A British pensioner who complained about a café at Auschwitz has defended herself against widespread international criticism. Lyn Pearman, 70, posted a TikTok video in which she said the £9 she paid for two drinks near the former Nazi concentration camp was too high. The video has been viewed more than four million times and reported on by The Times of Israel as well as UK newspapers.
Video sparks criticism
Ms Pearman said in the clip: ‘Here’s another tip if you’re going to Auschwitz in Poland – take a drink with you. We thought we’d get a coffee. They don’t do decaf and they don’t do any other milk rather than real milk.’ Her video, captioned ‘Prices at Auschwitz’, added that her strawberry smoothie tasted ‘very watered down’, while her daughter’s lemonade smelled ‘like toilet cleaner’.
Commenters have accused Ms Pearman of insulting the more than one million people killed at the camp during the Holocaust. One TikTok user remarked: ‘It is a site where you go to remember the victims, preserve their stories and educate people about one of the darkest moments in history. This focus should be on respecting their memory, not turning the experience into a personal review.’
Another said: ‘I went in 2011 and we didn’t need to drink or eat; we were too upset and shocked. It’s not a theme park. It’s a memorial site to one of the biggest human atrocities ever. These two need to get a grip.’
Pensioner defends herself
Meanwhile, Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, told The Times: ‘This highlights how some people have become disconnected from the true horror of the Holocaust and the death camps.’ But Ms Pearman insists her ‘innocent video’ has been misunderstood.
‘I wasn’t disrespecting the Jews or Poland – I think Poland is a lovely country,’ she said. ‘But if you pay for food or drinks anywhere, you expect what you pay for; just because it’s a concentration camp doesn’t make any difference. I visited Auschwitz to pay my respects and because it’s historical and I find historical things interesting.’
Aside from criticising her review, comments on the clip have also featured some inappropriate remarks about the Holocaust itself, which Ms Pearman has reported to TikTok. She initially tried to push back on the criticism herself, adding: ‘I was trying to put them right but the more I tried, I dug a hole for myself. The response has been quite shocking. And all this for an innocent video.’
Background and advice
The cafeteria is outside the visitor services centre at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and is operated by an external provider. The Nazi regime murdered an estimated 1.1 million people at Auschwitz, which was under German occupation during the Second World War. Most of the victims were Jewish people, but Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, and other groups were also targeted. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum was formally founded in 1947 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, told The Times: ‘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 said. ‘It is through these personal stories that the true scale of the destruction becomes clear.’
