German public broadcaster ZDF must apologise for calling the German Nazi Auschwitz camp a “Polish death camp”, according to an unprecedented court decision amid an ongoing legal battle between an Auschwitz survivor and the broadcaster, the IAR news agency has said.

The main gate of the Auschwitz German Nazi camp. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

A court in Koblenz, western Germany, has become the first German court to ever say that the phrase “Polish death camp” is false.

The court said the phrase was not only a simple geographic mistake but could imply that the camps were set up and run by Poles.

The court also disagreed with ZDF’s claim that publishing a formal apology on its website would be humiliating.

Auschwitz survivor Karol Tendera first launched a case against ZDF over its use of the phrase “Polish death camp” in its promotion of a documentary about the liberation of Majdanek and Auschwitz, WWII German Nazi death camps located in occupied Poland.

The phrase was changed after Polish authorities protested.

In April 2016, a Kraków district court found that ZDF had damaged Tendera's dignity and national identity by referring to WWII German Nazi concentration camps Majdanek and Auschwitz as “Polish death camps”.

The use of the term "Polish concentration camp” 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". (vb)

Source: IAR