A British tourist has sparked widespread fury after posting a video grumbling about the price of drinks at Auschwitz’s cafe.
The woman, known as Lynne, uses the handle “FreeSpirit666” on TikTok, where her clip has amassed four million views since going up last week.
In the video, captioned “Prices of Auschwitz”, she offered tips to fellow visitors about the cafe near the former Nazi death camp.
“Here’s a tip if you’re going to Auschwitz,” she told followers, adding: “Take a drink with you. I got a strawberry smoothie which tasted very watered down.”
Lynne also grumbled about the limited beverage options available at the coffee shop.
“We fancied a coffee because we were early but they don’t do decaf or any milk other than real milk so we gave that a miss,” she said.
Her daughter Kerry featured in the video too, likening the taste of her lemonade to toilet cleaner.
Lynne continued: “They cost £9 for both of them. Very expensive… When you come to Auschwitz, bring some food and drink. Although, you do get frisked at the door.”
At least 1.1 million men, women and children perished at Auschwitz – either from being worked to death or being slaughtered in gas chambers under Nazi rule.
‘We fancied a coffee because we were early but they don’t do decaf or any milk other than real milk,’ Lynne fumed
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TIKTOK/FREESPIRIT666
Those imprisoned there survived on little more than soup, with many succumbing to starvation and emaciation.
After facing a torrent of criticism online, Lynne doubled down on her complaints rather than backing away from them.
“Is it right that Auschwitz, or however you say it, is making money from a death camp?” she said.
“It’s all a money-making scheme. It is a memorial, not an attraction. You should eat before you go in and do the same when you come out.”
She added: “People are saying I shouldn’t moan about the price of the food and drink but why are they selling it? People have got to have drinks, haven’t they some of those tours take ages.”
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Her daughter Kerry featured in the video too, likening the taste of her lemonade to toilet cleaner
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TIKTOK/FREESPIRIT666
She did, however, acknowledge that the taxi fare from the station had been a “bargain” at £1.25.
Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, condemned the video as symptomatic of a growing disconnect from the reality of the Holocaust.
“Auschwitz is not a leisure destination to be reviewed on the value for money of its amenities,” he told The Telegraph.
“It is deeply troubling that, at a site where over a million innocent people were slaughtered, British tourists chose to focus their complaints on the cafe’s prices.”
“It speaks to a wider problem of people losing touch with the sheer horror of what happened in the death camps during the Holocaust,” he added.
At least 1.1 million men, women and children perished at the camp, either from being worked to death or being slaughtered in gas chambers
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GETTY
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, encouraged those planning a visit to engage with survivor testimony beforehand.
“My advice to anyone planning to visit is to spend time reading and listening to the testimony of eyewitnesses and survivors, such as Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel, and learning about the horrors inflicted on those sent to this infamous site,” she told The Times.
Ms Pollock added: “It is through these personal stories that the true scale of the destruction becomes clear.”
A spokesman for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum clarified that the cafe sits outside the visitor services centre and is run by an independent operator, with prices displayed clearly.
“For us, the 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,” he told The Times.
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