| Once again, The Australian has demonstrated particular bias, insensitivity and appalling lack of knowledge about civil atrocities and suffering in the Second World War, as presented in the article “Girl who defied the German machine three times” published on 17 April 2015. In light of the impending 70th anniversary of the Allied Forces’ victories over the dark forces of the Axis pact on the international scene, the reference to the “Polish death camp” and the “Stuffhof (sic!) camp in Poland (sic!)” (the actual name was Stutthof, and it was never on the Polish territory, nor staffed by Poles) in the article demonstrates a particular level of ignorance and - possibly - a sinister intent.
This is not the first instance of The Australian incorrectly describing the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp as the “Polish death camp”. And once again, the Polish Community Council of Australia writes to the prominent paper to protest and seek public correction of this statement and an apology.
In the past, The Australian did not show even the courtesy to respond to the protests by the Polish-Australian community.
It is a known fact that after the German invasion and take-over of Poland in 1939, unlike in most European countries occupied later by Nazi Germany, where the Germans sought and found true collaborators among the locals, in occupied Poland there was no official collaboration either at the political or at the economic level. Poland never surrendered to the Nazi Germany (3rd Reich) and instead, joined the Allies and maintained a government in exile along with its own military force abroad (the 4th most populous Allied army) fighting against them. Historians generally agree that there was little collaboration with the German Nazis by individual Poles in comparison with other German-occupied countries.
The infamous German Nazi death camps (the extermination camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibór, Majdanek, Treblinka to mention just a few) were built in Polish territories which were occupied by the Germans from 1939 to 1945.
The term “Polish concentration camp” is inaccurate and incorrect as the term implies that the camp would
have been linked with the Polish authorities, or Poland. In fact, during German occupation, no Polish
authorities existed on the territory of Poland (except of the Polish underground resistance - the Home
Army). Even less so any Polish organization would have the power to set up, build and run such a
widespread systemic genocide program established in Central Europe.
The abhorrent efficiency of
machinery of the German Nazi concentration camps exterminated millions of Poles (most of them Polish
Jews), as well as other non-Aryan minorities such as Jews, Roma, and also gays, political activists and priests
(all of them considered enemies of the state) transported by the Nazis from other European countries (e.g.
from Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Baltic States, Netherlands, etc.).
At the insistence of the Government of the Republic of Poland, in 2007 the World Heritage Committee of
UNESCO changed the official name of Auschwitz from “Auschwitz concentration camp” to "Auschwitz-
Birkenau. German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940–1945)."
The Polish Community Council of Australia supports the idea of promoting stories of endurance, courage
and survival such as the story of Ms Suzanna Braun and her sister, Agi. However, in this particular case,
some of the serious claims appear to be inconsistent with the historic knowledge, such as the episode of
transporting a group of imprisoned women on trucks from Auschwitz to Estonia (about 1100 km trip).
The Council strongly rejects the implication that Poles had anything to do with the establishment or
management of the extermination camps in which the sisters were incarcerated during the Second World
War. This needs to be corrected.
To this effect, the Polish Community Council of Australia requests that this letter is published in its entirety
in The Australian together with an apology.
Yours faithfully
Leszek Wikarjusz
President
Polish Community Council of Australia
THE RESPONSE
Dear Mr Wikarjusz, thank you for your letter. We have already been alerted to this mistake by the Polish Community Council of Victoria (we published a letter from the council on April 21) and the Polish embassy. I have personally apologised to the embassy for any offence caused to the Polish people and have spoken with our editorial team to ensure such a mistake does not happen again.
I will take this opportunity to extend our apologies to the Polish Community Council of Australia and stress that we hope to avoid such regrettable lapses in the future.
The point has been well made but please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.
Kind regards,
Clive Mathieson
The Australian
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