The German broadcaster ZDF has appealed against a writ of execution for a judgement of the Court of Appeal in Cracow that orders ZDF to apologize for using the phrase "Polish death camps", issued by the National Court in Mainz at the beginning of February. The broadcaster’s lawyers claim that the judgement of the Polish court should be rejected as it should be regarded as contrary to the German public order.
On 22 December 2016, the Court of Appeal in Cracow passed a judgement in which it ordered the German broadcaster to apologize to Karol Tendera, a former prisoner of the German death camp in Auschwitz, for using the phrase "Polish death camps" in 2013. The apology was to be visible on ZDF’s website for 30 days.
However, the broadcaster only included a link to material titled "Apology to Karol Tendera". The material was published as a graphic and thus could not be found through a web browser. In response to that action, Lech Obara, Karol Tendera’s representative, brought an action before the German court, demanding a writ of execution for the judgement of the Cracow court. The court in Mainz granted that request and the ZDF appealed against that decision.
Lech Obara claims that "ZDF’s appeal has no grounds and should have no effect". He says that the argumentation of the German broadcaster comes down to calling the correctness of the Polish judgement into question.
- In other words, a German court is to review a judgement of a Polish court. This is unacceptable under Article 36 of Council Regulation [No 44/2001 — translator’s note] - said Tendera’s lawyer in an interview with TVP Info.
