The report was said to have caused “huge distress” to the Polish community in Ireland.
RTÉ News has written to the Ambassador of Poland to Ireland Anna Sochańska to apologise for “any distress caused” by a recent report referencing the Stutthof concentration camp.
On 30 September, Stutthof was referred to as the “Polish concentration camp” on the Six One News.
In response, the Ambassador sent a letter to RTÉ News and Current Affairs Managing Director Jon Williams seeking an “urgent correction”.
“In the report about the former Nazi camp secretary Irmgard Furchner charged with complicity in the murders of more than 10,000 people at the Stutthof concentration camp, RTÉ has repeatedly referred to Stutthof as the ‘Polish concentration camp’ or ‘concentration camp in Poland,'” she wrote.
“The is absolutely false information, as the death camps were Nazi German concentration camps in occupied Poland. Poland was occupied by Germany at the time when several German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps were run on its territory.”
In reaction to the false information on @rtenews yesterday 30.09 where Stutthof Nazi German concentration camp in occupied Poland was wrongly called “Polish concentration camp”, Ambassador of Poland to Ireland @sochanska issued this letter requesting correction. pic.twitter.com/8TFcSxGdTH
— Polish Embassy IRL (@PLinIreland) October 1, 2021
She said the mistake caused “huge distress” to the Polish community in Ireland, as well as people in Poland.
“My country was ravaged by World War II and almost everyone had lost a loved one in the war fighting on the side of the Allies. Indeed many of them perished in Nazi German death camps,” she said.
“I was relieved to see the report was changed by the evening news, however I strongly feel that the damage was been done.
“Therefore I am asking you to immediately include a correction on today’s RTÉ news programs and ensure that misused terminology doesn’t misinform your viewers.”
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, meanwhile, called on RTÉ News to issue an apology over the Six One News report.
In a statement to JOE, a spokesperson for RTÉ said it had written to Sochańska to apologise.
“I can confirm RTÉ News wrote to the Polish Ambassador on Friday to apologise for any distress caused,” they said.
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