What do Poles think about the fact that all six extermination camps are in Poland?
Problem is they know very little, much less than students from other countries. Reason is simple – they weren’t taught in schools about the Holocaust. I remember in my textbooks only a small passage about Auschwitz which said: “27 nations perished there”, mentioned alphabetically. Jews were mentioned last because “Jew” in Polish is “Zydowski”. Poles were taught that they were the main victims in Auschwitz – the Polish national grave. Now it’s hard to answer questions because they don’t know anything about it so it’s not even an issue. Problem is the whole question of Holocaust was not really discussed in Poland after the fall of Communism but left aside. The question about all death camps based in Poland: I don’t think Poles should be guilty for it. The obvious answer is Poland had the biggest concentration of Jews here and not because of antisemitism or that they were placed here. There is no discussion among young Poles or older people, the intelligentsia. There are many publications
