The Australian JEWISH NEWS Sydney 24th April 2008

Ms. Michelle Coleman
Sydney Editor

Dear Ms Coleman,

Re: The Australian JEWISH NEWS

I appreciate the fact that The Australian Jewish News informs readers about the XVII March of the Living which will take place on 1st May this year ("Marchers set to depart for Poland", Friday, Apr.25, 2008 by Naomi Levin). Participants of the March will proceed from Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau in order to dignify memory of victims of Holocaust. The ceremony is a part of the international educational project in Auschwitz, which will be held in Poland and in Israel from 28 April to 11 May, 2008.

At the same time I wish to firmly protest against the terminology "Nazi-Polish concentration camps" used in the article. I want to believe that it was simply an unfortunate mistake made by the reporter, yet a mistake so insulting and painful to Poles and the Polish community in Australia. All the more painful because this mistake is often repeated in the Australian mass media, which is an insult to the Polish diaspora and which serves very poorly in revealing in Australia the truth about German-Nazi concentration camps. Using such terminology also reveals a lack of rudimentary knowledge of the history of World War II, which absolutely should not take place in such a respectable and opinion-shaping newspaper as the The Australian Jewish News.

I kindly ask that this letter be published and I remain yours sincerely,

Ryszard Sarkowicz