What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all About???

Tourism at the Anne Frank House

After some good, old fashioned wandering and long, soul-seraching talks yesterday (a shimmering, sunny day), I decided to take advantage of some of a tourist attraction today.

I actually ended up walking right past the Anne Frank House at first; the building blends in so well with the surrounding typical brick buildings that it is easily missed. I like this aspect of the house, because it makes it seem less like Disneyland-tourism.

Standing outside the house, I met up with 4 American travellers from the south (Tennessee and Arkansas). They were friendly, but I became uncomfortable with the way they were carrying themselves given that we were at the Anne Frank house - they seemed to think it was more like the Heinekken Museum (well, the 2 men at least).

They tried to go inside while sipping their beers but were told to finish them before entering (with many disapproving stares). To their credit, they were a bit jet-lagged and just got into the country, and as we proceeded through the museum they became more sedate, but ; however, upon first glance I could see how American tourists came to be seen in a negative light!

I liked the way the exhibit was done in many ways...the house was left very plain and simple and the self-guided tour allowed us to walk up the actual steps and through the actual rooms where the families stayed. However, there was a point when I had a bit of an ethical quandry: should I really be here? Is it right that this is seen as an attraction in some ways?

It brought a lot of questions up that I considered during my senior year Tourism seminar ...at the end of the day, i think the museum serves a good purpose and helps remind people of the mistakes in the past, and the ethical issues are just a necessary evil. There was also a contemporary exhibit about human rights which made the whole house seem to fulfil more of a purpose.

I think certain aspects of tourism will always inspire a bit of an ethical dilemma, but at the end of the day I think it's worthwhile to allow people to revisit crucial parts of the past such as WWII. Paul said when he was in Poland he saw some really ugly tourism at some concentration camps (a mother making her children smile and pose in the gas chambers), which I think shows that it can be taken too far. One of the many purposes of travel is entertainment, but one has to be aware of when it's time for that and when it's a more somber event. Of course, the line is at different places for different people, so travel also serves as just another reminder of human diversity! | posted by Cheryl, 11/14/2005 07:08:00 AM