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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Obama’s words about the death camps – much more than a “slip of the tongue”

31.05.2012   
Halya Coynash
It is difficult to understand how anybody in their position could have called the death camps Polish. It is even more baffling why, a day on, there has been no formal apology.

Auschwitz  (accurate information can be found at http://auschwitz.org.pl/ )

People make mistakes all the time.  Presidents and their speechwriters have no such leeway to, as President Obama’s Administration put it, “misspeak”.  It is difficult to understand how anybody in their position could have called the death camps Polish.  It is even more baffling why, a day on, there has been no formal apology.

The mistake was all the more distressing given the context.  The USA, together with other western countries, once ignored Jan Karski’s impassioned call for response to the fate of the Jews.  He, a Pole, risked his life every second to tell a world that paid no heed. 

It would have been better not to give the award, than to couple it with such a profound insult.

I would add that this is my no means only distressing to all Poles.  Such statements demonstrate a blithe ignorance about countries which suffered terribly from the Nazi occupation and distort history.  We have a duty before the victims of the Nazi death camps to ensure enduring memory and historical accuracy. .

Please see the following

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b6Z2vrmL5eo

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VxntY9HsWtg&feature=related

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