S T A N D A R D F R O N T P A G E F O R E X A M I N A T I O N P A P E R S To be filled in by the student(s). Please use capital letters. Subjects: (tick box) Project Synopsis Portfolio Thesis x Written Assignment Study programme: Tourism Masters 2015-2017 Semester: 10 Exam Title: Does location affect the way WW2 related dark tourism destinations see and present themselves and their historical subjects to visitors? Name, Date of birth/ Name(s) Study number Date of birth (not CPR Names, Dates of birth of group number – only 6 numbers: members: dd/mm/yy) Flemming Nielsen 20150789 180666 Hand in date: 31/07/2017 Project title /Synopsis Title/Thesis Does location affect the way WW2 related dark tourism destinations see Title and present themselves and their historical subjects to visitors? According to the study regulations, 192,000 the maximum number of keystrokes of the paper is: Number of keystrokes (one standard 191,103 page = 2400 keystrokes, including spaces) (table of contents, bibliography and appendix do not count)* Supervisor (project/synopsis/thesis): Gunvor Riber Larsen I/we hereby declare that the work submitted is my/our own work. I/we understand that plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else's work as one's own without crediting the original source. I/we are aware that plagiarism is a serious offense, and that anyone committing it is liable to academic sanctions. Rules regarding Disciplinary Measures towards Students at Aalborg University: http://www.plagiarism.aau.dk/Rules+and+Regulations/ Date and signature(s): 30/07/2017 * Please note that you are not allowed to hand in the paper if it exceeds the maximum number of keystrokes indicated in the study regulations. Handing in the paper means using an exam attempt. Dark tourism An analysis of different WW2 locations in Poland, Germany and Denmark Does location affect the way WW2 related dark tourism destinations see and present themselves and their historical subjects to visitors? Flemming Nielsen, student no.: 20150789 Tourism masters 2017 Aalborg University - Culture and Global Studies Supervisor: Gunvor Riber Larsen Deadline: 31/07-2017 Master Thesis: 10th semester Key-strokes: 191,103 Pages: 123 2 / 123 Photo on the cover: Memorial for WW2 victims, at Stalag Luft III, Poland, 2017 (Own photo, photo allowed according to Polish law regarding freedom of panorama) The human word has incredible power. Words create history, words form thoughts, the thoughts that create the word. It is the word that forms history, reality. (Pope Benedictus XVI, 2008) 3 / 123 Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................................6 Introduction..........................................................................................................................................8 The theoretical background................................................................................................................11 Methodology..................................................................................................................................11 Research design.........................................................................................................................11 Collection of data......................................................................................................................14 Philosophy of science....................................................................................................................17 Literature review............................................................................................................................20 What is dark tourism?....................................................................................................................25 Definition of dark tourism used in this paper...........................................................................26 Types of dark tourism................................................................................................................27 Dark tourism destinations chosen for the paper........................................................................33 Euthanasia Centre, Bernburg, Germany...............................................................................33 Fort VII, Poznań, Poland......................................................................................................34 T4-memorial, Berlin, Germany............................................................................................34 Besættelsesmuseet, Aarhus, Denmark..................................................................................36 Dark tourism controversies.......................................................................................................37 Discourse and media analysis of dark tourism related texts..........................................................40 Pauwel's (2012) Multimodal Framework for Analyzing Websites............................................41 The multimodal framework for analysing websites..................................................................41 The elements of Pauwel’s framework.......................................................................................43 Discourse analysis..........................................................................................................................46 Fairclough's discourse analysis.................................................................................................47 Fairclough's three-dimensional model of discourse..................................................................48 Analyses of the individual institutions...............................................................................................50 Bernburg Euthanasia Centre..........................................................................................................50 The visit.....................................................................................................................................50 The (email) interview................................................................................................................52 The website...............................................................................................................................53 The discourse............................................................................................................................60 The conclusion..........................................................................................................................63 Fort VII..........................................................................................................................................65 The interview............................................................................................................................65 The exhibition...........................................................................................................................67 The website...............................................................................................................................69 The discourse............................................................................................................................74 Additional material from Fort VII.............................................................................................75 The conclusion..........................................................................................................................77 T4 memorial...................................................................................................................................78 The interview............................................................................................................................78 The exhibition...........................................................................................................................79 The website...............................................................................................................................81 The discourse............................................................................................................................88 The conclusion..........................................................................................................................90 Besættelsesmuseet.........................................................................................................................91 The (email) interview................................................................................................................91 4 / 123 The visit and the exhibition.......................................................................................................91 The website...............................................................................................................................93 The discourse............................................................................................................................98 The conclusion..........................................................................................................................99 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................100 What the museums say they are and what they are.....................................................................101