MajdanekThe popular German daily Die Welt has been taken to court for describing Majdanek as a “Polish concentration camp.”
The action against German newspaper was brought to court by a 43-year-old Pole, Zbigniew Osewski, from the western city of Swinoujscie. Osewski accused Die Welt of publishing false information in an article titled “Asaf’s journey around the world”. Its author Miriam Hollstein used an expression “Polish concentration camp”, which, according to Osewski, is highly offensive.
“We cannot let the German daily write nonsense and falsify history,” says Osewski. An expression “Polish concentration camps”, which implies Polish involvement in Nazi crimes, insults the Polish nation, claims Osewski.
Zbigniew Osewski felt personally hurt by the article because one of his grandfathers died in a Nazi prison in Sztum and another was imprisoned for five years in a Nazi camp in Essen and lived a short life because of that experience.
The Pole wants the German newspaper to apologize and pay a 500,000 zloty (120,000 euro) fine, which would be donated to charity.
After Polish media intervention, the controversial article was taken away from Die Welt’s web site and the newspaper published an apology. “Unfortunately, the apology did not appear in any Polish newspaper,” laments Osewski.
At first, Mr. Osewski brought a lawsuit against the editorial staff of Die Welt, represented by its publisher, Axel Springer, but, because of formal reasons, the suit was dismissed. Later, Osewski sued the Polish branch of the German publishing house – Axel Springer Polska, but, again, his petition was rejected as the company is not the publisher of Die Welt. Finally, the Pole decided to bring Axel Springer AG, the German headquarters, to court. However, in order to do that Osweski needs to present to the court with the addresses of two defendants: Miriam Hollstein, author of the article, and Thomas Schmid, editor-in-chief of Die Welt.
“The suit can be open only when it is established who defendants are,” said Judge Jacek Tyszka, explaining why the suit has been remanded in perpetuity. (mg/mmj)