Following the recent post in the Europe A La Carte blog on the subject of visiting Auschwitz, I stopped to think about my experiences of visiting places where disasters had occurred or horrendous acts had been commited. I have previously seen another Nazi concentration camp in Austria, visited a number of famous prisons (as described in a previous 501 Places post) including a visit to Nelson Mandela’s cell, and will later this year visit the killing fields of Cambodia and take an active interest in the bloody history of this place. I am not alone; when visitors came to stay with us in New York, no-one left without asking to see the site of the World Trade Center.
So why this interest in visiting these sites of horror or terror? Is there an important role played by sensing for oneself the sights and sounds from these places? Is it just a morbid fascination, no different from the thousands who rushed to the coast in Belgium to see the half-sunk ferry that killed so many in the 1980s, or those who flocked to Lockerbie and swamped the little village following the bombing of flight 103, or even the “rubberneckers” who create havoc on the motorways by slowing down to take a look at the accident wreckage on the other side?
No-one would accuse people of anything unseemly when they visit the war graves of the Somme in northern Europe, or the sites of Civil War battles, both in the US and the UK. Rightly so, many people feel a connection to the past when visiting these sites, and they are able to understand a little more about the places where these events occurred (often now peaceful, desolate fields in the countryside). For some, it is the site where their grandparents or great-grandparents fought and fell. For others it is a personal hobby; a subject in which they have an interest and so they use the visit to enrich the images that they have built up through reading. But just what makes the past our past, and is it right for people to treat these places as a tourist attraction (Auschwitz tours in Krakow are sold alongside trips to the mountains and white water rafting days)?
My view is that visiting sites of historical importance is vital to keep the memory of what happened in these places alive. To us as individuals, the places teach us the horrors that men can heap on other men, in the name of religion, race or ideology. It shows us the results of intolerance, of hatred and of unchecked tyranny. Walking through the war cemeteries that we see all over the world, lined by row upon row of grave stones, or in many places giant mass graves, only the hardest of hearts can fail to be moved by the loss to a generation, to a nation and to so many individual families that occurred when these people lost their lives.
I recently heard Martin Bell, the journalist and independent politician, remark on the fact that the Labour government of 2003 was the first in the UK not to have a member of the cabinet who had not served in armed conflict. He wondered about the significance of this when considering the speed with which our country dived into the war in Iraq. It makes sense that the further removed people in power are from the human costs of war, the less these very real consequences will come into their decision making processes.
I feel that by visiting the battlefield sites of the Somme, or the Nazi concentration camps, or even recent memorials to the horrors that took place in New York or London, people can at some level acknowledge not only the truth of the awful events that occurred, but also see the consequences of war and terrorism. (I draw a strong line between visiting sites such as those mentioned, where formal memorials have been established for people to pay respects, and those car and bus loads of insensitive people who drove to the English village of Soham where a horrific child murder had just taken place -what were they thinking of?)
In a generation where most people’s experience of war is limited to watching fictional American films about Vietnam or worse still computer games, these places of memorium at or near the sites of past atrocities, whether recent or distant, serve a permanent reminder of the horrors that the world has seen. They will sadly not prevent horrors from re-occurring, but they might just help to educate the next generations of the costs that are associated with man’s inability to live in peace.
I have a dark fascination for the Medieval Era Torture Chambers but that's abt it…I don't like to visit cemeteries let alone cells..or battlefields. I'd probably cry my way into them so no, thanks.
It depends on the person I guess…
I think you already summed it up when you stated "They will sadly not prevent horrors from re-occurring, but they might just help to educate the next generations of the costs that are associated with man's inability to live in peace."
I don't think there is anything voyeuristic about traveling to places associated with good or bad memories/history. Often, many of the people who travel with the idea of "do-gooder" in their minds are actually the ones who are more voyeuristic. I know of a specific guy who is racist and close-minded towards African Americans in the US, yet will run to Africa to "save" the poor children. He has a problem with successful or happy African Americans because they seem "out of their place" by being that way and those he finds in Africa are more in "their place" by being impoverished. He isn't the only one I know of like this. The road to hell is paved with "good" intentions.
I think it is an excellent learning experience to engage in dark tourism but at the end of the day, it is what is in the person's heart and mind that will determine if it is a true learning experience or a voyeuristic one entrenched in a superiority complex.
You put it very well Trudy; it is about the individual and what's going on in their heads that determines whether its beneficial or not. I expect we can all identify with people similar to the guy you mention.
It comes back to my issue with the old over-used saying that "travel broadens the mind" – for it to do so the mind needs to be open in the first place.
Interesting. I agree that there is a real line between sites that remind us of important historical events and those that are just voyeurism – as your Soham example. But people do seem drawn to visit places where tragedies have occurred.
One of the few times I have ever refused a request from a tourist bus group was shortly after the Dunblane tragedy and they wanted to make a detour there. It would have been possible but felt completely inappropriate to me.
Maybe different when some time has passed and there is a proper memorial to visit ?
There is another factor as well and that is that we are reminded about our own mortuality.
have you ever thought about visiting RWANDA? it's amazing to see how a poeple, with a very dark history, can join hand to build a positive future. http://www.ziptoursagency.com
I think that by visiting these places we have a chance to learn from the past.
I’ve been to some similar places – Sarajevo, Kosovo and recently Chernobyl, Ukraine. And I wrote about the Chernobyl experience:
http://wanderism.com/visiting-chernobyl-ukraine/
What’s the old quote?
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Truer words have never been spoken.
Cheers
– Doug
Thanks for sharing your Chernobyl experiences Doug. That’s a great post and quite a description. While those communities may never get reestablished, it’s interesting to see how tourism is bringing some human life back to this wilderness. I’d like to visit this place too one day…
Thanks for the thoughtful post Andy. I, too, have wondered about this very thing and discussed it in a post here: http://solotravelerblog.com/solo-travel-sad-places/ One conclusion is that we go to such places to celebrate the fact that we can, sometimes, right wrongs.
Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem” is a bit of a study on this topic. Here’s the chorus…
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
All the lyrics are worth a read.
Thanks for that Janice – you’ll have me digging out my Leonard Cohen CDs now