Story highlights The company advertised: "'Last shower' will await you. But ... you can get out of this room alive"

Firm now acknowledges that backlash is "understandable," has stopped selling tickets

(CNN) A Czech company has stopped selling tickets to its Auschwitz-themed "escape room" after facing fierce criticism for casting as a game the experience of Holocaust victims in one of World War II's most notorious concentration camps.

In a statement posted Friday to the Prague-based Dostaň Se Ven's website , the company said it originally designed the game to draw attention to the atrocities of Auschwitz. But it acknowledged that the backlash is "understandable" -- and said it would stop selling tickets immediately.

"We truly took this seriously and wanted to do it with utmost respect," the statement reads.

Before the announcment, Dostaň Se Ven had taken to Facebook to defend itself against mounting criticism of the game, stating that "Escape from Auschwitz" aimed to "raise awareness (of) the Holocaust."

Promotional materials first posted to the company's website, however, read more like an amusement park advertisement then an educational initiative.

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