Auschwitz condemns 'disrespectful' ice cream stand set up outside former concentration camp
13 May 2023, 20:45 | Updated: 14 May 2023, 02:00
An ice cream stall set up outside Auschwitz has been condemned as "tasteless" and "disrespectful" by managers of the historic site.
The stand, which has the words "ice love" on it, first appeared in front of the former concentration camp's infamous "death gate" in late April, according to local media.
A spokesman for the Auschwitz Museum told the Gazeta Krakowska newspaper that despite the offence it has caused, they were unable to have it removed as the plot on which it sits is private land.
Bartosz Bartyzel from the museum, said in a statement: "This is an example of not only aesthetic tastelessness, but also a lack of respect for a special historical place located nearby.
He added: "We trust that the competent local government authorities will solve this embarrassing problem."
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Dagmar Kopijasz, of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Site Foundation, said residents were also "upset" by the stall and believe that it "looks awful".
It was also attracted criticism online after images of the stand circulated on social with people describing its location as "inappropriate".
It is estimated that over a million people died at the Nazi death camp, near Krakow in Poland, in less than five years during World War Two.
Up to two million people visit the site annually.
It comes after site managers tweeted last month to remind people to "respect the memory" those who had died there after a picture of a woman posing for photo on the train tracks went viral online.
The museum wrote: "When coming to @AuschwitzMuseum visitors should bear in mind that they enter the authentic site of the former camp where over 1 million people were murdered. Respect their memory."
