Blog 1: International Apology

Today I read some Polish news broadcast, and I was really surprised to see that there has been much agitation lately of which I wasn’t even aware of. 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 datum 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 with Memorial Day in Washington and New York City and that The Holocaust is one of my favorite periods to study in universal history, so I really got attracted by this article.

Basically, it is about a speech President Barack Obama gave during the ceremony of Memorial Day. He was merely complementing and acknowledging the work of Jan Karski –a survivor of the Second World War –and he finished it by saying what the Polish people consider to be the most implausible of insults: “Polish death camps”. Right now, there is a political dispute around an apology owed to Poland strictly by 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.

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, especially when it concerns a historical event that still remains in people’s minds and hearts. That’s the only way we’re going to improve 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>.