Chicago Tribune published Polish Consul General\'s letter about historical accuracy in naming the German death camps in occupied-Poland.

The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland is satisfied with the Chicago Tribune’s decision to eventually recognize the Consulate’s reasoning about historical precision in naming the German Nazi death camps in occupied Poland. 

To read the letter in Chicago Tribune\'s online version, click here. To view an image of the letter published in the printed verion of Chicago Tribune, click here. 

Below we present the original version of Consul Kapuścińska’s letter, sent to the Tribune editors on July 16. 

The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland appreciates the involvement of the many individuals from the Polish-American community in supporting us in this important cause.

Dear Chicago Tribune Editor, 

Thank you for your interesting story from June 9 about WWII and Holocaust survivors in Chicago. 

As Consul General of the Republic of Poland, but also as a Polish citizen, I am pleased that Tribune editors agreed to publish my letter and I hope it adds another viewpoint to the topic.  

Your publication stirred the Polish community of Chicago as it contained a grave omission: the German death camps in occupied-Poland were misnamed as “Nazi camps in Poland”, which distorts the historical picture because Poland was non-existent on the map of WWII Europe after being invaded, destroyed and decimated by the two then-allied powers: Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. 

For readers without a thorough historical knowledge "Nazi camps in Poland" might suggest Poland’s involvement in Germany’s atrocities. Let’s not forget: it was Germany’s occupation of Poland that led to Hitler’s decision to locate the German death camps on occupied Polish soil and Poles were the first inmates of these camps. Unlike many, Poland was never an ally of Germany and never had a collaborative regime. Poland lost 6 million of its citizens in Hitler’s atrocities, among them 3 million Polish-Jews and 3 million non-Jewish Poles. 

In its widely-used media stylebook, the Associated Press urges journalists and others to use correct names of the German death camps in occupied Poland. So does UNESCO. Respectfully, why don’t we join them, or Germans themselves, in calling the death camps by their proper name? These were German death camps in occupied Poland. “Nazi” is needlessly euphemistic and hardly synonymous.  

I am saying these words as a representative of the Republic of Poland, a country whose 3 million descendants call Chicago and Midwest home. They know full well that each and every publication of “Nazi camps in Poland” or its derivatives hurts their feelings and estranges your readers.

Paulina Kapuścińska
Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago