The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum: educational dark tourism in a futuristic form

Abstract

This article utilizes the case of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum as an illustration for setting a themed environment at a highly unconventional tourist site whose main goal is to serve as an educational memorial for the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people. Despite the seeming incongruity between the concept and application of theming, as formulated by Walt Disney, and commemoration of the Jewish Holocaust victims, the analysis demonstrates the usefulness of theming in serving the institution's objectives while orchestrating memorable visitor experiences. Notwithstanding the criticism and concerns related to such theming, we suggest that the example of Yad Vashem illustrates how well-conducted theming holds great potential for museums in general and dark tourism sites in particular by reaching broad audiences and emotionally engaged visitors. Conclusions and implications derived from the case study as well as suggestions for future studies are discussed.

Keywords:

• dark tourism
• museum
• Holocaust
• theming
• education
• Disney

Acknowledgement

This article is dedicated to all those working to commemorate the memory of the Holocaust and its lessons at Yad Vashem and globally.

Notes