A Russian sauna owner has been making particularly cynical use of the Holocaust recently, advertising his resort as being "hotter than Auschwitz." The Abwehr sauna, named for the German military intelligence corps, is in Siberia, next to a freezing river. Visitors to the sauna are invited to dip in the river afterwards, a popular custom in Russia. Vatzislav Boab claimed on his website that "Auschwitz is a rest." When a local newspaper asked Boab why he chose to make such an offensive reference to the Nazi death camp, Boab dismissed the criticism, saying, "Why do you need to know? Why don't you try yourself? Do you know what they did in Auschwitz? They burned people, yes? My sauna is so hot that it's even hotter than Auschwitz." The newspaper said it had called on local authorities to take measures against Boab, but they had responded indifferently. Russian media expert Alex Tenzer slammed the comparison, saying he was "shocked at how low people will stoop for publicity." The Israel National News website quoted him as saying, "There are enough laws in Russia against Nazi propaganda to deal with such cases harshly." Social media lambasted Boab, who eventually removed the offensive advertisement.
