POLAND SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO HIDE ITS HISTORY OF VIRULENT ANTI-SEMITISM

Before the rise of Nazi Germany, Poland already had a long history of virulent anti-Semitism. And many Poles eagerly helped the Nazis find and round up Jews for shipment to Hitler’s extermination camps.

ANGELA MERKEL DRESSED AS A CONCNTRATION CAMP VICTIM ON MAGAZINE COVER IN POLAND IN MOVE THAT SPARKS WAR OF WORDS WITH GERMANY
A Polish magazine ran the image next to the headline: ‘Falsification of History: How The Germans Made Themselves The Victims of World War II”

By Becky Evans

Mail Online
April 9, 2013

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been depicted as a concentration camp victim on the cover of a respected Polish magazine.

Dressed in striped pajamas and a head covering, Merkel is seen behind barbed wire in Uwazam Rze.

The image has intensified a diplomatic war of words between Germany and Poland over wartime guilt.

The magazine ran the picture of Mrs Merkel alongside the headline: 'Falsification of History: How The Germans Made Themselves The Victims of World War II.'

The image has been branded tasteless in Germany.

Poland has accused its neighbor of distorting historical facts and making victims of the war out of the real criminals.

The reason for the allegations is the German TV station ZDF three-part documentary which aired at the end of March 'Our Mothers, Our Fathers'.

It focussed on the fate of five Germans in WWII and upset people in Poland after it depicted Polish resistance fighters as anti-Semitic.

In one scene a group of fighters orders a train with concentration camp victims to carry on when they realise the passengers are Jewish.

In another a partisan says 'we drown Jews like rats.'

The Polish diplomat in Germany Jerzy Marganski wrote a letter to the TV station after the 14million euro series aired to express his disgust.

He wrote: 'The image of Poland and the Polish resistance against the German occupiers as conveyed by this series is perceived by most Poles as extremely unjust and offensive.'

Among other criticisms, Marganski said viewers learn nothing of the Warsaw uprising, in which up to 200,000 Polish civilians died, nor of the many Poles who helped Jews.

He said the program gave the impression that more people 'were to blame for the destruction of Jews' than just the Germans.

ZDF responded saying that in no way was it intending to trivialize historical facts or reduce German responsibility with the mini series.

Producer Nico Hofmann said the depictions of 'the Polish situation... are based on historically vetted material' and there was no intention to defame the Poles.'

He said the goal was encourage a national debate about the experiences of war.