

At the museum at Chełmno swastikas are very prominent in the displays. A nice Polish guide in his 20s offered a short introduction to the complex. He used the phrase “the Germans” four times – I counted because the first time was so noticeable to me. He didn’t say “Nazis” once. He also talked about “the Jews” being killed, rather than “Poles”, which I found interesting partly because this differs from the narrative I found at Auschwitz in October. Language on the memorial plaques document the transition, from “Nazis”, “Nazi beasts”, before 2010 or so to the very consistent “Germans” of today.