Visitor`s motivations at sites of death and disaster. The case of

Visitor’s motivations at sites of
death and disaster.
The case of former transit
camp Westerbork, The
Netherlands
Westerbork
• Served as a transit camp in the east of NL
• During the WWII the camp had ‘double life’
• Another group of circa 2000 people mostly
German Jews, Jewish council members
lived permanently
• In 1949, The ‘Foundation 40–45’ started
• An initiative to build a memorial for
resistance fighters who died in the camp
Westerbork
• In 1983, the Commemoration Center
Camp Westerbork was opened
• Emphasize three principles of
commemoration, remembrance and
contemplation.
• When opened, attracted 40.000 visitors
• Increased to 140.000 visitors in 2012.
Methodology
• Survey 16 July-10 Sept. 2011
• Self-administrated questionnaire of four
sections
• Main question: own agreement with 20
motives of visit (collected from the
literature) 1-7 (strongly disagree) (strongly
agree)
• A pilot study was conducted to check the
questionnaire
Methodology
• In total, 266 have participated in the study
• 28 were deleted because of the missing
data, resulting in 238 useable responses
Motivations
( Isaac and Çakmak (2014)
Table 1.
Mean scores on motivation scale.
N
Mean
SD
I visited Westerbork (because)
such a horrific occurrence may never happen again
238
6.43
1.29
I want to understand what happened there
I am curious to know what happened here
this is the place where it really happened
it is an uncommon place to visit
out of empathy for the victims
I wanted to learn more about the Holocaust/Second World War
we speak for those who no longer can, but also for humanity more generally
238
238
238
238
238
238
238
5.76
5.63
5.55
5.32
5.17
5.12
5.02
1.28
1.36
1.60
1.70
1.67
1.61
1.89
I feel responsible for the coming generations
I want to tell the story further to next generations
I want to commemorate the victims
it is a part of my history/heritage where I want to know more about
I wanted to see expositions/evidence/artifacts
it is a moment of coming to one’s senses and thankfulness
I am afraid that something can happen in the future again
I became interested in the subject after the theme Holocaust/Second World War at school
238
238
238
238
238
238
238
238
4.88
4.87
4.82
4.66
4.61
4.44
4.31
3.86
1.99
1.93
1.77
2.04
1.86
1.97
2.09
2.08
it is a famous tourist destination in the Netherlands
238
2.81
1.95
I need to see it to believe that something can happen
I see it as a pilgrimage spot
I have family/friends who were victims of the Holocaust
238
238
238
2.61
2.58
1.83
2.00
1.95
1.65
Does ‘dark’ tourism exist?
• Motives as ‘dark’ were not mentioned
• Interest in death no reason to visit
• Replaced by “sites associated with death
and suffering”
• Visitors wanted to feel empathy
• Day out/random stop “not pre-planned”
Does ‘dark’ tourism exist?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Defined by the motivations of the visitors
Stone (2006) not characteristics of the site
Makes the distinction a dark site or not
Visitors to sites can be ‘dark’ or ‘light’!
Example:
A visitor with a camp number tattoo;
Army veterans;
Bored Polish school children playing;
Does ‘dark’ tourism exist?
• A visitor waving an Israeli flag
• And two cheerful tourists having their
photo.
• Experience was different for each
• For some shades of dark for other quite
light.
• A site may evoke different experiences,
• Pyramids – slave labor or beauty
Does ‘dark’ tourism exist?
• The argument: not necessarily constitute
dark, nor make those visitors ‘dark’ tourists
• Dark tourism is “socially constructed”
(Jamal & Leo, 2011, p.40).
• No essence of darkness
• Dark tourism doesn't’ exist, but the
experience does.
Conclusions
• This study based on a quantitative survey
• Further research would permit participants
to mention other types of motivations
• Interviews
• Fascination with death was not exposed
• Visitors reluctant to admit
• “less socially acceptable” (Ashworth,
2004,p.96).