EU Commission changes social media post about Auschwitz after protests from Poland
Several victims were listed as “Murdered in Auschwitz, Poland,” without noting that the notorious extermination camp was built and run by Nazi Germany during World War II.
AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski
File. Holocaust survivors and relatives arrive at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.
Poland on Sunday asked the European Commission to fix a social media post about the Holocaust, saying it wrongly linked the Auschwitz death camp to Poland, rather than Nazi Germany.
In a video posted Saturday on the X platform by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, she and other commissioners read the names of Holocaust victims while video captions noted their places of birth and death.
Several victims were listed as “Murdered in Auschwitz, Poland,” without noting that the notorious extermination camp was built and run by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on X: “When referring to the Nazi extermination camp in Auschwitz, it should be noted that it was established under German occupation.” He added that “information posted on the European Commission’s social media will be clarified.”
Later Sunday, the captions in the video were changed to “Auschwitz, German Nazi extermination camp.”
Holocaust survivors and relatives arrive at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Holocaust survivors attend a ceremony at the Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
A child walks away after lighting candles in front of the Death Wall in the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Flowers are placed by the memorial monument at the Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Flood lights illuminate a guard tower at the Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
A woman lights candles in front of the Death Wall in the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Flowers are placed by the memorial monument at the Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Holocaust survivors and relatives arrive at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Holocaust survivors and relatives place candles next to the Death Wall in the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Tourists visit the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. The International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz – Birkenau on Jan. 27, 1945. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Holocaust survivors and relatives arrive at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
People walk by the Death Wall at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
A white rose is placed at the ‘Gleis 17’, Track 17, the memorial site for the train transportation from Berlin to the camp, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. The International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz – Birkenau on Jan. 27, 1945. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
A Holocaust survivor holds a candle while waiting in line to place it next to the Death Wall at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Gad Partok, 93, a Tunisian-born Holocaust survivor, poses for a portrait in his home in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. He never thought he’d have to relive the horrors of the Nazi onslaught that claimed the lives of his father and two brothers. Then, on Oct. 7, he watched on TV from his living room as Israeli news channels played videos of Hamas militants tearing through communities just a few kilometers (miles) from where he lives. He took cover as rocket fire from Gaza pounded Ashkelon, the southern Israeli city he moved to after emigrating from Tunisia in 1947 (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. The International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz – Birkenau on Jan. 27, 1945. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The name of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz photographed at ‘Gleis 17’, Track 17, the memorial site for the train transportation from Berlin to the camp, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. The International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz – Birkenau on Jan. 27, 1945. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The European Commission didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
The speaker of the Polish parliament, Szymon Holownia, welcomed the change saying: “The Auschwitz camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established in the areas occupied by Germany in 1939. This is the only truth.”
Poles are highly sensitive to any description of Auschwitz that fails to mention that the camp was built by Nazi Germany after it invaded Poland.
On Saturday, a group of Holocaust survivors and state officials held a modest ceremony at the memorial and museum site of Auschwitz-Birkenau to mark the 79th anniversary of the camp’s liberation by the Soviet troops on Jan. 17, 1945. The day is now dedicated to Holocaust remembrance.
Germany invaded neighboring Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, starting World War II. Beginning in 1940, the Nazis used old Austrian military barracks in the southern town of Oswiecim, which they renamed Auschwitz, as a concentration and death camp for Polish resistance members. In 1942 they added the nearby Birkenau part, with gas chambers and crematoria, as a mass extermination site, mostly for Jews.
An estimated 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau until its liberation. During that time, Poland was under brutal German occupation and lost some 6 million citizens, half of them Jews.
Polish law penalizes anyone wrongly blaming Poles for Nazi Germany’s crimes on Polish soil.
