In a letter sent to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the map depicted in the series, which tells the story of a Nazi death camp guard, “falsely placed several German Nazi concentration camps within modern-day Poland’s borders.”
“There is no comment or any explanation whatsoever that these sites were German-operated,” Morawiecki said in his letter.
He added: “Not only is the map incorrect, but it deceives viewers into believing that Poland was responsible for establishing and maintaining these camps, and for committing the crimes therein.”
Morawiecki also said: “As my country did not even exist at that time as an independent state, and millions of Poles were murdered at these sites, this element of The Devil Next Door is nothing short of rewriting history.”
He asked Netflix to correct the mistake. “I believe that this terrible mistake has been committed unintentionally - and I am hoping that you will be able to correct it as soon as possible,” he said.
The Washington Post has quoted a Netflix spokesman as saying in an emailed statement: “We are aware of the concerns regarding The Devil Next Door and are urgently looking into the matter.”
The five-part series at the centre of the controversy tells the story of John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian who died in Germany in 2012 at the age of 91, after decades-long efforts by prosecutors in multiple countries to prove that he was involved in Nazi crimes as a sadistic death camp guard known as “Ivan the Terrible,” The Washington Post reported.
German Death Camps - educational service
The use of historically inaccurate terms by some international media and organisations has sparked numerous complaints from Poland in recent years, prompting some news agencies to change their style guidelines and eliminate misnomers such as "Polish" death camps.
Public broadcaster Polish Radio last year launched a special educational website aimed at debunking misconceptions about Poland’s role in the Holocaust, at GermanDeathCamps.info.
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Source: PAP, premier.gov.pl, washingtonpost.com