President Komorowski addresses Obama's 'Polish death camp' blunder, 30.05.2012. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk
In a statement on Wednesday, Komorowski described President Obama’s blunder as “an unfortunate mistake” and revealed that he had written a letter to the White House on the matter.
“The unfair and hurtful words about ‘the Polish death camp’ do not reflect, in my view, either the intentions or the views of our American friend,” Komorowski said, adding, however, that “mistakes can be amended, if they are thought through properly.”
President Obama was awarding the Medal of Freedom – America’s highest civilian honour – to the late Jan Karski, when he made the blunder.
Karski was a courier of Poland’s official wartime underground who brought news of the Holocaust to the Polish government-in-exile in London and the British government.
Komorowski insisted that in Obama’s address, the American leader had stressed that Karski was “part of the Polish efforts and actions to shake the hearts and minds of the contemporary world of free people of the West,” and thus the president’s reference should be interpreted as a mistake.
The White House has already issued a statement insisting that the president “misspoke,” yet while there have been calls for a personal apology from Obama himself, none have materialised.
However, on Thursday US ambassador to Poland, Lee A. Feinstein told Polish Radio that a response from Barack Obama to the Polish president’s letter should be expected promptly.
“President Obama yesterday received a letter from President Komorowski about President Obama’s misstatements. President Obama and President Komorowski have built a very close relationship and close friendship and the United States and Poland are the closest of allies. Befitting the relationship between the presidents and the relationship between our two countries President Obama will respond promptly to President Komorowski’s letter.”
Ambassador Lee A. Feinstein made the statement at the Global Forum in Wroclaw.
Heated reactions across the board
However, reactions in Poland were heated on Wednesday, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who claimed in a statement that Obama's words “touched all Poles,” adding that “we always react in the same way when ignorance, lack of knowledge, [and] bad intentions lead to such a distortion of history.”
Tusk continued that “we expect diligence, care, and respect from our friends on issues of such importance as World War II.”
Meanwhile, a statement from Poland’s Jewish community signed by Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich described Obama’s remark as “highly regrettable,” noting that although “it should be obvious that he was only referring to the geographic location... we are expecting Barack Obama to personally correct his statement.”
Polish opposition leaders, including conservative Jaroslaw Kaczynski of Law and Justice and Leszek Miller of the Democratic Left Alliance, have also denounced Obama’s remarks.
Kaczynski said that “the Polish nation has been offended in an exceptionally drastic way,” and called for a personal apology from Obama.
America’s Kosciuszko Foundation – a Polonia organisation – together with the Polish Foreign Ministry, has been attempting to stamp out references to “Polish death camps” in the international press for several years.
The campaign has had some success, with papers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The San Francisco Times outlawing such references. The Associated Press news agency has adopted a similar resolution.
Alex Storozynski, chairman of the Kosciuszko Foundation, has claimed that referring to German Nazi death camps as Polish (owing to the fact that they were on occupied Polish territory) is “Orwellian doublespeak” that “distorts history.” (nh/jb)
Updated 1800, 31.05.2012