I watched the video of the president handing out Medals of Freedom. I was most interested to see the interaction between the president and Bob Dylan, and there are some pretty hilarious still-shots of that. Jan Karski is dead, so former Polish Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld accepted the medal in Karski’s honor. The president made a few kind remarks about Karski, presented the award to Mr. Rotfeld, and moved on. Unfortunately, the president referred to “Polish” death camps during the war, and now the Polish government is all upset.
Here’s my response to them.
POLISH DEATH CAMPS! POLISH DEATH CAMPS! POLISH DEATH CAMPS!
If Poland wants to invite people to look carefully at their treatment of the Jewish people before and during the war, they should know that they will not come out looking appreciably better than the Nazis. Yes, these were Nazi death camps on Polish soil. That is understood. The president was in the middle of giving Poland’s greatest anti-Nazi hero a medal. He did not intend to insult you or dishonor you. So, chill the fuck out.
