Hanna Radziejowska, the director of the Pilecki Institute in Berlin, said: “Teachers from all over Germany are signing up for our online seminars on Polish history, which is little known in Germany. This is undoubtedly a success”.
“German compendiums for pupils studying for school-leaving exams in history do not discuss the course of the occupation of Poland during World War II, except indicating the date and cause of the outbreak of the war and the locations of death camps presented in the context of the Holocaust,” Radziejowska said.
She added: “In eight textbooks I read, there was not a word about the terror and crimes against the Polish intelligentsia and civilians, the Warsaw Uprising, the Polish underground state and the government in exile.”
The Pilecki Institute is a research institution which aims to spread information on Polish history, especially in the World War II period.
Witold Pilecki is remembered as "the Auschwitz volunteer" and a victim of two totalitarian systems.
In 1940, he volunteered to be captured and sent to the Auschwitz Nazi German death camp on an intelligence mission.
His reports from Auschwitz provided an insight into the horrific conditions at the camp and warned the world about German plans to exterminate European Jews.
Pilecki escaped from Auschwitz in 1943. He reached Warsaw, where he fought in the city's 1944 uprising against the Germans.
Almost 6 million Polish citizens, including 3 million Polish Jews, lost their lives in World War II, during which Poland was devastated by the occupying Germans.
(jh/pk)
Source: TVP Info