Why are the Nazi camps used to carry out the Holocaust referred to as "Polish death camps?" Wouldn't they be called "Nazi death camps?" Is this a geographical technicality or is there some details that suggest some Polish citizens were culpable in the holocaust?

by BossWater

My entry to this topic is the somewhat recent news that Poland has outlawed the term "polish death camp." The law was widely criticized by many for a variety of reasons, but I saw some Israeli scholars say it denies history -- but I don't know how to follow up on that claim. The most I've seen is this article on Quillette that gives some context on the state's motivations for the law, but what is the evidence that poland was culpable to the holocaust?

P.S. I am 100 percent Polish via my parents, but I've lived in the United States my whole life. I'd ask their input but I imagine it would be quite biased.

cdb03b

They were physically in Poland and when most people use the phrase they are talking about geography, not the political group/government that established them. That phrase to the Non-Polish world rarely ever carries any suggestion that the Polish citizens were culpable for the camps. Though it is historical fact that there were many Polish citizens who were collaborators and assisted the Nazis willingly. That is generally discussed separately from the camps.

The biggest problems with the law is that it is vague, and very easy to abuse to stifle free speech and historical study. It is also set up in an attempt to apply to citizens and groups not living in Poland (which Poland has no actual jurisdictional authority to do). It is already being used for such abuses as a New paper based in Argentina what had an article about the Jedwabne Pogrom where Polish citizens massacred the local Jewish population.

WARitter

Though more can be said about this topic, u/commiespaceinvader speaks a great deal about this here and here and goes into detail on the historiography here.