Poles Seek New Name For Auschwitz Camp
In an attempt to guarantee historical clarity, Poland wants the official name of Auschwitz-Birkenau changed from Unesco world heritage site to "Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau."
According to a BBC report, the twin camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau, built in occupied Poland near the town of Oswiecim, were designed, built and operated by Nazi Germany.
However, Polish officials have become unsettled, notes BBC news, by media references to Auschwitz as a "Polish concentration camp".
Polish government spokesman Jan Kasprzyk tells a Polish news agency, "In the years after the war, the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was definitively associated with the criminal activities of the national socialist Nazi regime in Germany."
Kasprzyk continues, "However, for the contemporary, younger generations, especially abroad, that association is not universal."