A group of Poles protested on Monday [October, 18] in front of the "Wall Street Journal" headquarters, at 6th Ave and 48th Street, against the Journal's use of: "Polish concentration camps," a phrase that, from time to time, appears in that newspaper.
Protesters shouted "Change the text – it's incorrect," and asked: "How many editors do you need to read articles on German concentration camps build on Poland's territory during the II world war to get it right?"
Stefan Komar, a New York policeman and the chief organizer of the second protest (the first one took place two weeks earlier in the same spot), read a specially prepared appeal pointing to the roots of the protest, i.e. the recurring – and according to protesters purposefully placed – misrepresentations that appear in the paper. At some point the rally participants sang the Polish anthem.
The rally itself evoked quite some interest among passers-by, who were handed information about the protest and on German concentration camps. Some people walked out of the WSJ skyscraper to watch the protesters.
What impact will the protest have? We have yet to see. The organizers stated they are determined to continue their rallies until they see some results, until the WSJ journalists get the message that their representations are incompatible with the historical facts and hurtful for Poles who are blamed for crimes they did not commit.
The unfortunate phrase most recently appeared in "Picking the Best of Spring's New Style Books," an article by Christina Binkley published on May 6th. In her article Binkley writes about The Thoughtful Dresser, a book by Lindy Grant, who visited the Museum at Auschwitz, referred to by Binkley as a "Polish concentration camp."
Ashley S. Huston, communication director at Dow Jones & Company – The Wall Street Journal is a part of Dow Jones – wrote in a statement sent to Nowy Dziennik that the phrase referred to "the geographical location of the concentration camp," and that their intention was clear.
To date, the reference remains uncorrected on the WSJ website.
