Anna Redman, a social media influencer and former contestant on reality dating show “The Bachelor,” has apologized for posting a “flippant” Instagram story sharing her planned outfit for a visit to Auschwitz.
“I’m severely sorry for any pain I caused when sharing my packing notes story,” Redman wrote in her apology, which she posted July 12. “I understand how flippant it came off…. I understand that [sic] heaviness of visiting Auschwitz and have been planning accordingly since we added seeing it in our travel plans. Again, I’m very sorry and took it down as soon as I understood that [sic] gravity of the mistake I made. I had no ill intentions behind it AT ALL. And I hope you guys can understand that.”
In the Instagram story posted the day before, which disappeared like all such posts after 24 hours, Redman shared a screen recording of her “packing notes” and the outfits she planned to wear on an upcoming trip to Poland and other countries. It included photos of herself wearing them, with their corresponding dates and locations.
For July 16 “auschwitz am,” Redman, 28, shared to her 114,000 followers that she was set to wear a short black dress and white sandals.
The text, written in pink lettering and highlighted in pink, said: “The best packing ‘hack’,” followed by “Is somebody going to match my freak?” referring to the lyrics from “Nasty,” by Tinashe — a popular song on the charts and on TikTok.
Fans and viewers reacting to the post across Reddit, Instagram and X called it “insane,” “terrible” and “bizarre.”
“‘Is somebody gonna match my freak’ and turn a deadly concentration camp into a runway,” X user Bingeing Bravo wrote, followed by an upside-down smiling emoji and a crying emoji.
“She posted her Auschwitz outfit inspo. Like it’s [New York Fashion Week] and not a concentration camp where so many people suffered and died,” one user wrote in a channel for discussions about “The Bachelor” on Reddit. “It made her look dumb. I don’t think she had malicious intent but it’s not cool to be so ignorant. She made herself look goofy. I don’t think she meant to offend but it’s a pattern now for tourists to not respect concentration camps and people are getting sick of it.”
Others offered examples of tourists acting inappropriately at Auschwitz or Holocaust memorial site. In 2017, Israeli-German writer Shahak Shapira began compiling photos of people taking selfies at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin in a project meant to criticize the trivialization of the site.
The Auschwitz museum’s web site cautions visitors to show “the appropriate solemnity and respect” for the one million people killed there during the Holocaust.
Redman has since limited comments on her Instagram posts. She did not respond to JTA’s request for comment.
Last month, Redman shared she was heading to Poland with boyfriend Chris Bukowski (who appeared on a separate “Bachelor” franchise show) and his family, with additional plans to visit Vienna and Rome. Bukowski is of Polish descent.
