A few months ago I read an article in a Holocaust Educator’s group about dark tourism. I had never heard of this until I read the article and then realized, I do dark tourism when I travel in Europe.
Dark tourism is defined as: Tourism that involves traveling to places associated with death and suffering.
There is a great website Dark-Tourism (that seems to be offline in 2019), that explains what dark tourism is, the ethical considerations, health and safety issues, and places for dark tourism, among many other things. I highly recommend you review their main about page. (As of 25 Nov 2019 their website seems to not work but you can Google Dark Tourism to learn more from other sites.)
Also read the more scholarly description of dark tourism.
I must admit being drawn to dark tourism and the sites associated with it. Having a degree in history and background in genealogy/family history and WWI and WWII, I visit these sites primarily for historical educational purposes. A secondary reason I visit, is often I am called or drawn to a particular site to perform healing of some kind. I always seem to end up in places I never plan to be. That healing may come in the form of releasing lost souls or being witness to someone’s story (living or dead.) Sometimes just being present in a location is enough to heal whatever happened there. I do not always know exactly why I’m in certain places, but I feel the energy of it and it isn’t always good or peaceful.
I experience many things at dark tourist sites which I am often able to write or speak about later. The stories I tell often heal something in other people. Then there are places where I’m just not sure how to properly convey what happened. Perhaps those places and energies are reserved for me to heal something inside myself rather than always the souls or place I am in.
For example, I visited Dachau in 2015, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp. This was unplanned and we arrived after lunch when busloads of people were leaving the commemoration ceremonies. I walked to the gas chamber and oven building and I could smell the smoke, hear the screams, feel the fear of those who were once there. What does one do with that? In this life I am not Jewish. Was I experiencing those energies and voices so I could bear witness so it would not be forgotten? Was I there to heal someone or the place in some way?
When my husband and I visited Prague on our honeymoon we took a WWII in Prague tour. That was not in our plans as we did not originally plan to work while we were there. I was ok through most of the tour until we visited the Gothic and Roman cellars under the Old Town Hall. This is where the resistance members and Prague citizens took refuge during the occupation. In one room in particular I could feel a tightening and nauseous feeling in my solar plexus, a tightening and almost being strangled feeling in my throat. I heard the voices of mothers soothing crying children and the dying. My soul almost wanted to jump out of my body and thankfully we moved on before it did. I did a lot of clearing in that space for both myself and the past.
Also in Prague I walked past the Jewish Cemetery but could not go in. Just walking past I picked up so much negative, sad, depressed, angry energy, I thought my soul would fly away. It took several minutes after I moved beyond the area to clear that and feel ok.
There are also places I’ve been which are likely classified as dark tourist sites due to the number of dead that sleep there, like Normandy Cemetery. The dark tourism site lists some (but not all French WWII sites and adds war cemeteries in their list). So many dead on and after D-day that were temporarily and then permanently buried there. This was the first ABMC cemetery I visited after several years of research into the cemeteries and war dead. It is one thing to research and another thing to walk where you have researched.
I could only cry from the moment I stepped foot on the property, through the museum in the visitor’s center and out into the area just before the steps to the cemetery itself. Once I reached the top of the steps the tears and sadness left. I heard only cheers and ‘welcome home’ and ‘we are so glad you finally came home.’ I felt happy and at peace. No more tears. Only peace.
Home. What did that mean exactly? The soldiers were definitely happy I visited. They recognize me as someone who will listen to them and tell their stories. To help their family members learn what really happened which will also bring them peace. Was I a soldier in WWII? No. The man I loved in that lifetime did die in the war though. In this lifetime, several family members fought and died. Perhaps home meant I was in a place I belonged, to bear witness, be understood in the pain I felt researching and telling the stories of the dead, and heal.
There are so many stories and experiences I’ve had in dark tourist sites and even those not considered dark. While I do avoid places that make me feel like my soul will flee and I’ll die on the spot, I don’t rule out visiting them in the future when I’ve healed other parts of my soul. The more we heal, the more the world heals.
Tour Resource
World War II in Prague – I took this tour in October 2017 and it was amazing. Highly recommend this company.
What are your thoughts on, and experiences with, Dark Tourism?
© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center
On a rainy Sunday morning at 10:00 at the Powder Tower (just down the street from our hotel,) we met Hannah, our tour guide. There was a small group of less than 10 people which was perfect for asking questions. Our tour started at the Powder Tower and Hannah showed us a map of Czechoslovakia and the surrounding countries from 1938. She began telling us stories of how the annexation occurred and what happened to the Czech people, especially those in Prague.
After a serious history lesson about Czechoslovakia and its importance to Hitler’s war plans, we began walking to the Old Town Square where the Nazis rolled through Prague and began taking over. As we walked, Hannah stopped and pointed out different war memorials on the buildings, especially those for the resistance. Those in the resistance greeted each other with a specific hand signal, as seen in the memorials. Most of the signs we saw, with or without the hand on them, contained names of those who died in Prague fighting for freedom, many on the last days of the war as the Germans were killing everyone they could in an attempt to save themselves.
Our tour included a visit to the underground where the resistance met and many families whose houses had been destroyed, fled during the occupation. The underground took us two layers below the current Prague street level. The first level was the Gothic cellar. The second, the Roman cellar, beneath the Old Town Hall. Prague has a series of connected cellars which made it difficult for the Germans to know how many resistance members there were at one time. We had eaten the night before in Roman cellars and I had no idea then of their significance.
Prior to the end of our tour, we walked through the Jewish Quarter and learned more about the fate of the Jews in Prague. We learned how they worked with the resistance to stall production and fight the Nazis. We saw several monument stones on buildings for Jews who died, and the 
I recently posted on Facebook about a 101st Airborne paratrooper’s letters I was reading and writing about. I commented that people should save their letters and envelopes that go with each letter as they contain valuable information about not only the service history of a soldier, but his family and life. I went on to say that should a family not want their soldier’s military papers and artifacts any long to please not throw it away. There are many individuals, archives, museums, and other repositories that would be happy to take the original materials. Them someone asked for a list of those repositories. While I do not have a list of every possible place in America to donate materials, I can give you some things to consider before you donate.
Many places will be happy to accept your original materials (not photo copies) but it is important to ensure the materials will be properly processed, stored, and made available to the public for research. A couple of years ago a friend and I were attending the 104th Infantry Division WWII reunion in New Orleans. We spoke to an archivist at the National WWII Museum about a collection my friend was considering donating somewhere. At that time (
One thing I appreciate about every commemoration I’ve attended here, is the fact that children are a part of each one. Students in school in the Netherlands are taught about WWII and the effects it had on the Netherlands. They learn about the sacrifice of our American soldiers and all Allied soldiers, and what that means for their freedom.
This week we are honoring Bernie Tom and the anniversary of his death with articles on some of the letters he wrote to his parents and explaining how the details can help researchers understand not only military service of an individual, but also who he was.
As the month of May progresses, Bernie writes more often to his parents, using V-Mail as the primary communication tool. He talks about a night jump he did where he was not injured. Mentions friends he received letters from and boys from Athens, OH, where he’s from that he runs into here and there. Thanks his parents for every box they send filled with cookies, candy, film, and other things Bernie requests. He always mentions how much the boys in the barracks enjoy the box as each time one receives a box, they all share.
