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Ambassador of the Republic
of Poland in Canada
Ambassadeur de la République de Pologne au Canada
Ottawa, 21st of September 2005
Mr. Giles Gherson
Editor in Chief
The Toronto Star
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you to express
my concern and to protest against the expression used
in the article published on the 21st September 2005
edition of "Toronto Star" on page A1 and A6 treating
on the passing of Simon Wiesenthal entitled "Nazi-hunter
sought 'justice, not revenge'". It is written in the
aforementioned article that: "Wiesenthal was also instrumental
in the arrest of Franz Stangl, commandant of the Polish
death camps at Treblinka and Sobibor".
I would like to remind you that
on 15th of December 2004 Canadian Broadcast Standards
Council issued a decision (CBSC decision 04/04 - 0380
and - 0672) in which it is stated clearly that "in any
event (...) the use of terms "Polish ghetto for Jews"
or "Polish camp of Treblinka" (...) is an inaccurate
representation of the news and constitutes an unfair
and improper presentation of news".
I would insist that you act accordingly
with the professional codes established by the Council
and do not use the adjective "Polish" when describing
World War II concentration camps that were created,
built and run by Nazi Germany which occupied Poland
throughout the WWII. The use of term "Polish death camps"
by journalist of your newspaper might leave doubts for
Canadian readers as to who created and operated camps
in Nazi occupied Poland during WWII and it is offensive
to Poland and Polish people. I believe you should follow
the Council recommendation and while referring to concentration
camps use the qualifiers such as "in occupied Poland"
or "in Nazi-occupied Poland". Only then you will appropriately
describe the reality and present proper news to your
readers.
It is very unfortunate for a serious
newspaper to publish information that is untrue, misleading
and detrimental to any country - in this case to Poland.
It is moreover astonishing in view of the fact that
your newspaper has already made the same mistake in
30th August 2004 edition of your paper in the article
"Remembering pain of Lodz after decades of forgetting"
where the expression "Polish ghetto" was used. On September
2, 2004 the informative letter from Mr. Slawomir Kowalski,
Press Officer at the Polish Embassy in Ottawa to Ms.
Mary Deanne Shears, Managing Editor was conveyed.
In these circumstances I expect
that on the nearest edition of your newspaper you will
publish a visible and clear correction and an apology
for Polish people. Only through veritable and solid
information we may fight with ignorance and professionally
inform about the history of the WWII.
Yours Sincerely,
Piotr Ogrodziński
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