Postcards from Auschwitz: Holocaust Tourism and the Meaning of Remembrance

Reynolds (modern languages, Grinnell Coll., IA) argues for the possibilities for tourism to produce ongoing engagement with the past. The author maintains that postcards from Holocaust memorials, are at best merely bragging testimonials to one's trip abroad or simply a money-making enterprise for the continued support of the memorial. The lengthy introduction is a "historiography" or "tourisismography"—discussion of various theories and methods of understanding the industry. Reynolds provides a thorough description of nearly all of the Holocaust memorials throughout the world, including when and how they were built. The result is a helpful addition to tourism literature in general, and specifically beneficial in understanding the popularity of modern-day tourism at sites dedicated to the victims of Nazi terror.