Education in Tourism—Digital Information as a Source of Memory on the Examples of Places Related to the Holocaust in Poland during World War II

Abstract

Tourism is one of the most effective and attractive tools for achieving many goals including educational. Learning and gaining knowledge by traveling have been present in human history for centuries. Education does so well in tourism because it is accompanied by human curiosity about the world. Tourism can teach natural, social, and historical sciences. It is an important tool for learning about the past that influences the present and the future, especially if it is a difficult past such as the memory of the Holocaust. Tourism can help to draw conclusions about the past as long as it contributes to the acquisition of specific knowledge. Considering this role of tourism, it is worth asking when tourism starts? Many authors see the beginning of tourism at the stage of gathering information. The main assumption of this publication can be summarized as the consideration that the quality of an educational tourist product depends on the availability of information, its quality, and the manner in which it is provided. Today, the most important information distribution channel is digital media, including both websites and social media. Well-provided information accelerates the development of a resource, destination, or region; at the same time, information provided incorrectly or a lack of information in the virtual space may be an inhibitor of the development of educational tourism. The aim of the article is to assess the manner of communicating information related to the Holocaust of World War II, which took place in Nazi German-occupied Poland. The study was conducted with the use of qualitative methods—expert assessment and assessment of the information transfer effectiveness based on the scoring method. The research material included existing websites presenting the resources and methods of operation of museums dedicated to the Holocaust located in Poland. During evaluation, particular attention was paid to the scope of information, methods of its transmission, its internationalization, and timeliness of activities, especially in the field of promoting elements of the offer related to education and shaping attitudes. The aim of the research was to organize the official Internet resources, classify them, and discuss the functioning of information on the Holocaust in the virtual space, so as to use the potential of information in the most effective way to create a product for educational tourism.

1. Introduction

Cultural heritage is one of the main reasons for tourist migration in the modern world [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Regardless of which kind of heritage interests or delights people, it is a good reason to undertake a tourist trip. However, it is not always only admiration that accompanies heritage. Heritage is sometimes a bitter history lesson and a warning for future generations. It may show the dangers that can arise when a person gives up humanity. This is the so-called difficult legacy, often associated with suffering and martyrdom. In addition to undertaking important works that advance the development of civilization, humankind can sometimes demonstrate ingenuity, a sense of beauty, and artistry. This genius captured in material elements and artifacts is inherited by successive generations, allowing them to advance ideas and achievements of their predecessors or—to the contrary—to oppose them, but always creatively. Human beings can also destroy. The result of this history of destruction can be called a dissonant and even dark heritage [11,12].

This is also part of the tourist journey. So-called dark tourism is becoming more and more popular [13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]. As the dissonant heritage of human history, tragedies are sometimes treated by tourists as an attractive resource. Such threat of improper use of heritage also affects World War II memorial sites related to the Holocaust. Therefore, it is very important to properly educate about this difficult heritage, so that it is well understood as a warning against what can happen, highlighting what a human being is able to do. The educational function of tourism seems to be crucial in this case, so that the next generations can understand the tragedy that affected their ancestors. It is worth looking at how tourism can educate and shape desirable attitudes important for the development of society, and—equally important—where and how education takes place.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 contains a literature review divided into tourism and information, Internet and education, and tourism and education; Section 3 describes the research questions, methods, and source of research material; Section 4 presents the results and discussion, focusing different places where information of educational type is located and the methods of its presentation (main information, complementary information, heritage, and form of transmission); Section 5 contains the conclusions, limitations, and future research.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Tourism and Information

One of the many functions of tourism is educational. Tourist travel is a kind of lesson [22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30] and one of the most attractive forms of education. Travel even involuntarily teaches on many levels. It is worth noting that tourism does not start only upon embarking on a trip. The journey begins much earlier—already at the stage of searching for information. Information is a key word for education in tourism. Currently, a major source of information is the Internet. Thus, the image of the destination to which the tourist will be heading is already formed at this stage. Consequently, education should start in the virtual space if one wants to achieve its goal.

For years, the Internet has been considered one of the basic sources of information. As emphasized in the literature [31,32,33,34,35,36], it is one of the most common consulted sources in tourist matters, ranging from technical information related to the trip to the widely sought general knowledge about a specific value or the entire destination, which is of interest to a potential tourist [37,38,39]. Until recently, it was thought of as a place where one can supplement the knowledge acquired in a traditional way [37]. Today, it has become the main and first source from which a tourist obtains data of interest [40].

