Auschwitz Museum Releases Software To Rewrite Holocaust Nomenclature (thestack.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum has released software for Windows and Mac which is intended to catch and rewrite terms such as 'Polish death camps' and other phrases which associate the Polish people with the atrocities of the holocaust, rather than the occupying German forces which created and ran the death camps. The software comes in the form of Microsoft Word Add-Ins on Windows and a revision to the system-wide dictionary in OSX, making the facility available to Mac programs including Safari, Keynote and Outlook. A spokesperson for the ad agency that developed the programs said, "We decided to make use of the primary tool used by text writers and create an easy to install add-on that finds the mistake made and suggests a correct phrase."

Comments

Related to recent government measures

[vivaoporto]

Probably related to the recent measures proposed by the Polish government to criminalize the use of the phrase âoePolish death campsâ.

Re:Related to recent government measures

[AmiMoJo]

Okay, it pays to RTFA before getting upset about it. Turns out the proposal to criminalise use of this phrase is just something some guy in the government said he wants, not an actual policy and certainly not likely to become law. So forget that, it's just a click bait story built on a foundation of bullshit.

The software is a tool to help people. Like a spell checker, people like tools that improve their writing. It's optional, no one is being forced to use it. Similar tools have existed for years, like grammar checkers that suggest avoiding gendered pronouns in technical writing and on forms etc. It's not attempting to censor or silence anyone, or force anyone to do anything.

It's an interesting tool but basically a non-story.

just apologize

[phantomfive]

It's a little disingenuous to blame Germany for it, because Polish mobs were killing the survivors from Auschwitz. The Jews didn't leave Poland because of the concentration camps, they left because Poland was trying to kill them.

Poland should just apologize and move on. We all have done terrible things in the histories of our countries. No point trying to hide it.

Re:just apologize

[PopeRatzo]

Sometimes you just need to accept that things sucked back then and move on (ie, don't do it again).

Unfortunately, it does not appear that Poland learned its lesson, as we see by the rise of the authoritarian far-Right in Poland PiS party and the Nazi-like National Rebirth of Poland (Narodowe Odrodzenie Polski) Party. It is no accident that the criminalization of the phrase "Polish death camps" has come at this time. It's because there is a concerted effort in Poland to erase these camps from history.

https://www.thejournal.ie/pola...

Re:just apologize

[phantomfive]

Poland had been literally *the* most tolerant country in Europe

OK, I'm going to assume you're sincere here, and not trolling. This is what tolerance looks like. This is what tolerance doesn't look like. The reality is Hitler didn't invent anti-semitism, he tapped into the existing strong current of anti-semitism and took advantage of it for his own purposes.

By the time war started, Jews were large and well intergrated part of Polish society.

Again, I don't know why you think that.

Re:What's holocaust?

[FakeStreet123]

I think you should reread the post you replied to, you might find an important logical inconsistency.

Re:What's holocaust?

[PopeRatzo]

The German government at the time was very scientifically advanced, had a similar structure to what the US has today, and allowed a fair and open election that elected the megalomaniac into office. From there, they passed a law that allowed the "president" to override the congress in times of need. From there, the congress was disbanded, the constitution suspended, and within a month Dachau was opened. The Third Reich had risen. And to learn the passivity of the local population was shocking. People simply didn't care.

Trump 2016

Don't blame the Holocaust on Poland

[Prien715]

Poland had more holocaust victims than any other country with around 2 million of the victims being ethnic Poles. Poland is also number one in Righteous Among the Nations (awarded by Israel for saving Jews during the Holocaust). Basically, Poland was damn proud to be a Democratic state where you could practice whatever religion you wanted which attracted the largest Jewish population of Europe and earned the ire of Germany. A couple right-wing nutters no more represents Poland than Cliven Bundy represents Americans. /., you're better than to present the Polish as a people who cooperated with Germany during the Holocaust -- a view the victims don't share either.

Re:What's holocaust?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> grandparents died...when they were six

Not to be an asshole, but I think we're getting whooshed. How did your grandparents have kids if they were six?

Re:What's holocaust?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like Obama, actually.. narcissistic, and writing executive order after executive order (or memo) to bypass Congress. I'm genuinely surprised he didn't try to get a 3rd term somehow, but it ain't over yet.

Re:What's holocaust?

[mjwx]

This impression was very, very wrong. The German government at the time was very scientifically advanced, had a similar structure to what the US has today, and allowed a fair and open election that elected the megalomaniac into office.

This isn't strictly true.

Hitler was not elected fairly per se, during elections in the late 20's the Sturmabteilung (SA or Brown Shirts) stood over elections in many parts of Germany to ensure enough votes were cast for the Nazi party. This was enough to make the Nazi's the second largest party in parliament, giving them enough numbers to cripple it with repeated walkouts until Hitler was given what he wanted by the president, Paul Von Hindenburg. What Hitler wanted was to be given the position or Reich Chancellor. After being given the Chancellors position in 1933 Hitler dissolved the Reichstag (the lower house, similar to the US Congress) and forced general elections. During this time the SA standover men were everywhere in Germany. Hitler also passed laws limiting the freedom of the press at this time. After the Reichstag Fire Decree, civil liberties were severely curtailed.

After this, the Nazi's stormtroopers, the Sturmabteilung were openly operating in Germany virtually unopposed, enforcing boycots against Jewish business and the like. When Paul Von Hindenburg died in office in 1934, Hitler organised a plebiscite to combine the office of the Chancellor with the office of the President, this passed with a 90% yes vote but this is mainly due to the standover tactics employed by the SA and the Nazis. Hitlers rise to power was a very long and often violent subversion of democracy. Its a bit of a misnomer to say he was legitimately elected.

As several bills had passed the Reichstag in 1933, laws were able to be made by the Reich Chancellor without the involvement of the Reichstag, Hitler who was now both president and chancellor held absolute power. At this point Hitler also had control of the limited army in Weimar Germany, so a military coup was also out of the question. He began the process of folding the SA into the army (culminating with the assassination of Ernst Rohm, leader of the SA).

I dont think the US is at this level just yet.