President Obama appologizes for "death camp" blunder

After a worldwide outrage over President Obama's "Polish death camp" remarks during the Presidential Medal of Freedom award ceremony posthumously recognizing Jan Karski, Polish resistance fighter who made the West aware of the German Nazi death camps, the official apology letter from Barack Obama was finally delivered to the office of Polish President, Bronislaw Komorowski.

As reported on my previous post, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, tried to control the damage issuing a video statement to assure the world that President Obama simply misspoke during the ceremony.  However, in his letter to Obama, Polish President asked for an official statement of apology from President Obama.

The letter from May 31st, 2012, was posted on the Polish President's website.  Copy of the actual letter is included below.

Thank you for your letter of May 30.  I was proud to honor Jan Karski with the Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest civilian honor. My decision to do so was a reflection of the high esteem in which the American people hold not only a great Polish patriot, but the extraordinary sacrifices of the Polish people during the Nazi occupation of the Second World War.

In referring to "a Polish death camp" rather than " a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland," I inadvertently used the phrase that has caused many Poles anguish over the years and that Poland has rightly campaigned to eliminate from public discourse around the world. I regret the error and agree that this moment is an opportunity to ensure that this and future generations know the truth.

A we all know, the Polish people suffered terribly under the brutal Nazi occupation during World War II. In pursuit of their goals of destroying the Polish nation and Polish culture and exterminating European Jewry, the Nazis killed some six million Polish citizens, including three million Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The bravery of Poles in the underground resistance is one of history's great stories of heroism and courage.

Moreover, there simply were no "Polish death camps." The killing centers at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Treblinka, and elsewhere in occupied Poland were built and operated by the Nazi regime. In contrast, many Poles risked their lives - and gave their lives - to save Jews from the Holocaust.

That is why I paid tribute to Polish victims of the Holocaust during my visit to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in April. It is why I was honored to pay my respect at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier and the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto during my visit to Warsaw last year. An it is why, during the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 201, I commended the government and people of Poland for preserving a place of such pain in order to promote remembrance and learning for the world.

I know well the bonds of friendship between our two countries. I was proud to welcome you to the NATO Summit in my home town of Chicago, which is home to the largest Polish community in the world outside Warsaw. As President, I have worked with you to strengthen the enduring ties between our nations so that our alliance is stronger than it has ever been.

Poland is one of America's strongest and closest allies. We stand united in facing the challenges of the 21st century in Europe and around the world, and I am confident that, working together, we can ensure that the unbreakable bonds of friendship and solidarity between us will only grow stronger in the days and years ahead.

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Part 2

For years, Polish government and Polish diaspora organizations around the world, pursue the historic truth and stomp out any attempts of World Word II revisionism shifting the blame for the Holocaust, killing millions of non-Jewish citizens, death camps, concentration camps, and work camps from Nazi Germany to then-occupied Poland.  

1939-1945 was a very painful period of Polish history, hopefully, this well publicized mistake will spread awareness throughout the world.

The nation that doesn't preserve it's true history, it's on mercy of its adversaries.

President Obama stepped in it

For many Americans, Jan Karski, a Polish courier who escaped occupied Poland in 1942 to spread the horrible truth about the Holocaust to the Western World, is an unknown figure of World Word II.  Alex Storozynski, President of the Kosciuszko Foundation, summarizes the story of Karski in his recent article at Huffington Post.  

Twelve years after his passing, President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski during the ceremony at Washington, DC.  Jan Karski is already recognized as The Righteous Among The Nations at Yad Vashem along with over 6,000 Poles who saved many Jews during the war.

Shockingly, President Obama's remarks during the ceremony about the "Polish death camp", sent waves of outrage throughout the Polish community living abroad and Poles in Poland.  Even though, the Whitehouse apologized for the mistake, the damage was done.  For years, Western media is basically trying hard to change the history by using the incorrect naming convention for the German Nazi death camps operated in Poland during the WWII.  The influence of the media misinformation, is slowly working its poison throughout the American society.

To officially clear any inconsistencies, the proper name for the death camps was approved by UNESCO.  Wiki article explains the correct naming:

Concerns about the use of the term Polish death camp led the Polish government to request that UNESCO change the official name of Auschwitz from "Auschwitz Concentration Camp" to "former Nazi German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau"^{[13][14][15][16][17]} in order to make clearer that the concentration camp was built and operated by Nazi Germany. On 28 June 2007 at its meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO changed the name of the camp to "Auschwitz Birkenau. German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)."^[18][19] Previously, some media, including Der Spiegel in Germany, had called the camp "Polish".^[20] The New York Times regularly refers to Auschwitz as Polish rather than German.^[21]

Polish-American organizations fight with that misinformation every time a major newspaper or a TV station incorrectly use the death camp name.  However, for some unknown reason, the "Polish death camp" name is used more and more frequently in articles and publications.  Let's not allow this blatant mistake to shadow the real culprits behind the Holocaust - the Nazi Germany.   

Remember, over 2 million Poles died in the WW2 alongside 3 million Polish Jews.  The numbers speak for themselves.