Scholarly record

DARK TOURISM AS ONE OF THE FORMS OF COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN POLAND

A. Plominski, D. Bakota

Abstract

During the Second World War in Poland in the years 1939-1945 several million people died at the hands of Nazi Germany. Commemoration of the people who were murdered in concentration camps, extermination camps, ghettos, prisons, and during mass shootings, and those who were killed in warfare and uprisings, is an essential part of the remembrance of these inhumane crimes, as well as a warning to future generations. One form of commemoration of the victims is dark tourism. Every year millions of people (tourists) from all over the world pay tribute to the killed. From among concentration and extermination camps, the largest number of tourists annually visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945). Museums are also of high interest. The most popular ones are: Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, the Warsaw Rising Museum in Warsaw, World War II Museum in Gda?sk with an outdoor exhibition at Westerplatte, and the Museum of “Pawiak” Prison in Warsaw. In addition, celebrations in remembrance of the victims are also popular (celebration at the Monument of the Coast Defenders at Westerplatte, commemoration of the Warsaw Uprising or the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising).

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