Dark Tourism

Genocide is apparently not a contested concept in Lithuania. In Vilnius ‘The Museum of Genocide Victims’ tells the unique story of how the Lithuanian people fought German and later Soviet suppression. The museum is located on the outskirts of the old town of Vilnius overlooking the former Lukiskiu Aiktste or “Lenin Square”. The Museum building was originally built to serve as the City Courthouse, but was taken over by NKVD, the Soviet forerunner for the KGB in 1940. Later Gestapo set up its headquarters there, until 1944 when it was reverted back to the KGB. In 1992 it was converted into a museum. The material on display is related to anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi resistance especially information about partisans struggling for independence and victims of what the museum refers to as genocide.  

To a large extent the building is preserved with its torture chambers and cells presenting a stark and impelling feeling. The museum serves as a gateway for educating tourists and schoolchildren as well as serving as a poignant memorial for the Lithuanian people. The Museum has many visitors.  

Genocide? 
The post-war period was a period of extensive repression and “Russification”. Guerrilla resistance, at times involving up to 40,000 fighters lasted into the early 1950s. Several waves of deportations to Siberia and Central Asia accompanied the collectivization of agriculture: about 70,000 people were deported in late 1947, 70,000 in May 1948, and some 80,000 in 1949. The question however remains whether the term genocide should be applied to these atrocities, or whether it should be preserved for recognition of the estimated 240.000 Lithuanian Jews that were exterminated during World War 2.  This extermination amounted to 90 to 95 % of the Jewish population. This genocide was instigated by the Nazis, but to a very large extent carried out by the Lithuanians directly or with their assistance.  

These facts are however not touched upon at the “The Museum of Genocide Victims”, but may be studied at the ‘Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum’ near the centre of Vilnius. This ‘Holocaust’ or ‘Green House’ museum introduces visitors to Jewish history and houses documentation on the Lithuanian ‘Einsatzgruppen’ reporting on the results of their activities plus a huge collection of photos, art and sculpture documenting life in the ghettos.  

To a large extent volunteers run the Museum and funding is generally lacking although it is a state museum. One interesting aspect is that the Museum generally seems to be shunned by the Lithuanians; they only amounted to 12 % of the visitors in 2004. The bulk of visitors come from US and Israel. 

Moral complexities 
The authors who carried out this study at “The Moffat Centre” in Glasgow conclude that the commemoration of Lithuania’s complex and painful past is dominated by moral complexities. “The current situation is a disproportionate slant on this past which offers the majority of visiting public a chance to share in a nation’s solidarity and determination against their Soviet oppressors. What is distinctly missing from this activity is an important epoch that remains unchallenged and un-interpreted in the nation’s collective commemoration of the past”.  

The future 
So far the museums in Vilnius have not received funding from EU under the program established to preserve and commemorate the main sites and archives associated with the deportations and liquidations in the period from 1930 – 1945.  A new call for proposals has been posted and it remains to be seen whether an effort for collaboration between the two museums will be undertaken in light of the misrepresentation of this painful period in the history of Lithuania.  Link to EU program

Reference
Selective Interpretation and eclectic human heritage in Lithuania. Wight, A. Craig and J. John Lennon
The full article may be read in Tourism Management vol. 28 (2007): 519 – 529.

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Dark Tourism in Europe, an introduction, Link 
Darkometer from opaque to too dark, Link

Read more about the museums:
The Museum of Genocide Victims, Link
Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, Link  
Conference on Dark Tourism 
University of Central Lancashire. Look out for the conference on dark tourism, which will take place on the 27th of March on ‘Dark Tourism: Current Themes, Issues & Consequences’. Dark Tourism