How to proceed?

Once you see a defective code of memory published in the media remember, that:

1. The camps were not located in Poland, they were located in German-occupied Poland. That’s a very important distinction. The camps were German, located on an occupied Polish territory against the will of Poles during the World War II, set up by German authorities to carry out Hitler’s plan to murder many Polish citizens, among them about 3 million Polish Jews.

2. Poles fought the German invasion from day one of World War II until its very end and paid an enormous price with the loss of six million human lives and massive destruction of the country. Poland was the only country whose citizens suffered the death penalty, enforced by the German occupiers, for trying to help or rescue Jews.

3. Gather information and facts. Copy the article, note down its author, title, publication date and the mistake.

4. Check the comments section. If the phrase is literally, not only contextually, plain wrong, we can safely assume that at least one of the readers leaves a comment calling for an amendment. You can be this first person! Give 1-2 strong fact-based points, not opinion-based arguments, about why a certain phrase is inaccurate. Don’t forget to include a request for correction in your comment.

Example 1: Calling Majdanek a “Polish death camp” is factually incorrect. There were no Polish death camps, there were only German Nazi death camps. Please correct this error immediately.

Example 2: Calling the German camps “Polish” is incorrect for two reasons: The camps were set up and run by German Reich, not Poland. It is also unacceptable to use the word “Polish” as a geographical descriptor because there was no Polish state at the time the camps existed. The territory, on which the camps were located, had been invaded and remained occupied by Nazi Germany throughout the entirety of the camps’ operation. I would appreciate the immediate removal of the phrase ” Polish death camp” online and wherever else it may appear.

5. Refer to the style guides of responsible media. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Yahoo! Inc., and The Associated Press have changed their style guides prohibiting the use of the phrase “Polish concentration camps”.

6. Send an email to the editor and encourage others to do the same. Post links on Facebook; tweet about it. Tell us about the article, what you’ve done and how can we help

7. After a few days check whether the phrase has been updated. If not, do a follow-up: send another email, make another phone call, inform us about the chain of events.

8. Should you have any further doubts or questions, do not hesitate to contact the Polish MFA: rzecznik@msz.gov.pl or Polish Media Issues: info@polishmediaissues.online.

Source: Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C.