“The establishment of the International Day for the Victims of German Camps may help in the struggle for the truth about Polish victims of genocide,” points out “Nasz Dziennik”.
“I think it is appropriate to request that the UN declare June 14 as World Day for Prisoners of Concentration and Death Camps. ” – tells Barbara Wojnarowska-Gautier, a former Auschwitz prisoner and chairman of the June 14th Committee, to “Nasz Dziennik”.
“Nasz Dziennik” recalls that on June 14, 1940, the first transport of Polish prisoners arrived at Auschwitz.
This day is considered the beginning of the operation of the German concentration camp Auschwitz. And this very day – according to Wojnarowska – can be used to honour all the victims of German camps from the period of World War II at the international forum” – the paper said.
Wojnarowska-Gautier believes that “establishing such a day would make it possible for the collective memory of the world to include the Polish victims of the German camps”. “A former victim of physician Josef Mengele’s criminal experiments, points out that the occasion for proposing such an initiative is the exhibition to be opened on June 14 in the United States in Kansas City entitled “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away”, prepared by the Auschwitz Museum and the Spanish company Musealia”, we read in “Nasz Dziennik”.
“We want to thank them for honouring June 14, and this would be a good opportunity for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to put forward such an idea,” – said Wojnarowska-Gautier.
According to Wiesław Wysocki, a historian from Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, the postulates of reminding the world about the Polish victims of German camps and the murders of prisoners from other nations are necessary.
“The initiative of internationalization is valuable and it is worth talking about this issue,” says Prof. Wysocki in an interview with “Nasz Dziennik”. He stresses that this would finally be an appreciation of the other victims of the camps.
“Thanks to this, perhaps it would stop saying that only Jews died in Auschwitz,” the historian adds noting that “all victims of the camps should be treated equally”.