\u2018Insensitive\u2019 TikTok complaints about costly drinks, watery smoothies, and lack of decaf near the infamous Nazi death camp drew millions of views<\/p>\n
A British tourist has drawn widespread online backlash after a viral TikTok video complaining about drink prices and menu options at a cafe near the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland, the site of a former Nazi death camp.
\nAt least 1.1 million people were murdered by Nazis at Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945, most of them Jews. Other victims included Poles, Roma and Soviet prisoners of war. Many were murdered in gas chambers, while others died from starvation, disease, brutal forced labor and other forms of persecution. The museum explicitly requires\u00a0visitors to behave with \u201cdue solemnity and respect\u201d while visiting.
\nHowever, in a video posted on TikTok on Wednesday and captioned \u201cPrices at Auschwitz,\u201d a woman named Lynne and her daughter made flippant complaints about drinks at a cafe near the memorial.
\n\u201cHere\u2019s a tip if you\u2019re going to Auschwitz,\u201d Lynne tells followers, pronouncing it like \u201cOswitch,\u201d before adding: \u201cTake a drink with you. I got a strawberry smoothie which tasted very watered down.\u201d The two then bemoan the lack of decaf and alternative milk and lemonade that tasted \u201ca bit like Dettol,\u201d a toilet cleaner. The pair also complain that the two drinks cost \u00a39 ($12), calling the price \u201cvery expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Always been in two minds about visiting Auschwitz, so I’m glad we’re finally cutting through the tourist glitz to get the real info.pic.twitter.com\/yV0vd8wkIR\u2014 Hughes-on-the-Wold (@NotThatHughes) September 19, 2026 <\/p>\n
Lynne has since made her TikTok account private, but the video amassed more than four million views and some 8,000 comments before disappearing from public view at the platform. It also spread across other social media as users seized on the women\u2019s casual focus on refreshments at a site synonymous with mass murder.
\nCommenters accused the pair of extraordinary \u201cinsensitivity,\u201d stressing that Auschwitz is \u201cnot a 5 star restaurant experience\u201d or \u201ca theme park,\u201d and saying they should be \u201cashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I’ve ben twice. It’s a concentration camp not a fucking theme park. Entry is free. If you feel peckish when viewing the place, u need help. Numb is what you’ll feel and Birkenau is the most numbing place.\u2014 Crispy Hoover (@CrispyHoover) September 19, 2026 <\/p>\n
I\u2019d learn how to pronounce Auschwitz before going there and slagging it off, personally. If they posted this after they\u2019d been in then they are irredeemable pos, because nothing could make 9 quid seem less important. I couldn\u2019t speak for a good hour or 2 afterwards.\u2014 Jacqui (@LancashireLady3) September 19, 2026 <\/p>\n
How many steps are there between getting your phone out and recording this and then posting it must you go through? At any of which you could stop and questions your actions, then to still just power through and think its fine. Mind boggling.\u2014 finlay (@yalnife) September 19, 2026 <\/p>\n
They complained about the milk.The people who died there would have given anything for a sip of water.\u2014 Benonwine (@benonwine) September 24, 2026 <\/p>\n
Some mocked the women\u2019s complaints.<\/p>\n
Hate nothing more than visiting an old concentration camp and the food not being up to scratch !!! pic.twitter.com\/WPQ9nqoe8p\u2014 BtotheMtotheC (@BenjaminMcNam10) September 19, 2026 <\/p>\n
No decaf or milk alternative?! And we thought the inmates had it bad!\u2014 Theophilus.P.Wildebeeste (@Grant_Chapman27) September 19, 2026 <\/p>\n
I remember when I visited. There is an inscription above the entrance that reads “Arbeit macht frei” which I believe roughly translates as “Lemonade here tastes a bit like Dettol – best avoided”\u2014 BigBridesmaid (@BigBridesmaid) September 19, 2026 <\/p>\n
Others suggested the video was simply designed to provoke reactions \u2013 invoking the idea that bad publicity is still publicity \u2013 but still slammed the decision to use a place associated with mass murder as the backdrop for something so \u201ccrass and inane.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
German auction of Nazi death camp artifacts canceled after outcry<\/p>\n
In follow-up videos, Lynne lashed out at critics as \u201cwokes,\u201d appearing to miss the point of the backlash while shifting blame toward the museum. She insisted the cafe was separate from the memorial \u2013 \u201cNo-one died there. No-one was gassed there\u201d \u2013 before questioning why refreshments were sold at all and accusing the site of becoming a \u201cmoney-making scheme.\u201d\u00a0
\nA spokesman for the museum told The Times that the cafe is outside the visitor services center, independently operated, and displays its prices clearly.
\n\u201cThe essential point remains that people come to the Auschwitz Memorial to learn about the history of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, to confront the fate of its victims and to commemorate them,\u201d the spokesman argued.
\nThe museum repeatedly reminds visitors that Auschwitz is a memorial rather than a conventional tourist attraction, urging them to behave with respect and to avoid conduct that undermines the memory of its victims.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Moscow slams Vienna over plans for Nazi concentration camp site<\/p>\n
Still, it has faced controversies\u00a0over visitors and businesses treating the site in ways critics regard as inappropriate. In 2020, a TikTok trend drew condemnation after users role-played as Holocaust victims. A year later, TripAdvisor removed an offensive review of Auschwitz after initially saying it complied with its guidelines. In 2023, an \u201cIce Love\u201d ice-cream stand installed near the camp\u00a0prompted another outcry.
\nRussian officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly accused Western countries of distorting\u00a0the history of World War II, including diminishing the Soviet Union\u2019s role in defeating Nazi Germany. Moscow has pointed to the dismantling\u00a0of Soviet war memorials in Eastern Europe and the honoring\u00a0of historical Nazi collaborators in Ukraine as examples of what it describes as attempts to \u201crewrite\u00a0history.\u201d\u00a0
\nLast month, Moscow condemned plans for a supermarket and logistics facility at the site of the former Hirtenberg women\u2019s concentration camp in Austria, accusing Vienna of erasing the memory of its victims. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the planned development as an attempt to effectively \u201cpave over\u201d that memory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Insensitive\u2019 TikTok complaints about costly drinks, watery smoothies, and lack of decaf near the infamous Nazi death camp drew millions of views A British tourist has drawn widespread online backlash…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t