Many managers of a tourist product, destination or heritage, realizing the importance of the Internet as a source of information, publish their data solely using this channel of information distribution [37], expecting to reach the widest possible audience. In this way, the Internet not only provides the sought-after knowledge, but also shapes the image of a destination or a single value [41,42]. It can, therefore, be concluded that the Internet is an exceptionally useful tool for disseminating information to facilitate tourist consumption [43,44,45].

The traveler requires different information from the Internet at different stages of the journey. The availability of predeparture information can influence travel planning [46]. By presenting and providing information as needed, the Internet influences the expectations of resources, usually determining the choices and at least indirectly affecting its perception even before the tourist has undertaken the journey [47,48,49]. It also influences the behavior of the tourist at the destination [50,51,52]. Many customers admit that the destination or resource image found on websites directly influences their decisions [53,54,55]. The way the digital information is presented shapes feelings and impressions related to the value [56]. However, it is worth noting that the content, depending on its quality, may facilitate or hinder the choice of destination [57,58]. An important factor here is the quality of information [59], as well as its level of detail. The decision to travel depends on whether the information corresponds to reality or how accurate it is [60,61,62,63]. It is also considered the most important reason for its distribution [64,65] because one of the basic attributes of information posted in the virtual space is its credibility [61,63,66,67]. This is why it is so important to develop detailed, possibly complete, and comprehensive information posted on websites for better functioning of tourism [62,68]. This responsibility rests with the destination or value managers whose function in shaping the image based on high-quality information cannot be overestimated.

The quality of information is one of the main factors attracting and retaining potential customers [69,70,71,72]. The technical side of information transfer is also important: the ease of navigation, or more broadly, the user-friendliness of websites providing content, affects the tourist’s decision regarding the choice of destination [72,73,74,75,76]. The virtual space shown on websites allows tourists to reach the information in a simple and friendly way [77,78,79,80]. It is important to take into account the limitations resulting from technological, demographic, or cultural conditions when such websites are created [81,82]. Success in tourism, which is measured by satisfaction, depends on good-quality information adapted to the needs of recipients, as well as its topicality and relevance.

The search for information has become a significant stage of decision making, and it was initiated by the Internet as a publicly available source of information. A well-informed tourist is more aware of the value of the cultural heritage of the region they intend to visit and can more easily find the products they are looking for [41].

The information posted on the Internet links the tourist with the destination they intend to visit [83]. Today, information is necessary for a well-prepared tourist trip to bring full satisfaction from visiting a selected place [63]. Websites presenting the features of a value create a virtual tourist experience, and tourists pay attention to those sites that reflect in the best possible way the existing heritage [84,85]. It is worth emphasizing that the Internet is excellent for crossing borders; this is usually the first channel for seeking information in different languages [86]. The global reach of information shortens the distance between the value and its recipient (the tourist).

Information is also important for cultural heritage tourists. As emphasized in the literature [87], four in 10 tourists choose their destination on the basis of the cultural offer, which includes places related to heritage, as well as museums, theatres, and historical or archaeological sites, related to industrial heritage, music, or gastronomy [87]. For this group, appropriately adapted, up-to-date, detailed and easily accessible information is particularly important in preparing a tourist trip [88].

When assessing the importance of websites in the development of tourism, one needs to pay attention to the costs of obtaining information, such as time [89]. The obtained information allows reducing the degree of uncertainty when planning a trip [90]. Among the cheapest and most effective tools for obtaining information on heritage are websites; hence, their role in shaping tourism, as well as the image of heritage and destinations, cannot be overestimated.

The heritage image on the Internet manages the destination [91,92,93] because it influences the virtual space and, thus, the success of a destination in tourism [94,95,96]. The image acquired by tourists affects their behavior during the visit [97]. This is especially important for heritage. A comprehensive image has become possible thanks to technology [98]. Visual elements, such as photographs, strongly influence the final image of a destination [99]. In addition to the photos, websites use animations and videos to enable people to interact virtually with the value through 3D virtual journeys. This can stimulate a real visit, and a virtual experience can lead to a real-world experience [100]. Contemporary tourist information in the virtual world is transmitted in various ways: textual, visual, audio, or audiovisual, as well as other platforms using tools affecting senses [101]. The content of webpages and the narration related to it are two main sources of constructing tourist images. In the case of heritage tourism, the tourist image leads to the ideological reinforcement of the present by telling the story of the past [102], no matter how difficult the past is. All this leads to the conclusion that the Internet is one of if not the most useful tools when searching for information [37].

