Holocaust and the ethics of tourism: Memorial places in narrations of responsibility

Abstract

The issue of Holocaust tourism might be a quite sensitive, but nevertheless very important topic in the domain of Holocaust remembrance. As tourism is often associated with leisure activities, it is quite challenging to put tourism into darker contexts of history and death. Also, different people coming to the Holocaust-related places with different motives make the issue of designing educational tours even more complex. This paper will try to expose questions related to dark tourism, Holocaust tourism, and auratic memorial places, and discuss ethical approaches to the Holocaust memory at the beginning of the 21st century. The text argues for the tourist experience as a memorable and educational tool with an active transformational potential, which will turn the visitor into a witness who further contributes to the survival of the legacy of the Holocaust in the future.

Pitanje turizma Holokausta može biti prilično osetljiva, ali ipak veoma važna tema u domenu sećanja na Holokaust. Kako se turizam često povezuje sa aktivnostima u slobodno vreme, prilično je izazovno staviti turizam u mračnije kontekste istorije i smrti. Takođe, različiti ljudi koji dolaze na mesta vezana za Holokaust sa različitim motivima čine pitanje osmišljavanja edukativnih tura još složenijim. Ovaj rad će pokušati da razotkrije pitanja koja se odnose na mračni turizam, holokaust turizam, auratična memorijalna mesta, kao i da prodiskutuje etičke pristupe sećanju na Holokaust na početku 21. veka. U tekstu se zagovara turističko iskustvo kao nezaboravno i edukativno sredstvo sa aktivnim transformacionim potencijalom koje će posetioca pretvoriti u svedoka koji dodatno doprinosi opstanku nasleđa Holokausta u budućnosti.