Auschwitz
AuschwitzYossi Zeliger/Flash90

A Russian sauna owner chose to use the Auschwitz death camp in a macabre attempt to advertise his sauna. The sauna is situated in Siberia next to a freezing river and visitors to the sauna are invited to dip in the river afterwards, as is popular custom in Russia.

Advertisements for his sauna, known as "the Abwehr" [ the same name as the German military intelligence corps] claimed in an advertisement on its website that "Auschwitz is a rest."

After a local reporter asked the owner of the sauna, Vatzislav Boab, what connection it had to Auschwitz and why he had made such an offensive reference to it, Boab answered glibly: "Why do you need to know? Why don't you try yourself? Do you know what is Auschwitz? What did they do in Auschwitz? They burned people, yes? My sauna is so hot that it's even hotter than Auschwitz."

The newspaper appealed to local authorities and asked whether they intended to take action against the sauna owner but met with indifference.

A Russian expert on media, Alex Tenzer, claimed he was shocked at "how low people will stoop for publicity." He was also shocked by the local authority's lack of response and claimed that "there are enough laws in Russia against Nazi propoganda to deal with such cases harshly and even to close the place down or place a fine on the owner." Tenzer added that he himself was from a family of Holocaust survivors and his wife's father lost his entire family in the Auschwitz death camp.

In the wake of the public outcry, the owner of the sauna changed its name and removed the offensive advertisement.