2.2. Internet and Education

The Internet in tourism, although initially treated primarily as a marketing tool [76,103,104,105,106,107], has quickly become a means for providing knowledge [103], encouraging tourists to look for this unique value [75].

IT can support effective learning; thus, the information manager should focus on the various needs of recipients of website information [108,109,110].

As already mentioned, the literature emphasizes the fact that tourists expect to find practical information on the website [77,78]. It should also educate and evoke emotions; therefore, it is important that the designed websites take into account its reception by tourists [111].

Information seeking serves to reduce the risk of making wrong choices [112]. A more committed group expects more detailed information relevant to the heritage attributes to understand it better. It should be emphasized that this group usually already has some knowledge about heritage [90]. Therefore, information on the Internet should be adapted to the needs of various recipients—from casual visitors to qualified teachers who are looking for knowledge that complements the didactic process [113].

Although this publication deals primarily with information provided to potential tourists through websites, it should be mentioned here that, for example, smartphones and applications offered are an important tool for managing information in the virtual space. These are sources providing information on heritage resources, in addition to offering suggestions relevant to the user. Mobile phones offer recommendation systems (RSs) that suggest information according to the recipient’s preferences previously gathered. One mobile RS is ACUX-R, which recommends the points of interest (POI) according to the user’s visiting profile and their preferences, presenting them in a practical way [114]. The ACUX-R system is based on the ACUX (Augmented Cultural User Experience) typology for classifying visitor of cultural destinations. It is a multi-profile classification of the visitors based on their preferences. In order to meet, in the most adequate way, those different preferences, eight profiles were proposed: archaeologist, art seeker, leisure seeker, religious seeker, naturalist, traditionalist, gourmand, and viral seeker. The proposed division reflects the scope of all possible tourists engaged in cultural and heritage tourism [115]. Mobile phones with apps—as with websites—are more and more important tools for e-learning, helpful in creating new models of acquiring knowledge and presenting heritage from different points of view [80,116].

2.3. Tourism and Education

Travel and learning are not new concepts. Travel for knowledge has been present among travel motivations for centuries. The origin was the Grand Tour—trips undertaken by young British aristocrats from the 17th to 18th centuries [117]. The purpose of the trip was to gain knowledge, learn languages, and learn about the history and culture of the countries visited. It is emphasized that the trips were meant to satisfy tourists’ curiosity about previously unknown regions.

Beginning in the last decades of the last century, there has been an increasing need for knowledge and education, as well as a significant increase in educational travel and tourism. Krippendorf [118] pointed to changes in the tourism market, where the passive form is replaced by a desire to expand horizons and be creative. The new tourists [119] are better educated and seek knowledge of the world around. One trend is to treat education as an essential part of the leisure [120]. Getting to know, i.e., acquiring knowledge, is becoming an essential component of a tourist trip.

In his definition of educational tourism, Ritchie ([24] p. 18) emphasized that it is a tourist activity undertaken by those who are undertaking an overnight vacation and those who are undertaking an excursion for whom education or learning is a primary or secondary part of their trip. This can include general educational tourism and adult study tours, as well as international and domestic university and school students’ travel, including language schools, school excursions, and exchange programs. Educational tourism can be independently or formally organized and can be undertaken in a variety of natural of human-made settings.

An educational component is included in many forms of tourism, e.g., heritage cultural tourism. Cultural tourists have a tendency toward learning and education as they have higher educational qualifications [121]. Education always accompanies heritage tourism. It is emphasized that travel allows people to learn and appreciate human history. Garrod and Fyall [122] pointed to tourism’s ability to educate through heritage. Moreover, without education and knowledge, the experience of heritage tourism is virtually impossible. Lastly, it is worth mentioning the concept of creative tourism, which develops through active knowledge acquisition and participation in educational events [121].

Tourism in recent years has been a continuous process of acquiring knowledge, constantly requiring education, which can be obtained thanks to the Internet. This technology helps in distributing and facilitating access to information and creating environmental and cultural awareness [105].

Learning is at the heart of tourism. [123]. In this case, people learn consciously by comparing values, norms, customs, and experiences of new environments and cultures. Travel provides practical skills, knowledge, and wisdom. The learning process can have a positive effect on cross-cultural understanding and respect [124], which is invaluable, especially in the case of a difficult legacy such as that of the Holocaust.

