What Does “Doderick Macht Frei” on ‘Succession’ Mean? Lukas Matsson’s Tweet Explained

This week’s episode of Succession triggered a whirlwind of emotions for viewers everywhere as we watched Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) have their ups and downs as co-CEOs of their father’s company.

Though the episode ended on a positive note — which is almost never a good sign on this HBO drama — it also included a rather shocking moment where the Waystar team scrambled to address an offensive tweet that Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) shared. Matsson tweeted a joke about the Holocaust in his attempt to nuke Waystar’s product launch.

His tweet was shared at the end of Kendall’s rather touch-and-go presentation about the company’s latest product, Living+, which promises assisted living communities for senior citizens and possibly, according to Kendall, immortality.

Matsson, who is set to become partial owner of the company in a multi-billion-dollar deal, was vocal about how much he disliked the idea and tried multiple times to have Shiv shut it down, but to no avail. So, like many millionaires with too much time on their hands, he took to Twitter.

What does Lukas Matsson’s tweet mean?

Matsson’s offensive tweet was the phrase, “Doderick macht frei,” along with an image of the company’s mascot, Doderick the dog, standing beside the Living+ logo in front of the entrance of a concentration camp.

“Doderick macht frei” is a play on words on a phrase that is currently inscribed on the gates of Auschwitz. The gates actually read “Arbeit macht frei,” which translate to “Work Sets You Free.” According to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the gate was made by prisoners who worked in metalworking.

The Swedish CEO has illustrated that he has an impulsive streak and enjoys going for shock value even more than Roman does. The Roy siblings were quick to acknowledge that it was a “nasty joke,” and Kendall managed to successfully handle the unexpected news.

Matsson swiftly deleted the tweet, presumably after facing some backlash on Twitter.

Considering Matsson’s despicable tweet, ATN’s “rightward lean,” and that white supremacist news anchor from Season 1, Succession and Waystar can’t seem to get away from being associated with the far right.