The US game and toy maker Mattel has apologised to the Polish government over the inclusion in one of its party games of a reference to “Nazi Poland”.
In a statement released Friday on social media, Mattel said of the words, which appeared on a card describing the 1993 Steven Spielberg film Schindler’s List in an edition of the game Apples to Apples: “We discovered this inaccuracy back in 2013 & we immediately removed this card from the game. We apologize for the gross oversight.”
Mattel offered to exchange old editions of the game including the reference to “Nazi Poland” for new ones without it, free of charge.
Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany during the second world war, during which millions of its citizens died, many in death camps that operated on Polish soil. The Polish government is actively concerned with ensuring that the correct terminology is used by media worldwide when reporting or referencing such events.
Also this week, FBI director James Comey expressed regret after the Polish government protested remarks he made in a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC which was subsequently published by the Washington Post.
In his speech, Comey referred to “the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary”. On Wednesday, in a letter to the Polish ambassador, he said: “I regret linking Germany and Poland in my speech because Poland was invaded and occupied by Germany. The Polish state bears no responsibility for the horrors imposed by the Nazis.”
Regarding Mattel’s apology, a statement from the Polish embassy said it “accepts with satisfaction a letter with apologies from Mattel Inc CEO Christopher A Sinclair in response to Ambassador Ryszard Schnepf’s protest”.
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