Metod Šuligoj
SVIJETLE I TAMNE STRANE MRAČNOG TURIZMA U SLOVENIJI
DOI: 10.35666/28310438.2016.4.595
UDC: 911.3:338.48-6(497.4)
Abstract: As well as many European countries, the territory of Slovenia is rich in remnants of many conflicts of the 20th century: WWI, WWII, the post-war mass killings, and the independence war in 1991. The sites of battlefields or other warfare sites/events have not been fully valorised in tourism terms, also due to different interpretations of experts and the local communities themselves. The purpose of this paper is to focus on some representative cases of memorial heritage which are considered to be a part of the dark tourism concept. A multicase study of selected cases of memorial heritage from WWI, WWII, the post-war period and the independence war will be employed. Authentic examples of WWI memorial heritage are present mainly in the western part of Slovenia, were the Soĉa (Isonzo) front took place. Today, these are exemplary cases with memorial, educational and conservational values, interesting for the tourists of all the involved nationalities: from the Central-European and Balkan nations to the Italians and their western allies. On the other hand, the heritage of WWII is nowadays perceived in a different sense, where the interpretation of the war and post-war periods in terms of the communist regime also has a negative attitude towards this period and the events that occurred at the time. However, in the socialist Yugoslavia, a systematic commemoration and visits of battlefield places and monuments was highly promoted. A strong emphasis was put on the remembrance and preservation of the memory of WWII, its victims and its heroes; traditional events are still present in the contemporary Slovenian society. A systematic research of post-war mass killings has been conducted in the past years in Slovenia and, as a result, many locations of mass killings and graves have been identified. These events/sites are traumatizing and dividing the Slovene public. Consequently, tourist valorisation of this dark side of the past cannot be implemented yet.
Key words: memorial heritage, dark tourism, Slovenia, war, conflict