3. Research Questions, Methods, and Source of Research Material

One of the main questions posed by the authors of this publication is to determine whether and how the content of the official websites of memorial sites has an informative and educational function in relation to this difficult heritage of human history, focusing on the Holocaust and the martyrdom of nations experienced by the tragedy of World War II. Which of the heritage elements, and how, why, and with what tools have they been exposed? It is worth checking how the accents in the transmission of information have been distributed, so as to highlight all educational and informational content important for presenting the full heritage.

The content of seven websites presenting museums of martyrdom related to World War II was analyzed, which is one of the popular methods of evaluating Internet resources [125,126,127,128]. It should be emphasized that only the official websites of memorial sites were examined, assuming that they most fully reflect the assumptions of the information and educational policy of the institutions that create them and manage the content introduced to the virtual space. Other websites that do not have such value, despite their undeniable informational value, were not analyzed. Virtually all museums referring to the Holocaust and the martyrdom of nations were taken into account:

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Memorial and museum Auschwitz-Birkenau: Former German Nazi Concentration and Extermination camp [129];

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Museum of the Former German Kulmhof Death Camp in Chełmno on Ner [130];

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State Museum at Majdanek: The German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1941–1944) [131];

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Museum and Memorial in Bełżec: The Nazi German Extermination Camp (1942–1943) [132];

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Museum and Memorial in Sobibór: The Nazi German Extermination Camp (1942–1943) [133];

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Treblinka museum: The Nazi German Extermination and Forced Labour Camp (1941–1944) [134];

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Stutthof Museum: The German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1939–1945) [135];

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KL Plaszow Museum [136].

The main purpose of the analysis was to examine the method of conveying the content of each of the pages, with particular emphasis on those elements that present an educational/didactic value. Therefore, all available tabs of each of the listed pages were reviewed, analyzing their content in terms of information provided or expanded knowledge about the role of the difficult heritage of history including the Holocaust and the martyrdom of World War II. Then, the sources of information were grouped, presenting their nature, scope of content, and the way in which they were made available to the recipient.

All of the listed websites were reviewed twice, in November 2022 and in March 2023, in order to take into account any changes that could be introduced in connection with a possible reconstruction or change in content, assuming that the institution managing the website planned corrections in the graphic design, but primarily in the content, which was crucial for this study. This was mainly due to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the German Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, which was on 27 January 2023 during the research period.

For the purpose of analyzing the content of websites in terms of their educational value, a critical review of all available resources was made [137,138]. Hence, the decision was made to analyze the pages in Polish, which was the main language on the official websites of all seven memorial sites, assuming a primarily national audience. This was decided after a preliminary analysis and comparison of content information resources, which were presented in different languages. The Polish pages—regardless of the content examined—were the most complete. It was decided that the main purpose of this study was to analyze the message and its educational character as best as possible. The very comparison of the content presented in Polish and English, as the first language of choice by a non-Polish recipient, revealed simplification of the message on English pages and focus on the main information. However, it was recognized that a comparative analysis would introduce too many threads into the study; hence, the decision was made to limit the materials to those in the Polish language (the most extensive). The comparative analysis of various languages needs to be left for a separate study.

4. Results and Discussion

Information presented on websites run and managed by memorial and martyrdom sites could be divided for the purpose of this publication into information of practical nature and of informative, educational nature on the subject to which the site is devoted.

It is worth taking a closer look at how the heritage that is protected is made available to tourists in a digital version, in this case with the use of virtual space. However, before presenting the ways of conveyance of the difficult heritage of World War II it would be worth looking at the arrangement of information on the official websites of the sites of memory and martyrdom.

4.1. Main Information

After reviewing the information on heritage protected by museums from destruction and oblivion, it was decided to divide it into that of a main and complementary nature. The main information introduces the subject, tells the history of heritage in a comprehensive way, and tries to present the phenomenon in all its complexity. Such extended information can be found in the tabs devoted to the history of the camp and the history of the museum itself, describing the visit to the museum and presenting virtual tours or in 3D format, as well as tabs of selected exhibitions and publications available on museum websites.

