Role of sensory experience in memorialisation: visitors’ perspective from Auschwitz-Birkenau

LOPUCH, Jozef. Role of sensory experience in memorialisation: visitors’ perspective from Auschwitz-Birkenau. In ATLAS Annual Conference 2025: Tourist destinations at a crossroads. 2025.

Základní údaje

Originální název

Role of sensory experience in memorialisation: visitors’ perspective from Auschwitz-Birkenau

Autoři

LOPUCH, Jozef ORCID

Vydání

ATLAS Annual Conference 2025: Tourist destinations at a crossroads, 2025

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Další údaje

Typ výsledku

Prezentace na konferencích

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

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Anotace

V originále

Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum can be considered as an epitome of dark tourism, which is the act of travel to the sites associated with death, suffering and the seemingly macabre. In recent years, over 1,5 million went through the infamous “Arbeit macht frei” gate, making it one of the most visited dark tourism sites. The original definition by Lennon and Foley considers the collective memory particularly important in determining what is and what is not dark tourism, thus marking the beginning of dark tourism to the start of 20. century. Whether we agree with them or not (as many scholars), it is unquestionable that memory is significant in the dark tourism research, as the discussion about the „darkness” of the place regards the chronological distance from the tragedy. If the tragic event happened in a shorter timeframe from nowadays, it could possess a higher degree of darkness. It is over 80 years since the first transport to Auschwitz, so it is even more important to look at the process of memorialization of this tragic site. The aim of this paper is to connect dark tourism with the concept of memoryscape, which is an assemblage of memory objects, practices, imaginaries that constitute space times. Most of the works regarding the memoryscape of Auschwitz is focused on how the place and its symbolic space changes in the way of representation, but this paper aims to contribute with showing the visitors’ perspective, adapting non-representational theory and focusing on their embodied and affective experiences. Research consists of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with the specific case of Auschwitz-Birkenau visitors, one group of secondary grammar school of Slovak students on a school trip while having no direct connection to that place (they are neither Polish nor Jewish). Their perception and memory making process is particularly important in the context of rising popularity of alt-right politicians in the country that denied Holocaust in the past. The objective of the research is twofold. Firstly, it shows which particular sites in Auschwitz-Birkenau were the most memorable through the embodied experience of the visitors and how they affected them, e.g. personal belongings or photos of prisoners in Auschwitz. Later it shows how it transcribes into students’ memories – besides physical travel, they also made an imaginary journey to the time when camp was functioning. Their experiences, such as affects or feelings, often in combination with material encounters transcribe to their memories of the site in numerous ways. One of them is compassion for the victims when sensory experience enhances imaginative engagement, e.g. feeling uneasy makes them think about how uneasy it had to be for the prisoners in much worse conditions. It can also have educational potential as such an affective response makes it easier for the visitors to remember what they have seen, heard, etc., e.g. story about the doctor injecting acid into the prisoners.