Court backs German broadcaster in spat over use of term ‘Polish death camps’

BERLIN — A German court rules that a Polish court’s ruling that a German broadcaster must post a specifically worded apology on its website for calling two World War II Nazi camps “Polish death camps” can’t be enforced in Germany.

Broadcaster ZDF used the formulation in advertising a 2013 documentary, and later apologized. In 2016, a plaintiff secured a ruling from a court in Krakow, Poland, ordering ZDF to publish on its website for one month an apology stating that the original wording was “an incorrect formulation that distorts the history of the Polish people.”

Lower German courts ruled that that verdict can be enforced in Germany. But the Federal Court of Justice says Tuesday it disagrees because the required formulation would violate the broadcaster’s right to freedom of opinion.

— AP