Poland publishes names of former Auschwitz guards

The unprecedented move was taken by Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) as part of efforts to stamp out the use of historically inaccurate terms like “Polish concentration camps”.

The president of the IPN, Jarosław Szarek, told a press conference in Kraków, southern Poland: "Today is historic because this is just the beginning - with this database we are starting the implementation of a large project.

“We are starting with Auschwitz, but we are planning to expand this database to include other German Nazi concentration camps."

Szarek said the unveiling of the database was a response to the use of the term "Polish concentration camps".

The use of such terms by international media outlets has sparked numerous complaints from Poland in recent years, prompting some news agencies to change their style guidelines.

In 2007, following a Polish request, the World Heritage Committee attempted to clarify the matter by listing the Auschwitz camp as a "German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp".

Around 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews, as well as non-Jewish Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet POWs and people of many other nationalities, perished at Auschwitz at the hands of the German Nazis occupying Poland during World War II.

The guards’ names can be seen at www.truthaboutcamps.eu/zalogass

(pk)

Source: PAP