Is it any wonder Poles are sensitive about the phrase ‘Polish death camps’?

Poland’s new government, which is described as right-wing and nationalistic, is in the news again. This time it wants to make it a criminal offence, punishable by up to five years in prison, to implicate Poland in the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany on Polish soil. Uproar has ensued: the Law and Justice party is suppressing freedom of speech again. First the courts, then the media, now this!

And while I agree that reference to ‘Polish death camps’ should not be made a criminal offence – people should be allowed to say what they want – I do, however, understand what lies at the root of this proposal. It is not, as many will say, evidence of Polish anti-Semitism, but rather a reaction to the widespread disinformation about Poland’s role in the Second World War which has been perpetuated for decades. This is an injustice which Poles feel deeply. 

It is, of course, true that six of the German-run death camps were in Poland.