Awkward

Obama Comment Angers Poland

Refers to WWII “Polish death camps” in speech.

President Obama used the term “Polish death camp” in a speech Tuesday honoring Polish resistance hero Jan Karski at a ceremony awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom, setting off a firestorm of angry retort from Polish dignitaries abroard. A White House spokesman said the president "misspoke." Polish officials have long been trying to get foreigners to stop using that particular phrase when referring to Auschwitz and other Holocaust death camps, since they were created by the Germans in Nazi-occupied Poland. News of the slip caused a furor in Poland, and many are calling for Obama to apologize to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The White House continued: “The president was referring to Nazi death camps operated in Poland. The president has demonstrated in word and deed his rock-solid commitment to our close alliance with Poland.”