Stanisław Zalewski has reached the remarkable age of 100. He carries with him the haunting memories of the German Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Mauthausen. Today, he is once again fighting a battle—this time with German media and European courts—defending a simple truth: that the camps where he endured unimaginable suffering were German, not Polish.
As the centenarian president of the Polish Association of Former Political Prisoners of Hitler’s Prisons and Concentration Camps, Zalewski is demanding not only compensation from a German publisher but, above all, recognition of this truth. The case—reported last summer following a ruling by the Warsaw Court of Appeals (November 2025)—has now gained renewed momentum.
Just months ago, it seemed that after a Supreme Court ruling, Poles finally had a real legal tool to defend themselves against the false narrative of “Polish death camps.” Yet it has since become clear that this path exists only narrowly and with significant limitations. Lech Obara, a lawyer with the Polish association Patria Nostra—which has led this fight for years—explains what this means in practice.
A Centenarian Witness to History
Stanisław Zalewski was born in 1925. As a young resistance member, he was arrested and imprisoned in a German jail, later transferred to Auschwitz Birkenau and then to Mauthausen-Gusen. Now, as president of Polish Association of Former Political Prisoners of Nazi Prisons and Concentration Camps, he reminds the world that people from across Europe perished in these camps, but the camps were German.
A few years ago, Zalewski read an article in a regional Bavarian newspaper that referred to “Polish death camps.” For someone who witnessed the horrors firsthand, this was an affront to his dignity and to all former prisoners. With the help of lawyers from Patria Nostra, he filed a lawsuit against the publisher of the Mittelbayerische Zeitung, demanding a public apology and 50,000 zlotys to be paid to an organisation representing former prisoners.
“This is about fundamental historical truth and the good name of Poland, not about money,” stresses lawyer Lech Obara. “For many readers, what appears in German media becomes the only version of events.”
The ECJ Ruling
The backdrop to this story is a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2001, which lawyers say effectively closed the door for Poles to sue German publishers over references to “Polish camps.” The ECJ ruled that such cases should be heard primarily in the country where the publisher is based. In practice, this forces plaintiffs to bring cases to German courts—
creating a situation in which, as Obara notes, “Germany becomes the judge in its own case.”
“We were stripped of the right to defend our personal dignity against the lie of ‘Polish camps’ before Polish courts,” says Obara. “We had to find a way to partially bypass this blockade.”
Zalewski’s lawsuit was first submitted to the District Court in Warsaw, which— citing the ECJ ruling—dismissed the case due to lack of jurisdiction. Patria Nostra lawyers appealed, and later filed a cassation complaint with the Supreme Court, supported by an opinion from the Commissioner for Human Rights.
Hope After the Ruling
In February 2025, the Supreme Court issued a decision overturning the earlier dismissal and ordering the appellate court to re-examine whether the former Auschwitz prisoner could pursue damages from German media in a Polish court. At the same time, it pointed to the potential use of the so-called “mosaic rule,” a principle in EU law allowing lawsuits where the effects of the violation occur.
“For us, that was a signal that the Supreme Court acknowledged that the consequences of such a lie spread throughout Poland,” explains Obara.“This is where Mr. Zalewski lives, where the association of former prisoners operates, and where the offensive article is accessible online.”
At the time, it appeared a legal precedent was being formed—allowing Poles to seek not only compensation but also formal apologies for the defamatory term “Polish camps” in Polish courts. Yet the most recent ruling from the Court of Appeals shows that the scope of this protection has been set very narrowly.
Latest Ruling
On 26 November 2025, the Court of Appeals in Warsaw partially overturned the previous District Court decision. It ruled that Zalewski’s lawsuit must be dismissed in the part concerning non-material claims—specifically, the demand for a formal apology and a ban on further use of the phrase “Polish death camps.” At the same time, it rejected the publisher’s appeal regarding
financial compensation, allowing the claim for 50,000 zlotys for social purposes to proceed.
In practice, this means that Polish courts, according to the Appeals Court, lack jurisdiction to order German media to publish apologies or to prohibit them from using certain expressions. However, they may consider claims for financial damages caused to a Polish citizen in Poland due to the availability of offensive content.
“This is only a partial compromise,” Obara assesses. “On one hand, access to financial claims has been opened; on the other, the most important goal for Mr. Zalewski—an apology and prevention of further lies—has been closed to us in Poland.”
Zalewski’s representatives will now seek written justification of the ruling, which will determine whether another cassation complaint is filed, or whether the case proceeds in Warsaw solely regarding compensation.
Lawyers for Historical Truth
The Patria Nostra association, led by attorney Lech Obara, has for years represented former prisoners of German camps and their families in legal actions against foreign media why use terms such as “Polish death camps” or “Polish extermination camps.” The organisation won the first widely publicised case against German public television and has since pursued more lawsuits against media publishers.
“We are not defending an abstract idea, but a specific individual and a specific nation,” Obara says. “In each of these cases, the lived experience of the prisoners is present—people who remember that the gates of the camps bore German inscriptions, never ‘Polish camps.’”
Patria Nostra is involved not only in legal proceedings but also in actions at the European Union level, submitting complaints to the European Commission, demanding enforcement of Polish rulings by German authorities, and participating in discussions about protecting national reputation in the media space. Zalewski’s case has become a key test of the effectiveness of these efforts.
Race Against Time
The coming weeks will determine whether Mr. Zalewski’s representatives will pursue another appeal to the Supreme Court or focus solely on the financial aspect of the lawsuit. Either way, the ruling will have consequences reaching beyond the courtroom.
The centenarian former prisoner of Pawiak, Auschwitz, and Mauthausen is not fighting today for himself but to ensure that his generation leaves a clear mark in Europe: the camps, where Poles, Jews, and prisoners from all over the continent perished, were German. The response of Polish and European courts to this dispute will determine whether future generations will have effective tools to defend the truth.
Jan Berdycki
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