Dark History

History is interesting, and sadly some of the most fascinating places to visit are also reminders of some of the worst things that humans have done to one another. These places aren’t for everyone, but they not only teach us about what other people have been through (some in our own lifetime), but also help us reshape our perspective on the world around us. It can feel a bit weird being a ‘tourist’ in these places – definitely not the place for cheerful selfies! Some of these places you may only bring yourself to visit once, and I’ve seen people leave these places in tears.

Just noting that the conflicts that I’m going to discuss are things that can and should be talked about in serious depth – as there are very complicated religious, political, ethnic, and social reasons that culminated into each event. So I am just going to very simply and concisely give an overview of them as a starting point. I’m struggling to condense it all so much, as I could write and talk about it all for hours – especially as there are so many important nuances and different perspectives. So apologies if the simplification looks like I’ve just brushed over things…. There’s just SO much to cover!

It’s also worth noting that while these are all places that saw great amounts of violence, they are all very safe to visit today.

 Belfast, Northern Ireland

‘The Troubles’ in Ireland lasted from 1968 – 1998, and had its roots all the way back to the brutal colonisation of Ireland by the English dating back to the 1600’s. It was essentially a guerrilla/civil war between the Irish Republicans (who the IRA were a faction of), and the Ulster Loyalists (supported by England). The other way of looking at the division is in regards to the partitioned Northern Ireland (majority Loyalists/Protestant) and the Republic of Ireland (majority Republican/Catholic). The Troubles were a scary and violent time for the Irish – and very recent, with its effects still felt throughout the country, particularly socially.

Belfast is a city in Northern Ireland that was extremely effected by this, with a big local split between its Catholic and Protestant communities. They were literally walled off from one another, each with their own civilian armies. One communities hero was the other communities murderer, and though the Troubles are officially over thanks to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, this is the city in Ireland where the history is still very palpable today – best characterised by the still gated off communities (with their vibrant murals – celebrating their heroes and mourning their lost ones).

The Black Cab Tours in Belfast are fantastic – your (very friendly and classically charming-Irish) guides are a mixture of Protestant and Catholic, and are committed to telling you stories from both sides, as they drive you around their city and immerse you in what it has seen.

Afterwards, I recommend visiting one of Belfast’s many fantastic pubs, where you can have a pint and catch up on the craic with the locals.

Michael Fassbender portrayed Bobby Sands in the (intense) film "Hunger"

Murals that adorn the walls in Belfast pay homage to it's recent past

 Berlin, Germany

Germany really came out of nowhere to become one of the most influential countries of the 20^th Century. After hundreds of years split up into smaller regions (eg. Bavaria and Prussia), Germany as we think of it today was created in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War (a war that started the trend for France and Germany not really getting along). Since then it has been the starring player in World War 1, World War 2 and the Cold War – taking up most of the 20^th Century. I can literally talk about this off the top of my head for hours – it’s all so interconnected and a very good example of causation throughout history (eg. One war leads to the next, which leads to the next, and so on).

Berlin is the capital city of Germany, and one of my favourite cities in the world. It’s also the place where in a very small geographical space you can visit many key points of 20^th century history:

• The Reichstag (German Parliament). The burning down of this building in 1933 led to Hitler taking complete dictatorship over Germany, and the reconstruction was not started until after the Post-Cold War reunification of Germany in the 90s. Also making it a metaphor for the fall, divide and reunification of Germany during the 20^th century.

• The Holocaust Memorial. A sombre but interesting installation you can walk through to pay respects to victims of this genocide. Very awkwardly, it turned out that the reiteration (aka same but rebranded) of the company that made Zyklon-B (the poison used to gas victims in the concentration camps) was the company that had covered the memorial in anti-graffiti material… and charged for it!! Understandably there was insane backlash, and they have backtracked by vowing to refresh the anti-graffiti material for free in future. So kind. Also, DO NOT STAND ON THE MEMORIAL. But do feel free to wander through it and take it all in.

• The Berlin Wall. Iconic symbol of the Cold War, and of the divided Germany that it created. After World War 2, Germany was divided into 2 parts: East (controlled by the Russians) and West (controlled by the Americans, English, and French, who had combined their quarters). This was highly relevant, because before World War 2 had even finished, the Cold War had begun – the ideological war between the Soviet Union (led by Russia, and Communist) and the West (led by America, and Capitalist). This war is the war of spies. Also the war of families being split up overnight, people who opposed the Soviet ideology being sent to gulags and/or killed, and a stark difference in quality of life between Eastern and Western Europe. This lasted from 1945 – 1989 – with the fall of the Berlin Wall. There are 2 remnants of the wall that you can visit – one is the East Side Gallery, covered in vibrant life-affirming murals by the Spree River, the other is a drab grey remnant out the front of the Topography of Terror Museum (the ex-SS headquarters).

The best way to check these out, and get an in-depth lesson on this city’s history is to do one of the walking tours of Berlin (Insider Tour Berlin is good!), where they will show you all of the relevant places over about 3-4 hours (including the site of Hitler’s bunker), just make sure to bring comfortable walking shoes!

One of the great things about Berlin, is that if you’re just wandering around by yourself there are lots of signs on buildings that tell you if/why they are historically relevant, and are also lots of places with pictures that show you what the spot you were standing in looked like when the Berlin Wall was up.

