Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.

Please make note of changes to the Final Dark Site Profile Essay as it was originally presented on the syllabus. This proposal is to begin the process of developing the final essay. The purpose of a 200-level class is to provide an introduction or foundation to students on concepts that ought to be expanded on later in a curriculum, and is heavily dependent on students and their instructor framing that connection. The aim of this final submission is to focus on an example of dark tourism:

1) provide an analysis of its context to a socio-political reality. This analysis should also
2) consider the historical background of that dark destination site or dark tourism behaviour. Lastly, the profile should also,

3) consider the evidence of dilemmas or possibilities of hope in the continued management of the site and the presence of the behaviour.

During finals week, each student will draft a 2500 word-essay (not including cover page,
references, or quotes). APA 7th Edition is the standard format. This final essay analysis will incorporate (at least, one) primary source, (at least, seven) scholarly sources, and (at least, two) additional web-based sources (news, reports, and blogs), and should also use the frame set by the course, course content, and readings.

Austin Siegel

Final Essay Proposal

For my proposal I am stuck on 2 ideas which I’d like to pick your brain. Today’s class had me intrigued when we we’re talking about the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. I thought it be interesting to discuss tourist behavior within this dark tourist site. While I was abroad, I went to Dachau and was taken by shock. Seeing Tourist disrespect an area with such a deep meaning. I was quick to notice the details or lack of details this memorial has. When talking about place-based identity, and place- based marketing I thought this memorial was unique. Diving deeper into why exactly the designers Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold built this memorial to look the way it does. Did they make a mistake in allowing their tourist to not grasp the full meaning or significant? Or did they do the exact opposite in showing how simplistic it was for Nazis to kill Jewish people, therefor their Toombs tombs should be nothing more than a simple gray rectangle. On the other had I had an idea of talking about Auschwitz. There were several things I was thinking about, in terms with place- based branding, along with personal behavior and reason of visiting. Another idea was discussing the Holocaust deniers, and how tourist are attracted to site due to their actions and beliefs. When talking about social, cultural, or political geography It be interesting to mention how social media has influenced this behavior. Relating that with how society has treated Jews in the past and present. Personal behavior with sites such as Auschwitz and the Memorial in Berlin serves significance to me therefor, I thought it be necessary to find a deeper meaning behind tourist recent actions and relate this to the design and reasons of location.

Sources:

http://auschwitz.org/en/visiting/

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-berlin-holocaust-memorial-by-peter-eisenman-177928

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38675835

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/style/manheimer-lost-jewish-brands-of-berlin.html

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