4.1.1. The History of the Camp—Methods of Presentation

The history of the camp, similarly to other tabs with information classified as general, differs in its description depending on the website of a particular museum. The range is considerable: from a simple description of a few paragraphs to a multilevel and multithreaded presentation of all those elements which, according to the institution responsible for preparing the website, make up a complete picture of the history of the camp. The simplest version of information transfer is a short text devoted to the history of the camp, accompanied by a few photos that refer to the history. An example is the website of the Kulmhof camp, which presents two periods in the history of the camp in two paragraphs, and the text is accompanied by three photos referring to the subject.

At the opposite extreme is the history of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp (Figure 1), which is presented in many aspects. The main page redirects to a subpage titled “history”, which leads to another 24 subpages dealing with more detailed themes of the history of the camp. It is worth citing all of them in order to get the full picture of the content describing the Holocaust and suffering of the victims of World War II (see

Table 1. Auchwitz-Birkenau—the history of the camp (the methods of presentation).

Subpage	Content
General history	The reason for establishing the camp, its structure, and the manner of its establishment are presented. The description is accompanied by a characteristic photo.
Before the Holocaust	A description of the reasons for establishing the camp from the very beginning. The road to Auschwitz is divided into subsequent stages. Each of the stages is described on a different subpage: popularity of the Nazis; Hitler’s rise to power; persecution of Jews; emigration and the Jewish problem; founding of KL Auschwitz; Einsatzgruppen.
Auschwitz I	Information on the division of the camp, description of the construction and expansion of this part of the camp, and active links to online lessons: Auschwitz—concentration and extermination camp and a link to books on this subject, which can be purchased in the online store
Auschwitz II—Birkenau	The history and role of this camp presented in text + photo format with three subpages informing about construction of the camp (the text is accompanied by an active photo), organizational structure of the camp, and camp functions.
Auschwitz III—Monowitz	Description divided into five parts referring to five subpages: IG Farben; beginning of construction; numerical status; conditions and number of casualties; evacuation. Each piece of information is presented as text ranging from two sentences to several paragraphs long.
Sub-camps	49 sub-camps are shown. One sentence of information is devoted to each of them, while the name of the sub-camp itself is an active link that redirects to a separate subpage. Sometimes the description is accompanied by a photo.
Holocaust	The website refers to six subpages that describe the Holocaust: Jews; gas chambers; unloading ramps and selections; course of annihilation; destruction of the gas chambers; number of victims.
Different groups of prisoners	A set of texts relating to six categories: Jews; Polish people; Roma; Soviet prisoners of war; Auschwitz prisoners of other nationalities; homosexuals—a separate category of prisoners.
Prisoner markings	The information leads to three subpages: marking with a triangle; marking jews; other markings. Each of the subpages explains the markings in a few sentences.
The fate of children	The link leads to seven subpages: Jewish children; Roma children; Polish children; children from the Soviet Union; children born in the camp; the fate of children; number of liberated children. Each of the subpages contains a few-sentence description.
Life in the camp	Text with two active photos related to the topic. There are three subpages: dining; agenda of the day; releases from the camp. Each subpage is a separate text.
Punishments and executions	Introductory text and nine subpages: punishment of whipping; block 11; “the post” penalty; penal company; other penalties; executions; shootings; the gallows; starvation death. Each subpage is accompanied by an explanation of varying length.
Camp hospitals	Text about medicine in Auschwitz and seven subpages: selections, executions, experiments; inception of hospitals; diseases and epidemics; conditions in the hospital; prisoner-doctors; selections and lethal intravenous injections; falsifying of hospital records. Each subpage is a few-paragraph-long text describing the phenomenon.
Experiments	Information about medical experiments carried out on prisoners in the camp and eight subpages: seven dedicated to specific doctors—German criminals, and tabs with the names of people, e.g., Josef Mengele; the eighth tab describes other doctors (criminals).
Resistance movement	Introductory text + photo of Pilecki and five subpages: organized resistance; prisoner mutinies; escapes; reports written after escaping from Auschwitz; number of escapes.
Informing the world	Text and four subpages: first covered contacts with prisoners; collecting evidence of crime; transferring information to the West; reports of Auschwitz escapees.
Evacuation	Text + four pages: preliminary evacuation of the camp; cessation of mass extermination; final evacuation and liquidation of the camp; on the trail of the death marches—information of varying length.
Liberation	Text + six subpages: escape of the SS men and the final victims; 27 January 1945; film that documents the crime; first help; liberated children; war crimes’ investigatory commissions. Each tab is text of varying length developing the topic.
Number of victims	Text + three pages: number of deportees by ethnicity; number of prisoners registered by year; overall numbers by ethnicity or category of deportee. Each subpage presents statistical data related to the topic.
The SS garrison	Description characterizing the crew members in terms of education, religion, citizenship, SS overseers. There are five subpages: commandants; command hierarchy; the organizational structure of Auschwitz concentration camp; trials of SS men from the Auschwitz Concentration Camp garrison; (un)justice. Each subpage is accompanied by textual information.
Holocaust denial	A longer text describing the phenomenon with six subpages: Holocaust and genocide denial after the war; denial forms; Leuchter Report; Germar Rudolph; The Institute for Historical Review; Ernst Zundel. Each tab is accompanied by relevant text.
Bibliography	List of authors and their publications
Photo galery	The gallery is divided into 15 categories. Each category contains photos + descriptions.
Auschwitz calendar	Seven subpages briefly describing the events in each of the 7 years of the war (from 1939 to 1945) with a daily date.

