Warsaw, Feb 5, 2005

Mr. Craig Smith

“The New York Times”

Dear Sir,

I reacted with indignation and sadness to your article published by the “New York Times” after the ceremonies marking the 60^th anniversary of the liberation of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau.

I was a prisoner of Auschwitz. I was also one of the speakers at that memorable ceremony. As a historian, as a former prisoner, as a former Polish foreign minister and as a witness of the events 60 years ago – I emphasized in my address the efforts made in 1942 by the Polish Government – powerless in its London exile – to alarm the world about the drama of the  Jews in Poland. At that time, Poles displayed a broad range of attitudes: from despicable instances of denouncement to the Germans of Jews and other fugitive compatriots– to heroic sheltering of whole Jewish families from the Nazis, despite the risk of capital punishment imposed by the Germans on Poles who were helping Jews. One in every three Righteous Among the Nations is Polish.  Jews and Poles were the only nations in war-stricken Europe whose representatives were not formed by the Germans into SS units. So, when the gravest accusations are cast, they should be put in a proper context; otherwise – they become slander.

Your text paints a completely different picture of the history of Poland and World War II. The image you have created conceals the true perpetrators of the concentration camps and the annihilation.

Surely, no sense of political correctness should prevent the presentation of historic truth. And the truth is that the labor camps, the concentration camps and the centers of annihilation were established by the German authorities, they were erected and maintained out of the German state budget, they were exploited by German companies, and at the end of the war it was the Germans who ordered their destruction. The highlighting of the role of “other Central European countries” – without mention of the Germans as the perpetrators, without mention of the fact that those countries were occupied by Germany and ruled by terror - amounts to a gross misrepresentation of the truth and smacks of offensive historic revisionism. From what you wrote, there is only a step away to the so-called “Polish camps”.

I hope you recognize the seriousness of your misconceptions.  We particularly owe it to the young generation to be historically accurate. For, only the truth can ensure genuine understanding of human fates and experiences. Hence, I appeal for respect for all the victims of the war, for their fates. And respect for today’s young people and all readers of The New York Times prompts me to request that an appropriate correction be published so that a more truthful picture is created of the most tragic human experiences during World War II.

/-/  Professor Władysław Bartoszewski

Chairman

International Auschwitz Council

Righteous Among the Nations

Honorary Citizen of the State of Israel