Today I read about news in
Poland, and I was really surprised to see that there has been a lot going on
and I wasn’t even aware of that. First of all, I got serious trouble finding
news in English, so I had to go through a very careful research of information
and facts, and I had to determine which fact interested me the best. I picked this article because right now I’m
living in the United States and I find it really important to know more about
the relationships between the country I’m researching and the one I’m going to
be a part of for over a month. I also considered the fact that I had a close
experience in Washington and New York with Memorial Day and that The Holocaust
is one of my favorite periods to study in universal history, so I really got
attracted by this article.
Summary:
Basically,
it is about a speech president Barack Obama gave during a ceremony in Memorial
Day. He was merely complementing and acknowledging the work of Jan Karski –a
survivor of the war –and he finished saying what the Polish people consider to
be the most rude of insults: “Polish death camps”. Right now, there is a
political dispute about an apology towards Poland strictly from the mouth of
Barak Obama, and I can’t say they aren’t in their right. However, the Secretary
of Relations already established there will be apologies.
My opinion:
I
think that in politics this happens often, and perhaps it isn’t a serious
matter as some might think, but it isn’t a trifle either. History is what
defines the people all around, and some events are pretty dark, such as the
extermination of Jewish people. If we consider that Poland was brutally
attacked by Germans and that they weren’t exactly agreeing to a concentration
camp in their territory, it was an outrageous mistake and defamation the
statement Mr. Obama made. However, I understand that mistakes are human and
that one does says things once in a while that can seem bad. I think the lesson
in all this is that leaders should be smart enough to take care of such
mistakes but also humble enough to acknowledge them and offer apologies. That’s
the only way we’re going to get better as an international community.
Reference:
Baczynska, Gabriela. "Poland Seeks Apology for Obama
Holocaust Comments." Reuters.
Thomson Reuters, 30 May 2012. Web. 30 May 2012.
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/30/us-obama-poland-holocust-idUSBRE84T0B720120530?feedType=RSS>.
Via Maria Garcia
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