A Stag-Do At Auschwitz – Staggered Responds
Awoke to a horrible piece of journalism in The Times. In our view it can be filed under “Using Terrible Historical Events To Generate Outrage” – see also anything to do with September 11th, etc. The essence of the story is that ChilliSauce and Last Night of Freedom have smashed boundaries of good taste by including a visit to Auschwitz for stag-dos in Krakow.
The obvious interpretation of the story is easily read – groups of blokes rampaging through a place where millions died wearing antlers and fake boobs – terrible. The truth though seems to be a bit fuzzier. Certainly from the story and the interviews there’s nothing to suggest that groups of blokes have approached the tour in anything other than a respectful manner. In fact, I’d be stunned if the truth were otherwise and would be interested to see The Times provide that evidence.
If it’s the case that The Times has simply used Auschwitz as an emotive force in a piece of journalism to malign men and generate an easy story (which in itself is extremely offensive) then they should be ashamed and offer an apology to the companies they’ve tried to bad mouth and, more generally, to groups of men who are stigmatised by nonsense like this. Yes, stag groups can be a right beery mess and that’s fine (provided it all stays above board, obviously) but our experience is that stags can also be interested in a bit of culture and history. It might only be a 90/10 split on a stag-do but then attempts to portray groups of blokes as 100% moronic all the time is just plain sexist.
Here’s our response, which The Times will probably lose in the moderation process – if the writers of The Times piece Matt Holehouse and Maurice Chittenden want to comment on this story then we’ll gladly publish their comments below or on the forum.
As ever we’d be interested in your comments – do you think Auschwitz is off limits for stag parties? Have you been on a stag-do that included something that wasn’t tits, beer and singing Oasis songs? Let us know on the forum.
As with many other people reading this story I am shocked, disappointed and concerned about what this tells us about the state of modern society.I refer of course to the fact that The Times has tried to create outrage based on the idea that groups of men might somehow be interested in including something cultural on a weekend away together. The entire piece is predicated on the idea that blokes together can only be interested in strippers, beer and fighting.The story also seems to be working quite hard to create an outrage that potentially doesn’t exist. I’d be interested to know whether the fact that authorities in Krakow have banned men in kilts was associated with the trips to Auschwitz – it’s certainly positioned to suggest that – but I suspect that it’s actually in Krakow centre that the lewd behaviour has been (rightly) banned.As the editor of Staggered – the UK’s leading men’s wedding magazine – I know our readers sometimes include all sorts of cultural activities on their stag weekends. We’ve had groups of builders going to Barcelona and enjoying the museums and the beaches – imagine that “Phwoar! Check out the bird in The End of The Number!”Clearly, the historical importance of Auschwitz means that it is an incredibly sensitive place and it is right that this is respected. It is also right though that companies offering tours to the area include it as an option. If it were the case that stag groups were treating it as some kind of entertainment then that would be terrible, however, I strongly suspect that when they are there they simply want to learn more about the events – not turn it into a branch of Spearmint Rhino.If groups of stags have done that, then shame on them. If the story has created this impression dishonestly then shame on you. We will continue to support groups of responsible men who want to celebrate their stag in any way they choose – whether that’s with museums + fine dining, or with beer + novelty antlers.
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Excellent article Andrew and my thoughts entirely.
This is junk journalism of the highest order.
What may be interesting is how this article came about: http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=12615&pid=91120&st=0&#entry91120 – a tip off from a history teacher to an ex student!!! Nothing to do with any facts, or actually compalint from the people that run Auschwitz them – Unbelievable!!
I also wrote a response to the times article – copied below (also which they coincidentally ommitted to publish).
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I am the managing director of http://www.chillisauce.co.uk and would like to provide my comments on what I believe is a purely sensationalist article, based on poor research, and far more telling in what was omitted than included.
