• Auschwitz, a Nazi German concentration camp – historically correct term, adopted in such a form by UNESCO
• Auschwitz, a Polish concentration camp – misinforming and untrue term, suggesting an entirely false idea as for who is responsible for the crimes of German Nazis, and being an offensive form of revisionism for the victims.

  Auschwitz concentration camp – definition

“Konzentrationslager Auschwitz” (KL Auschwitz, German for "Auschwitz Concentration Camp") was the name of a state run German concentration camp established by the German Nazis in 1940 during the Second World War on the outskirts of the town of Oświęcim. The town was incorporated into the Third Reich along with this part of the German-occupied Poland. 

  “Polish concentration camps” – misinformation

"Polish concentration camps" is a misinforming, untrue definition, giving rise to suspicions of revisionism, and a historically deceiving name used by some media, publications and historical documents with respect to the Nazi German concentration camps, including KL Auschwitz, which were located within Poland's borders. 

  German concentration camps

Concentration camps and extermination centers were established and administered by the German state. At the time when those camps were being established, the state of Poland did not exist. The area of Auschwitz was not only occupied by Germany but also incorporated geographically into the German state. During the German occupation of Poland (1939-1945) the legally operating center of Polish authorities was the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile situated in London, who neither made decisions concerning the establishing of those concentration camps nor participated in any manner in their administration. The structures of the Polish underground state, which were subordinated to the Polish Government in exile, did not participate in any manner in operating those camps, either, and undertook actions aimed against their German initiators and managers.

Despite the semantic ambiguity of the term “Polish concentration camps”, its solely acceptable geographic connotation is only obvious for a relatively small number of people who are familiar with the history of Europe and the Second World War. 

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Using the term “Polish concentration camps” in publications leads many people who are not familiar with this history to believe that the concentration camps were established by the Poles and that Poles, together with the German occupants, were co-responsible for the extermination of the Jews and for other crimes committed in those camps.

  Auschwitz on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Following the recurrent use of the term “Polish concentration camps”, upon the request filed by Poland, the reading of the entry for the remains of the Auschwitz concentration camp was changed in 2007 from “Auschwitz Concentration Camp” to: “Nazi German Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)”.

  "Japanese nuclear bomb"

It is worth noting that, although during the Second World War concentration camps were established by the German Nazis not only in occupied Poland, but also among others in Lithuania, Latvia, France and the Netherlands, the media do not use the terms like “French concentration camps” or “Dutch concentration camps”. There are also no texts mentioning “Japanese nuclear bombs” dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the “geographical logic” would suggest.