Source: own elaboration based on [129].

).

Other camps present similar or intermediate situations. In Sobibór and Bełżec [133,134], information about the history of the camp appears in the general History tab, next to the subpages Calendar and Map of the Lublin Region, where it is located. The text on history is relatively long, but not accompanied by pictures. The information offered by the museum at Majdanek is much more extensive. In the History tab, there is a subpage, the history of the camp, next to the following subpages: calendar, prisoners, map of Lublin, map of the Lublin region, and blog. The very history of the camp leads to further detailed information collected in the following categories: general information; camp buildings; camp admission process; the origin of the prisoners; crew; living conditions; timetable; work; penalties; prisoner clothing and markings; functional prisoners; infirmary—camp hospital; extermination; resistance movement; liquidation of the camp; Wehrmacht labor camp; NKVD camp; processes. Each of the subpages, after expanding, contains text and a short film developing or supplementing the topic [131].

The history of the KL Stutthof camp is presented in a rather moderate way. In the History tab, a timeline presentation appears in the calendar form. Key dates or periods, when clicked, develop into short information, no more than a few sentences long, combined with an active photo thematically related to the presented text [135].

In the case of the Treblinka camp, information can be found in the History tab, which leads to two tabs dedicated to the history of both camps: Treblinka I and Treblinka II. They are accompanied by three tabs: biographies; the Holocaust in art; virtual tour. The Treblinka I tab opens with a description of the history with an engraving depicting the plan of the camp. The text is accompanied by tabs presenting in detail selected elements of the camp’s history: topography of the camp; establishment of the camp; prisoners; crew; board; slave labor; escapes; liquidation of the camp; a place of executions. In the case of Topography, the text is accompanied by a detailed plan of the camp with a legend. The subpage Treblinka II is presented in a similar manner, where the introductory description is accompanied by the following tabs: timeline; setting up a camp—T2; camp map; camp topography; crew; transports; prisoners; killing technique; resistance and insurrection; liquidation of the camp; number of victims; commemoration. Each subpage contains textual information; in the Topography tab, there are photos of 28 different maps related to the camp [134].

4.1.2. History of the Museum—Methods of Presentation

The history of the museum usually describes the steps taken to commemorate the site of martyrdom and the Holocaust. In the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, the history is located in the Museum tab and is a subpage introducing textual information that redirects to three subsequent subpages describing individual elements of the history of the creation of the museum. These three subpages lead to further subpages developing the main theme:

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From liberation to the founding of the museum: hospitals; the work of the commission for investigating the crimes of the Nazis; transit camps; use of post-camp property; activities for the creation of the museum; visiting the post-camp areas; opening of the museum.

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The beginnings of the functioning of the museum: Auschwitz I; Auschwitz II-Birkenau; number of visitors; first scientific studies; national exhibitions, monument in birkenau; press discussion; demolish and plough?

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Museum by dates: tabs contain information for individual decades from 1945 to 2022 [129].

In the case of the camp at Majdanek, the tab About the Museum contains a text divided into two parts: the mission of the museum—briefly described, and the history of the museum presenting in six paragraphs the stages of creating the museum [131]. A similar pattern is in the case of the museums in Sobibór and Bełżec. Kulmhof includes short information with a photo in two separate subpages of the Museum tab: mission of the museum and history of the museum [130,132,133]. In the case of the Stutthof museum, the history of the museum is connected with the history of the camp, and the information is presented in the same scheme [135], while the museum in Treblinka does not provide information on its website in a separate tab about the history of the creation of the museum [134].