Firstly, we started offering guided tours to Auschwitz as a result of the number of requests we received from all types of travel groups; Stag Parties, Hen Parties, Golf Trips, Sports Tours etc, wishing to visit Auschwitz during their trip to Krakow. We offer a complete range of cultural tours in most European cities, as in contrast to what the media would like to portray, the vast majority of our customers are actually interested in doing something cultural as part of a weekend away. However, a headline of “Stag Parties go for cultural events and decent 3 course meal” wouldn’t sell many papers would it? Much better story conjuring up an image of a load of louts running round Auschwitz in moose outfits with a six pack of Heweliusz.
If the journalists who wrote this piece had done did a bit more “research” they would have found out that our tours to Auschwitz are conducted by professional tour guides from Krakow. Most of these guides have a personal connection to the events that took place and thus the tours are conducted with utmost respect. There is no way that we would allow any groups to conduct themselves in anything other than a manner that befits the gravity of the events that took place.
What is also telling is that the article bears no quotes from the people who actually run Auschwitz. Either this is a rather glaring omission, or they were contacted and the feedback didn’t sit with the picture the article was trying to portray. I guess though that it wouldn’t make much of an article if the feedback from the people running Auschwitz had been that the stag, hen and other groups were actually well behaved, respectful and were more than welcome.
What I find continually surprising is the media’s constant portrayal of anyone going on a stag or hen weekend, as a completely uncultured drunken idiot with an offensive T-Shirt and inflatable banana on their heads, staggering round looking for the nearest national monuments to urinate on. The blatant omission of intelligent thought here is that, by doing so, they are type casting almost the entire generation of 25-45 yr olds in the country, and their own sons, daughters, colleagues, friends and most likely themselves at some point!
I cannot see why, provided that the groups are totally respectful, they should not be allowed to visit Auschwitz, and in doing so gain something that can only have a positive effect on their future lives. As far as I was aware, Auschwitz is a place which does not hold a policy on the types of people who they will and will not allow to visit and pay their respects.
I cannot help but look at the irony of the underlying statement this article is making – That groups of people should be typecast and treated “differently”, based on a stereotype hyped by media sensationalism, and a public appetite for outrage and blame against “others”.
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Good Lord – so this is potentially how the story arises:
Mrs H (http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=12615&pid=91120&st=0&#entry91120) needs some curriculum-friendly material for double History on Wednesday, so she googles Auschwitz and sees that stag-do companies go there. She feels her anger tendons twinge and fires off an email to Oxford golden boy…
Matthew Holehouse (http://twitter.com/mattholehouse). He thinks it has legs and starts sniffing around for some dirt to substantiate. He comes up with the fact that some stag-dos have printed the word Auschwitz on a t-shirt. That and the fact that Krakow authorities recently had to have a word with some stags who were wearing kilts.
Realising that’s not enough he goes undercover (WTF!) as a stag-do customer and hopes people from Last Night of Freedom say something lascivious about death. They don’t. Contacts the Holocaust Educational Trust to ask them how offended they are. They say that they expect people to go there respectfully and that it’s inappropriate to advertise it alongside other stag activities (which is a fair comment really).
Matt pieces together the story and makes sure that the moderators prune out anyone (including the people the story is about) pointing out just how flimsy the story is.
Emails Mrs H thanking her for the tip-off leaving two successful, respectable British companies with a major PR nightmare to tell the world that they don’t think there should be more strippers at Auschwitz. Good work Matt.
My name is Matt Mavir, MD of Last Night of Freedom. You’ll notice from the Times article that I was unavailable for comment – well there’s nothing like being dragged away from a family holiday to spend the day dealing with such a non-story.
I fully agree with all of the comments made by Andrew and James above and would especially like to re-emphasis how seriously and sensitively we (and chillisauce) treat these trips. We have made continued efforts over the years to add culturally relevant trips and tours especially in our Eastern European locations. Our goal with these has always been to educate and inform those that are interested in discovering more about the history of their chosen stag/hen location. I am very disappointed that the Sunday Times has chosen to sensationalise this rather than see it as a force for good as we do.
Kindest Regards
Matt Mavir
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