UPDATE:
As of January 28, 3:38 p.m. article has been corrected and the word “Polish” has been removed from the sentence in the second paragraph.
In the article published online by New York Post titled “‘Miracle’ Auschwitz babies reveal how they escaped the Holocaust after being written off as having almost no chance of survival,” author Doree Lewak, calls Auschwitz a “Polish Camp.” The phrase is not correct – Auschwitz Birkenau was not a Polish camp – it was a GERMAN NAZI CONCENTRATION AND EXTERMINATION CAMP created by Germans on German-occupied land of Poland.
The phrase appears right in the second paragraph, where the author writes: “Born in the Polish camp’s infirmary on April 30, 1945, a few months after Allied forces liberated it, Elenora Sbornik was a sick and weak baby who Red Cross doctors wrote off with almost no chance of surviving — yet she did.” Article was published on January 27 – International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and in the first sentence, it reads that “Auschwitz is associated with unimaginable suffering, death and inhuman cruelty, but two women say the notorious death camp brought them something unexpected: life, against all odds.”
The incorrect wording was addressed by Consul General of Poland in New York City Mr. Mateusz Sakowicz: “With regard to the article by Ms. Doree Lewak, dated January 27, 2025, published on the New York Post website, we requested an immediate correction on the same day of a historically inappropriate and misleading phrase used in one sentence, specifically the wording “Born in the Polish camp’s infirmary (…)”. We suggested replacing this phrase with “German Nazi death camp in occupied Poland” to ensure historical accuracy.” Radio RAMPA checked – as of January 28, 2 p.m. the article still has not been corrected online.
Consul General further explains in a statement sent to Radio RAMPA: “We emphasized in our communication that during World War II, Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany following a brutal military campaign. No Polish collaborative government was ever formed (the Polish Government operated in exile). The territory of occupied Poland was under German Nazi administration, and it was the German Nazi regime that established and ran the concentration and death camps across occupied Poland. The original term used could imply that the Polish government, state, and its citizens were responsible for or complicit in the atrocities committed against Jews on Polish soil—this would spread confusion and historical inaccuracy, which we find unacceptable.”
Consul General adds that, “the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, D.C. also issued a similar urgent request to the New York Post. As of noon on January 28, the editor has neither replied nor corrected the aforementioned inaccuracy. Our request remains urgent and valid, and we will follow up on it.”
Dr Iwona Korga, President of the Jozef Pilsudski Institute in America – institution dedicated to preserving and promoting Polish heritage in the USA – said in a statement to Radio RAMPA: “The article printed in the New York Post, falsely claims that Auschwitz was a Polish death camp. From the historical point there is no such thing, Auschwitz was a concentration camp operated by Germany in occupied Poland 1939-1945 during II World War. The Polish government and Polish citizens were absolutely not part of the organization of this camp but the Germans were.”
As dr Korga also explains, “Auschwitz was established by Germans in 1940, the first transport of Poles reached KL Auschwitz from Tarnów prison on June 14, 1940. For the first two years mostly, Polish citizens were prisoners of this camp. From 1942 until late 1944 freight trains delivered Jews from all over German-occupied Europe to its gas chambers. In Auschwitz Germans killed more than 1 million people, mostly Jews but there were also Polish citizens, Romani and Russian prisoners of the war. On the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of this camp it is very important to remember that the truth about Auschwitz has to be said out loud – Germany is responsible for this camp not Poland and we never can forget about it.”
The false wording was also addressed by New York City Councilman Robert Holden (D-30), who said in a statement to Radio RAMPA: “The continued misinformation labeling Nazi German concentration camps as ‘Polish’ is not only historically inaccurate but deeply offensive to the victims and the Polish community. I am working closely with the Consulate General and the New York Post to address and correct this serious and unacceptable error.”
On Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum official website it says, that Auschwitz “was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz. The direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of Poles were increasing beyond the capacity of existing “local” prisons. The first transport of Poles reached KL Auschwitz from Tarnów prison on June 14, 1940. Initially, Auschwitz was to be one more concentration camp of the type that the Nazis had been setting up since the early 1930s. It functioned in this role throughout its existence, even when, beginning in 1942, it also became the largest of the extermination centers where the “Endlösung der Judenfrage” (the final solution to the Jewish question – the Nazi plan to murder European Jews) was carried out.”
RAMPA reached out for a comment to NY Post.
Monika Adamski
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