Israel's Yad Vashem apologizes for Holocaust video errors

The World Holocaust Remembrance Center has admitted that film clips shown at the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation "included a number of inaccuracies." The ceremony had various world leaders in attendance.

Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, issued an apology on Monday, saying videos shown to numerous world leaders at a major commemorative event last month contained misleading information.

Dan Michman, the head of Yad Vashem's International Institute for Holocaust Research, wrote in a statement that several short films about World War II that had aired during the World Holocaust Forum "included a number of inaccuracies that resulted in a partial and unbalanced presentation of the historical facts."

The forum, which took place in Jerusalem, marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi's Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex.

Michman added, "We apologize for the unfortunate errors in these short films, which do not represent Yad Vashem's approach to the historical issues portrayed."

Yad Vashem said the clips failed to mention Poland's division between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, nor did they acknowledge Nazi Germany's conquest of Western Europe a year later. The clips also showed incorrect borders of Poland and labeled concentration camps as extermination camp, the statement said.

Russia and Poland at historical loggerheads

The Janaury event was beset by controversy over conflicting narratives as Russia and Poland sought leverage over historical interpretations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to mitigate the Soviet Union's prewar pact with the Nazis to divide Poland and attempted to shift responsibility for World War II's outbreak on neighboring Poland.

Polish President Andrzej Duda boycotted the ceremony due to Putin's central role in combination with his own exclusion from the podium.