Internet streaming giant Netflix and hit show Stranger Things are facing criticism for shooting part of its new season in an infamous Lithuanian concentration camp and making plans to convert the site into a hotel in collaboration with Airbnb.
A petition started by six Jewish and Roma groups criticising Netflix’s use of Lukiškės Prison has been signed by over 57,000 people, demanding that Netflix and Stranger Things be held ‘accountable for their Holocaust erasure’.
The petition has received over 57,000 signatures at the time of writing (Change.org)
The petition calls Netflix out for agreeing ‘to turn Lukiškės into a fully functioning hotel, ran by Airbnb, where visitors can spend the night in themed cells, tour the Stranger Things themed building, and make waffles’.
According to the Times, ‘Lina Setikiene of Go Vilnius, the capital’s tourism agency, said the Stranger Things prison cell had been taken off Airbnb following “certain adjustments” and was no longer available for hire, but could “still be spotted on a guided tour”’.
Lukiškės Prison was built in 1904 and functioned for over a century, recently closing in 2019. In 1941, around 350 Jews detained in the prison were later killed in the Ponary massacre along with 100,000 others.
Lithuania is searching for investors to redevelop a historic former prison used by Tsarist Russia and Nazi Germany which has more recently served as a Netflix film set and concert venue. Built in 1902, the sprawling Lukiskes prison was closed in 2019 and was used in the fourth season of the Netflix drama "Stranger Things". Lithuanian authorities say it could be turned into co-working spaces, a museum, workshops, leisure and entertainment spots as well as hotel rooms. The facility includes an Orthodox Church as well as offices and apartments for the prison guards. (Photo by PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Lukiškės was also the site where Menachem Begin, later Prime Minister of Israel, was temporarily detained following his arrest in 1940.
After closing in 2019, the prison was converted into a cultural hub, including a dance club, music venue and residency space.
The petition also expresses alarm at another aspect of Stranger Things fandom.
Following the release of Stranger Thing’s fourth season, many fans have been getting numerical tattoos on their arms, inspired by the show’s protagonist Eleven.
The petition denounces the show for reposting photos submitted by fans on social media, claiming "it further desecrates the living memories of Holocaust (a significant portion are alive today) and their descendants".
First released in 2016, Stranger Things follows a group of American teenagers in the 1980s discovering the gateway to a dark parallel universe. The fourth season of the show broke Netflix records with over 1.2 billion hours viewed in the first 28 days.