4.1.3. Visiting the Museum—Information

This type of information on the official websites of the museums shows primarily practical aspects and concerns of the rules of visiting, organization of visits for individual and group visitors, prices, duration of stay, opening hours, or information on the temporary exclusion of access to selected parts of the museum (as in the case of the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site). However, one of the subpages entitled Multibook—preparation for a visit to the Memorial Site is interesting from the point of view of heritage presentation. It is meant as a self-preparation course for a visit to the camp. The expected time to acquire knowledge is about 30–35 min, during which the basic facts from the history of the camp are presented; the places that the visitors met during visits, as well as the rules of visiting and the message of the survivor of Auschwitz, are demonstrated.

The multimedia presentation consists of slides that contain short text information, with an accompanying video expanding and showing specific elements of information, such as what the Auschwitz camp was, KL (Konzentrationslager) Auschwitz, the site plan and location of the camp, statistical data, and a historical calendar related to the functioning of the camp, accompanied by a text and photo commentary. It all ends with a film presenting elements of heritage that could be discovered during camp visit. The testimony of one of the prisoners presented in two parts opens and closes this unusual course. The videos are short, lasting up to 4 min. It is worth noting that the films presented in the multibook are also available in sign language [129].

In the case of the museum in Sobibór, in the tab For visitors on the subpage, Accessibility, next to information about architectural barriers, three videos (also with sign language) are attached. One of them tells the story of the German extermination camp in Sobibór. The same is true of the museums in Bełżec and Majdanek [131,132].

4.1.4. Virtual Tour

Each museum in its virtual offer also has a virtual tour, sometimes called a 3D tour. In the case of the museum in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the visiting menu offers the opportunity to get to know the virtual: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II, and Auschwitz-Birkenau—Alte Judenrampe (Figure 2). Each part enables a virtual walk; virtual arrows appear on the image indicating possible directions of sightseeing, redirecting to the next part of the camp. Each element is accompanied by a tab with textual information describing the element seen in the image, along with an active link to the bookstore where one can purchase the indicated publications extending the information. In addition to the virtual tour, there are 360 panoramas of the main parts of the camp, such as the camp kitchen, assembly square, and interior panoramas, as well as as the interiors of selected camp blocks. Virtual sightseeing also offers a map of the camp with active objects marked redirecting to images of these objects with a division in the map description into views from the outside and inside of the objects. The tour offers text information in Polish and English [129].

In the case of the museum in Bełżec, it is a virtual walk using the Google tool [132]. The Kulmhof museum website offers a virtual tour that takes the visitor around the museum grounds and inside the exhibition building. The virtual walk consists of 34 stops that describe specific events or facts related to the history of the place. After clicking at the point marked in the virtual space, text information in Polish and English pops up or a movie opens up presenting the history of the place. The videos last about 15 min [130].

The virtual tour in the Treblinka camp offers a walk in eight of its parts in the form of panoramas that one can move around, as well as one tour of the facility interior showing a permanent exhibition. However, this is just an image without a description [134].

Virtual sightseeing in the Stutthof camp consists of automatically rotating 360 panoramas of selected objects or places. In total, the virtual tour consists of 11 different sections, such as the old camp, the new camp, the gas chamber and crematorium, and the SS section. Each of the parts is divided into subsequent parts from three to even 14. Ninety of the panoramas, if clicked, stop and expand the appropriate text information on the image or presents the story associated with the image [135]. On the other hand, the camps in Sobibór and Majdanek do not offer virtual tours on their websites.

4.1.5. Selected Exhibitions

Museums present their heritage in different ways. Among the ways to demonstrate this potential are exhibitions, permanent or temporary, with general and detailed information related to the camp. The Sobibór camp provides information about the permanent exhibition, presenting history in the form of a short, 4 min film in which a museum employee talks about the resources. The next tab leads to a description of the exhibition combined with a photo gallery and two additional videos supplementing the description [133].

On its subpages, the Museum at Majdanek presents temporary exhibitions and one permanent exhibition devoted to the mass murder of Jews as part of “Operation Reinhardt”. The text describing the action itself is accompanied by photos of the exhibition. An interesting way of presenting the heritage on the museum official website involves online exhibitions presenting both the camp itself and the stories of the extermination of Jews, as well as the suffering of the inhabitants of the occupied territories. In total, the museum offers five such exhibitions [131].

