The Mirror Apologises for the Misleading Term: “Polish Concentration Camp”

Auschwitz-Birkenau was established by the Germans in mid-1940 on the outskirts of Oświęcim, a town which had been annexed into the Third Reich by the Nazis. This happened after Poland’s defeat in September 1939, leading to the division of its territory between the occupying forces: Germany and the Soviet Union.
Initially, the camp was intended for Polish prisoners. Estimates suggest that approximately 130,000–140,000 Poles were transported to KL (Konzentrationslager) Auschwitz and registered with identification numbers, with approximately 10,000 more murdered without being documented. It is believed that at least half of the Polish inmates perished in the camp due to starvation,
beatings, disease, overwork, lack of medical care, executions by shooting or phenol injection, or in the gas chambers. Many others died after being transferred to other concentration camps.

Beginning in the spring of 1942, Jews were transported to KL Auschwitz in separate convoys, although some were deported alongside non-Jewish inmates from various prisons.

From 1942 to 1944, as part of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question,” (Endlösung der Judenfrage), KL Auschwitz evolved into the largest Nazi centre for exterminating Jews from countries occupied by or allied with the Third Reich.

Most of the Jews sent to Auschwitz during this period — over 1.1 million, including more than 200,000 kids and teenagers — were killed immediately upon arrival or shortly thereafter in gas chambers. These transports were organised by the Reich Main Security Office.

The largest single group of Jews deported by RSHA to KL Auschwitz consisted of approximately 430,000 men, women, and children deported from Hungary between late April and August 1944. Auschwitz also served as the final destination for about 300,000 Jews from the occupied Polish territories (particularly from areas annexed into the Reich), as well as 73,000 from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia, 69,000 from France, 60,000 from the Netherlands, 55,000 from Greece, 25,000 from Belgium, 23,000 from Germany and Austria (many of whom were routed through the Theresienstadt ghetto-camp in Czechia), 10,000 from Yugoslavia, 7,500 from Italy, and 690 from Norway.
These deportations were primarily orchestrated by German authorities and their foreign representatives.

Source of information: https://www.auschwitz.org/historia/liczba-ofiar/]Miejsce Pamięci i Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau

The camp was liberated on January 27, 1945, by soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front, part of the Soviet army. Around 7,000 prisoners were still in the camp at that time. This very camp is still, though fortunately less frequently, referred to as a “Polish camp” in some international media. It is worth recalling that at the 31st session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in New Zealand on June 27, 2007, at the request of Poland and Israel, the previous name — Auschwitz Concentration
Camp — was changed to: “Auschwitz-Birkenau. German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940–1945).”

Reporting on the anniversary of the camp’s liberation in 2025, the Polish State News Agency (PAP) noted that:

“On Al Jazeera’s portal—during this year’s commemoration—the historical context of the camp’s creation was described very precisely, highlighting that it was established in Nazi-occupied Poland, and even that Poles were initially imprisoned and murdered there. This marks a noticeable change.”

Nevertheless, the misleading term “Polish camp” continues to be used. A notable instance occurred in a widely-read article on the website of the British tabloid The Mirror, which incorrectly referred to “the Polish concentration camp” in coverage of King Charles III’s visit to Auschwitz.

This was flagged by the British Poles community website, britishpoles.uk, in an article titled “The Mirror Removes theShameful ‘Polish Concentration Camp’ Phrase Following British Poles’ Intervention.”

In response to widespread protests from the Polish community in the UK and the efforts by the portal British Poles, The Mirrordecided to remove the phrase “the Polish concentration camp”, replacing it with “the concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.” Britishpoles.uk also reported that The Mirror made a similar correctionin another article.

Another instance of this misleading phrase was found by our team in an article dated January 26, 2025: “Only Brit Holocaust Survivor to Visit Auschwitz Has Devastating Reason to Go Back.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/only-brit-holocaust-survivor-visit-34555912

Although the phrase “Polish concentration camp/extermination camp” does not appear in the final version of the article, its prior presence is suggested by the clarification and apology included at
the end of the article:

“A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to a “Polish concentration camp”. We would like to make clear that the concentration camp was located in Nazi-occupied Poland. We arehappy to clarify this and apologise for the error.”

However, the author of the article or editors of The Mirror portal leave it to readers to determine who exactly were the “Nazis” who murdered the article subject’s younger sister and mother. The
journalist writes:

“Mala, who was born in Piotrkow in Poland, lost her parents Sara and Moishe, younger sister Lucia, grandparents, her aunt and best friend, during the Holocaust. Her younger sister and mother were
murdered in a local forest by Nazis after there was a round up in the ghetto they were forced to live in. Others lived and died in camps.”

An uninformed reader might therefore conclude that the “Nazis” mentioned were Poles, given that the tragedy occurred “in Piotrkow, Poland.” Nowhere in the article is it explicitly stated that the perpetrators were German Nazis. It is important to note that the official designation of the Auschwitz camp does not simply use the term “Nazi camp” but rather: “German Nazi
concentration and extermination camp”. (https://www.auschwitz.org)

Our portal reports on such misrepresentations regarding German Nazi camps because many non-Polish media outlets continue to use this inaccurate terminology.

ih

fot. Wojciech Grabowski/www.auschwitz.org, Paweł Sawicki/www.auschwitz.org