President who seems to have a vague grasp on the world. He's put a unfounded faith in certain world leaders and governments who have not lived up to President Obama's narrow understanding. He's shown a journeyman's knowledge of foreign affairs. And at home, he sees this country divided into compartments and he has done nothing to open the doors between these groups, but done much to court their votes.

Karski wrote, in regards to one of his meetings with President Roosevelt "On every topic he demanded precise and accurate information." Too bad we don't have a President who strives to that same level of competence. I'm angry at his lack of attention. Jan Karski would be angry too!

(Note: Whoever composed the text of President Obama's remarks erred in the use of the term "Polish Death Camps." Whoever composed the text was also wrong in stating that Karski managed to infiltrate a Nazi Death Camp. To quote "Disguised as a Ukrainian camp guard, he visited what he thought was Bełżec death camp. In actuality, it seems that Karski only got far enough to witness the Durchgangslager ("sorting and transit camp") for Bełżec, "Izbica Lubelska." [4] Many historians have accepted this theory, as did Karski himself. [5]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Karski )

He must have been stoned when they covered the Holocaust in his high school?

Just kidding, not a big deal. And I find it a little hypocritical of the Poles to be so upset about this. There was a lot of anti-Semitism in Poland during WWII, and many Poles helped the Nazi's round up Jews into ghettos and "labor" camps.

Technically, those camps WERE in Poland. BTW, I tried to enter a post mentioning some of what Fred spoke of but it didn't post.

Anti-Semitism was rampant not only in Poland but in several other east European nations and regions, such as the Ukraine.

On the other hand, Obama seems to have some pretty ignorant and lazy people on his staff, since no one checked the speech for accuracy. That's pathetic.

Technically, those camps WERE in Poland. BTW, I tried to enter a post mentioning some of what Fred spoke of but it didn't post.

Anti-Semitism was rampant not only in Poland but in several other east European nations and regions, such as the Ukraine.

On the other hand, Obama seems to have some pretty ignorant and lazy people on his staff, since no one checked the speech for accuracy. That's pathetic.

FredHayek wrote: He must have been stoned when they covered the Holocaust in his high school?

Just kidding, not a big deal. And I find it a little hypocritical of the Poles to be so upset about this. There was a lot of anti-Semitism in Poland during WWII, and many Poles helped the Nazi's round up Jews into ghettos and "labor" camps.

And there is a lot of anti-Semitism now a days. That does not change the historical facts that these camps were instigated, owned and operated by the Nazi's and not the Poles. Evidently you're totally unaware of how many Poles also helped the Jews, and since the reconstruction of Poland (especially Warsaw), there has been an ongoing effort in Poland to make amends for what ever participation in the Holocaust they can be accounted for.

I'm well aware of the anti-Semitism that existed in Poland before the war. Probably acutely aware, more so than the average reader of history. One of my literary works deals with the Holocaust and I spent weeks in Warsaw and surrounding places digging through archives and speaking one on one to people who were still living and were directly involved in that period of history. One of the dramatic arcs of my work dealt directly with the Polish anti-Semitism of the time.

But that was then, this is now. No culture, no race of people want to go through history being wrongly credited. This is a sensitive issue with the Poles, no different than how various cultures, Native-Americans, African-Americans and so on, want history about them to be misstated.

Fred. It is hypocritical for a Pole who turn Jews into the Nazi's to complain. It is hypocritical for those who turned their backs on what was happening to be upset. But your comment above lumps a WHOLE society into one bucket, anti-Semite, and that itself shows your prejudice and absolutely wrong.

2wlady wrote: Technically, those camps WERE in Poland. BTW, I tried to enter a post mentioning some of what Fred spoke of but it didn't post.

Anti-Semitism was rampant not only in Poland but in several other east European nations and regions, such as the Ukraine.

On the other hand, Obama seems to have some pretty ignorant and lazy people on his staff, since no one checked the speech for accuracy. That's pathetic.

And no one called them "Poland Death Camps" which would be the only way your statement would be accurate. The term used was "Polish Death Camps" which refers to the people and the culture. See my comment above in regards to the anti-semitism in Poland and Europe. None of that belies the fact that the term "Polish Death Camps" is wrong and insulting to Poland.

Yep the some of the camps were in Poland along with Germany and other locations. They were run by the Nazi regime, not the Polish. As for the Pols helping the Nazi regime. As it was told to me by my grandfather, who fought in the war in the German Army, there was a choice, a simple choice, you either were in the military or you could be shot for treason. Many of those that assisted the Nazi regime did so for fear of thier lives, not because they wanted to. And yes some did it cause they just wanted to.

I do have an issue with this. This is not the first time that the President has misspoke. It was a bad insult to Poland. One would think the President was smarter than that. He needs to have a one sided conversation with his writers.

Just some facts, After Germany invaded and took over Poland some 6,000,000 were killed, of that approx 3,000,000 were jewish.

The Germans of today are still lumped with the Nazi's of 70 years ago even though they have bent over backwards to admit their guilt and blame, only makes sense that the Poles of today be lumped in with their fathers. Fathers who chose to herd fellow countrymen for the Nazi's. Some Euros fought the Nazi holocaust, but the Poles are way down on the list compared to other countries.

Trivia: Auschwitz used to be part of Germany before World War I, but was given to the recreated land of Poland after the war.

Sorry Fred I totally disagree with that, my cousins are not lumped with those of the past. It is the past, they had nothing to do with it. Like here in the US, those that fought in WWII are dying off at a very high rate. Todays generation of Germans are much like here in the US, they prefer no wars, be left alone to live a peaceful life. They do not even like talking about what happened back then. Even my aunts and uncles do not discuss it. My grandfather talked a little about what it was like back then, my mother also, but like me and other veterans and those that were in war zones, do not discuss much about it.

The German military is also of a totally different nature from back then. They also do not talk much about it. They are part of NATO, they are currently serving in Afghanstan.

FredHayek wrote: The Germans of today are still lumped with the Nazi's of 70 years ago even though they have bent over backwards to admit their guilt and blame, only makes sense that the Poles of today be lumped in with their fathers. Fathers who chose to herd fellow countrymen for the Nazi's. Some Euros fought the Nazi holocaust, but the Poles are way down on the list compared to other countries.

Trivia: Auschwitz used to be part of Germany before World War I, but was given to the recreated land of Poland after the war.

Fred... go educate yourself about the Polish Home Army, the Polish Underground, the Warsaw Resistance, The Polish government in exile in England... go read Jan Karski's book "Story of a Secret State," or a booklet entitled "My Year in Treblinka" or "The Holocaust" by Nora Levin. These are no holds barred accounts of what was going on, much of the accounts first hand. These are not the "popular" books you'll usually find in a Holocaust reading list and I think you'll be surprised by the rare stories presented in these works.

I don't think you have a really good idea what was going on in Poland during WWII.