About
- Established in 2005
- An international group, Moderators/Leaders based in USA, UK, and Europe
- PMI evolved from a small Yahoo group to a Facebook group with 2500 members. We also have a related discussion-sharing Facebook page called “Polish Media Issues – Debating Arm”
- Operational language is English, but we respond to Media Issues in many languages
- We know of no other similar organization that delivers a full “find & fix” service like PMI’s
- PMI was one of the founding organizations for “British Poles” which is approaching 65,500 “likes” on Facebook and has nearly 70,000 followers
What We Do: For the last 12 years PMI has been the leading global organization enacting corrections to be made in various media (predominantly digital media) in response to the appearance of, typically: “Polish death/concentration camps and ghettos”, and these camps being placed “in Poland”. The number of media issues found, and responded to, by PMI since 2005 is over 3,000, with a peak of 507 in 2014. PMI obtained corrections for over 80% of cases. Can you help PMI to do its valuable work? Please join us on Facebook, and become an Active Responder.
How We Get Corrections Made
- Online searches carried out by PMI members and issues notified to us by our members plus others
- Our Active Responders send emails, leave Comments, send tweets and/or telephone the source
- Initially, a polite request is made for the offending item/s to be corrected, supported by relevant historical facts, accompanied by the assumption that this mistake was unintentional
- In most cases, a correction is achieved at the first contact. Sometimes, however, the change made is considered inadequate EG, “Polish camp” becoming “Nazi camp in Poland”; then PMI will push for “Nazi camp in German-occupied Poland”
- There are certain “serial offenders”, which make repeated errors – and then correct them grudgingly, insufficiently or not at all
- For media Issues in large publishers or non-English languages, we seek to involve the Polish Embassy in the relevant country, although limited or no responses are received. We are (still) trying to develop closer, more direct working relationships with the Polish government and other organizations such as Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial
- For especially obstinate offenders, we will launch concerted campaigns, engaging wider support within the relevant country to have the corrections made
- We adhere to the historical fact that it was Germany that invaded and brutally occupied Poland, not unidentified “Nazis”, a political party (NSDAP) that contained only 15-20% of German adults
PMI has from its inception been concerned about the level of incorrect knowledge, and the total ignorance in many cases, held by adults (outside of Poland) about Poland and the treatment of Poles during the Second World War (WW2). This sad situation is evidenced by the ongoing appearances of these insensitive and disrespectful phrases. A small proportion of these phrases seem to appear in a repetitive manner by publications/groups that apparently want to make Anti-Polish statements intentionally.
However, the majority of these incorrect phrases are inadvertently written by individuals and journalists who simply know little or nothing about the true, full plight of Poland before, during, and after WW2, and often have never been taught much about Polish history. Therefore, we fully support increased education in schools about Poland, especially during WW2. We also regularly ask publishers to update their style guides to include the correct terminology for occupied Poland, Auschwitz, etc. Contact is also made with educational organizations, and evidence was presented to a UK Government Inquiry into Holocaust Education.
Show your support in the fight against “fake history” or the “propaganda” against Poland/Poles by becoming a member of PMI. Please help us in this important work.