Holocaust concentration camp memorial sites: an exploratory study into expected emotional response

Abstract

This study explored Dutch people's expected intensity of emotional responses of a potential visit to a concentration camp memorial site in the Netherlands. A total of 1050 online panel members participated in a questionnaire that contained a 33-item emotion scale. Results reveal that individuals with a closeness to the Holocaust expect to feel most emotions more intensely, specifically emotions that are traditionally considered ‘positive’, such as pride, love, joy, inspiration, excitement and affection. Overall, respondents expect to feel disgust, shock, compassion and sadness the strongest. Those who look from the viewpoint of the offenders mainly expect to feel emotions that are traditionally considered ‘negative’, whereas those who took the point of view of the victims also expect a more ‘positive’ emotional reaction to the visit. Managerial implications address aspects of education, storytelling and authenticity.

Keywords:

• holocaust
• emotions
• memorials
• motivation
• difficult heritage

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Ondrej Mitas for his feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to thank the Centre of Expertise: Leisure, Tourism & Hospitality, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences and Stenden University of Applied Sciences for funding this study.