'Please DO NOT mislead your viewers by rewriting history': Polish embassy slams Fox News over coverage of deported Nazi guard
- The Polish embassy to the US criticized Fox News over its coverage of a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard the US deported on Tuesday.
- The embassy apparently took issue with a chyron on Fox News that said, "Palij was a Nazi guard at a Polish death camp."
- It's true Poland was occupied by Germany during the war and it's inaccurate to describe Nazi concentration camps as "Polish."
- But historians also say it's misleading to contend Poland was not at all complicit in the Holocaust.
The Polish embassy to the US on Tuesday criticized Fox News over its coverage of a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard who was deported from the US.
Jakiw Palij worked at the Trawniki labor camp in German-occupied Poland during World War II, where thousands of Jews were murdered. On November 3, 1943, SS and police units massacred at least 6,000 Jewish inmates of Trawniki and a nearby subcamp, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Palij, who had been living in Queens, New York, for years, was deported to Düsseldorf, Germany, on Tuesday.
The Polish embassy apparently took issue with a chyron on Fox News that read: "Palij was a Nazi guard at a Polish death camp."
In a tweet, the embassy said, "[Fox News] we appreciate your reporting on yet another war time criminal rightfully being brought to justice. However please DO NOT mislead your viewers by rewriting history #Trawniki Labor Camp was a #GermanNazi camp in occupied Poland."
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It's true Poland was occupied by Germany during the war and it's inaccurate to describe Nazi concentration camps as "Polish."
But historians also say it's misleading to contend or suggest Poland was not at all complicit in the Holocaust, given the significant number of Poles who collaborated with the Nazis.
Edna Friedberg, a historian at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, wrote for The Atlantic:
"Poland was the victim of German aggression, suffering one of the most brutal occupation regimes among countries in the Nazi orbit. Despite severe penalties, more Christian Poles have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations-those who risked their lives to aid Jews-than citizens of any other country in Europe. But many others supported and enabled Germany in its campaign to exterminate the Jews."
During the war, for example, thousands of Polish policemen helped the Nazis guard ghettos where Jews were held before being deported to their deaths.
Poland was the site of all six "death camps" or "extermination camps" during World War II, where it's estimated the Nazis murdered 3.5 million Jews.
Over the course of the Holocaust, it's estimated that 6 million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, which included Poles, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Among those killed were 3 million Polish Jews - 90% of the pre-war population.
The Nazis also killed millions of other civilians and disarmed soldiers, including political dissidents, homosexuals, Gypsies, and Soviet prisoners, among others.
Earlier this year, the Polish government was accused of attempting to rewrite the history of Poland's role in the Holocaust after it passed a law making it illegal to accuse the country of complicity in Nazi crimes. The law called for violators to be punished with a fine or up to three years in prison.
The legislation was widely criticized, including by the US government and Israel, and the Polish government amended the law in June to remove criminal penalties for violators.