The DDR Museum is also a great one to check out if you want to learn more about life in East Germany! Great (but tough) supplementary reading is the true story “A Woman in Berlin” by Marta Hillers, about her survival experience in Berlin as the Russians came at the end of World War 2.

East Side Gallery

Check Point Charlie

Auschwitz, near Krakow, Poland

This is probably the most infamous dark tourism place in the world – as it is the German death camp where an estimated 1.1 million people were killed during World War 2. Not just Jewish people, but also political prisoners, homosexuals, Slavic people, gypsies, and anyone else deemed ‘undesirable’ by the Third Reich.

Auschwitz actually spanned over several camps, including work camps. The most infamous part was the extermination camp, with its gas chambers and ovens to cremate the masses of bodies. This was the greatest example of how the Nazis created an extremely efficient murder factory. Prisoners who were allowed to live, were treated worse than animals – beaten, degraded, starved. Many were beaten or worked to death. Some had medical experiments performed on them by Dr Mengele (a must-read on the subject is “I was Mengele’s Assistant” by Miklos Nyiszli). The very unlucky had the short-term job of working in the crematoria, before they were also executed for knowing too much.

It is very telling that the Nazi’s tried to get rid of the evidence of what they had done, by destroying files, the buildings, and killing off as many witnesses as possible. Most of the evidence against them came from brave prisoners who hid and smuggled evidence, in the hope that future generations would be able to bring justice to what had occurred.

Things to note on your visit are: you need to book a tour in advance, you can’t bring in any bags that are bigger than an A4 sheet of paper (cameras are ok), and you’ll probably want some chocolate for afterwards… just to cheer up a bit. It’s a tough but rewarding visit.

Stolen off Google - I've never felt comfortable taking photos here

Riga, Latvia

Specifically, you should visit The Corner House.

Latvia was one of many countries in Eastern Europe that was part of the Russian-controlled Soviet Union. Under this regime, Latvia was run by the KGB, and any dissidents (opposition of the Soviet regime) were arrested, imprisoned, and usually shot.

The Corner House has a very intense place in my memory, because it was one of the first places I walked into and could just smell and feel death all around me. It was very effecting. This building was the KGB headquarters/prison in Riga, and was in use until 1991. Reopened in 2012, the tour guides are ex-inmates (or children of), with fresh and genuine stories about their life under the Soviet regime, and experiences in the building.

Almost every Eastern Europe country has similar buildings and museums (The House of Terror in Budapest is incredible, though also very sad). The thing that makes them so interesting is how many people still living in those cities lived through those times, had family effected by it, and have their own personal views and stories. Different regimes had different nuances, just as different countries had different protests and uprisings (like the Prague Spring in 1968), and all are worth a look.

It’s also worth noting that not everyone completely misses life under Communism, there are some who miss the safety on the streets, job and housing security that they once had. Basically, what I’m saying is that history has many perspectives and is definitely not black and white!

The streets of Old Town Riga

Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

The Yugoslav Wars of the 90s (Socialist Yugoslavia broke up to create: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia & Herzegovina) were brutal, and very likely occurring in your lifetime (1991-2001).

Ethnic cleansing, weaponised rape, and genocide were hallmarks of this very recent war. Bosnia & Herzegovina was one of the worst places hit (the Bosnian War), where from 1992-1995 there was conflict between the Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs & Catholic Croats.

Capital city Sarajevo is absolutely fascinating to visit today – East and West influence, with fantastic food, and so many hidden gems (street art, the Olympic bob-sled track, and an emerging nightlife scene). It is a must-visit city! But in the 90’s it had a main street called “Sniper’s Alley”, which was very literally named. Today you can visit the Tunnel Museum, where you can visit the entrance of ‘the Tunnel of Hope’ where Bosnians would smuggle themselves and supplies during the Siege of Sarajevo. You may also spot a “Sarajevo Rose” – literally scars in the streets from exploded mortar rounds, filled with red resin to create mini-memorials throughout the city.  

And of course, there are lots of museums throughout the city – some pretty tough to get through (such as the Museum of Genocide)! The most intense place to visit in regards to the Bosnian Wars is Srebrenica (actually 2.5 hours out of Sarajevo) and the site of the worst massacre of Muslim Bosniaks (mostly men and boys) by Bosnian Serbs. This is a gruelling visit, and seeing footage in the museum of what happened is even harder when you see dates from the 90’s in the bottom corner (I was probably playing with my Barbie’s while all of this was happening…). This is all made even more controversial by the complicity of UN soldiers on site during the massacre.

On a slightly different note, Sarajevo is also the place where you can visit the spot where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated – sparking the beginning of World War 1.

A Bosnian Rose at the Tunnel Museum

The old Olympic bobsled track  - a lighter place to visit in Sarajevo, but be careful not to go off track, as there are still landmines in the surrounding area from the war!

So there we have it…. Some of the most depressing, but also fascinating, and important places that you can visit in Europe.

While visiting these places can be really sad, it does put perspective into place. How lucky I’ve been to happen to be born in the time and place that I have. They also set themselves up as ominous reminders to the world of what humanity is capable of, begging it to learn from its past.

(I promise I’ll follow up with a more light-hearted post next time!)