Poland: Ruth Ellen Gruber on "Dark Tourism" & Auschwitz

Dachau, Germany. Crematorium on Display. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

Poland: Ruth Ellen Gruber on "Dark Tourism" & Auschwitz

I recommend an essay by Ruth Ellen Gruber posted today on her blog. Her topic deal with the term and phenomenon now known as "Dark Tourism," and how visits to Jewish sites deserve this rubric. In this context, she describes her most recent visit to Auschwitz earlier this month.

Poland -- Dark Tourism at Auschwitz

Several years ago I gave a paper entitled "Sites of Shame: How We Remember Places We'd Rather Forget" at a conference called Framing Public Memory. My paper was not specifically about Jewish sites, but certainly they were part of the discussion. I never published that paper, but in reponse to Ruth's post, I will look it again, and think of new ways to address this question.