Briton defends Auschwitz café rant after backlash

A British pensioner has defended a video complaining about the price and quality of drinks at a café near Auschwitz after it sparked a furious international backlash.

Lyn Pearman, 70, said she paid £9 for two drinks during a visit to the former Nazi concentration camp. Her TikTok video has since been viewed more than four million times.

A coffee complaint triggers outrage

Pearman said visitors should take their own drinks because the café did not offer decaf coffee or alternative milk. She also described her strawberry smoothie as “very watered down” and said her daughter’s lemonade smelled “like toilet cleaner”.

The comments prompted accusations that she had treated a Holocaust memorial site like a tourist attraction, with critics stressing that more than one million people were murdered at Auschwitz.

One commenter said the focus should be on remembering victims and preserving their stories, while another told Pearman: “It’s not a theme park.”

Critics say the video missed the point

Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, told The Times that the incident showed how some people had become disconnected from the horror of the Holocaust and the death camps.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, urged visitors to spend time engaging with survivor testimony and learning about the atrocities committed at the site.

Pearman insists she meant no disrespect

Pearman has rejected accusations that she intended to offend Jewish people or Poland, describing the video as an “innocent” comment that had been misunderstood.

“I visited Auschwitz to pay my respects and because it’s historical and I find historical things interesting,” she said, adding that customers should expect value for money when paying for food or drink anywhere.

She also reported inappropriate Holocaust-related comments made by some users to TikTok.

The café is located outside the visitor services centre at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and is operated by an external provider. The museum, formally established in 1947, commemorates a site where an estimated 1.1 million people were murdered under German occupation, most of them Jews.

Woman who complained about Auschwitz café told 'it's not a theme park' amid international backlash