摘要
Holocaust memorial sites rarely tell the story of individual fates but rather give attention to the main or larger population groups that were the focus of persecution and extermination during the Nazi Germany twelve years of terror in Europe 1933-45. This essay takes a closer look at one of the most remarkable exemptions of the prevailing memory culture at Holocaust memorials： the sites and events highlighting Anne Frank and her short life in troubled times. Over the past years millions of travelers from all over the world have shown a genuine interest in learning about the life world of their young heroine thus creating what has been termed Anne Frank Tourism. In 2014, 1.2 million people visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam： the museum and educational center, the place in hiding where she wrote her now famous and widely read diary. Several other sites connected to the life path of Anne Frank, from her birth place in Frankfurt to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp where her life prematurely ended, have also become part of the mostly young tourists＇ search for Anne Frank＇s life and legacy. With the rising popularity of Anne Frank related sites the management of some of the locales has become more problematic which is discussed in the context of a several museums, centers and historic sites. On a more general note, it is argued here that in recent years the more group oriented commemoration practices at Holocaust sites have given way to a trend of putting individual faces to the victims of the Holocaust. It was, in particular, novels, films and TV productions about the Holocaust that emphasized individual life paths and events and enticed visitation to more personalized sites. Steven Spielberg＇s popular movie Schindler＇s List, for example, contributed to ＂Schindler tourism＂, a form of special interest tourism in Krakow. More and more Holocaust memorial sites have also started to honor outstanding individuals or small groups in resistance and opposition to Nazi Germany. Examples of this are the fighters of the 1943 uprising at the Sobibor death camp and the courageous student members of the ＂White Rose＂ in Munich who stood up to the powers of the time and were executed. In the concluding part the question will be raised of what is the proper approach in the representation of the fate of the victims of Nazi Germany： A personalized approach or a greater focus on an explanation of the ideology and policies behind the rule of terror which may contribute to the visitors＇ better understanding of a complex history？