The exhibitions of the museum in Bełżec are presented in a similar scheme: there is short information about the permanent exhibition combined with photos, and online exhibitions devoted to the Holocaust, prepared as a text accompanied by photos, available in pdf version. Online exhibitions of a similar scheme—a slide show consisting of text and accompanying photos—can be found on the website of the museum in Kulmhof (Figure 3) [130,132].

Very detailed information can be obtained by browsing the subpage devoted to exhibitions on the official Auschwitz-Birkenau camp website. The main exhibition presentation is a text description introducing the subsequent tabs leading to descriptions of exhibition individual elements: commemorative plaques; destruction; physical evidence; life in the camp; living conditions; death block; wall of executions; gas chamber No. 1; the camp bathhouse in Birkenau; different places. In addition, there is a description of permanent exhibitions devoted to imprisoned and murdered members of the nations of occupied Europe. There are as many as 11 national exhibitions, each in the form of a short description with an attached photo of the exhibition. In addition to the presentation of permanent exhibitions, there are seven online exhibitions available on the website. Some of them are slide shows using Google Arts and Culture technology, where the text is interspersed with photos referring to the text, and sometimes videos, including original ones from the World War II. Other online exhibitions consist of text and active photos or drawings, related to the theme of the exhibition [129].

On the Stutthof camp website, the permanent exhibitions are a set of signed photos depicting the exhibition elements.

4.1.6. Selected Publications Available on Museum Websites

Some of the analyzed websites offer the opportunity to purchase scientific or popular science publications devoted to various issues related to the Holocaust history and the martyrdom of the nations conquered by Germany. On the website of the Auschwitz museum there is a tab, Bookstore, which redirects to 169 publications written by 101 authors, which are grouped according to their nature or purpose. The available categories are guidebooks, historical studies, memoirs and reports, albums, films and multimedia, education, voices of memory, periodical: Zeszyty Oświęcimskie, and thematic sets. The publications are available in 22 different languages. Each item can be purchased online [129].

The possibility of purchasing a publishing offer related to the history of the camp online is also available on the Stutthof Museum website. Each of the books is presented in the scheme active cover; after clicking, its description, along with the bibliographic address, develops [135].

The Kulmhof Museum has a tab, publications, which presents available books in the following scheme: author, publisher, place and year of publication, and a few-sentence description; in some cases, you can open a pdf with a folder promoting the publication. However, it is not possible to buy the books offered online [130].

The museum in Treblinka in the tab, the museum, has a subpage, publications. These are either one-sentence descriptions with a photo of the cover or, in a few cases, the cover accompanied by the possibility of reading the book in pdf form [134].

4.2. Complementary Information

Complementary information extends the general knowledge on the heritage with selected aspects of this complicated history or constitutes a kind of commentary on the heritage. One can find them in many places. Their detailed review, due to technical limitations, is rather impossible, but it is worth paying attention to the ways in which they are communicated and to try to organize them.

4.2.1. News

The first source of information of this nature is news. It is a commentary on contemporary events related to the memorial museum; in many cases, however, it contains a reference to a specific event or events related to the history of the place especially when the message refers to the anniversary of an event that took place in the camp or is more broadly related to the Holocaust and the martyrdom of prisoners. The topic of news is very broad (Figure 4). This includes information about organized exhibitions, meetings with prisoner-witnesses, competitions and educational sessions organized by the museum authorities, and the latest book publications or periodicals published by the authorities or with their financial or promotional support.

This is the case with the news from the largest memorial site Auschwitz-Birkenau. Some of the information is supplemented with active links that redirect to specific places on the museum’s website that expand knowledge about the Holocaust. This is the case, for example, with information about the number of visitors from 2022 and the number of visits to the website of the place. On this occasion, an active link to the bookmark was posted, lesson.auschwitz.org (accessed on 24 April 2023 ), which redirects to didactic materials expanding knowledge about the Holocaust [129]. In its news, the Stutthof Museum also publishes information about the annual activity report, various training courses, and educational projects.

4.2.2. Teaching Aids

Practically each of the memorial museums has a tab on its website prepared for teachers and those who would like to learn about the subject related to the camp, extermination, or war in an orderly form of lessons. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum definitely has the richest offer in this respect.

A separate Education tab leads to 14 subpages, two of which are important in this context. In the materials, in addition to the previously presented file, there are preparation materials for teachers and e-learning for the visit to the Memorial Site; all other files are presented in detail in

Table 2. Auschwitz-Birkenau—didactic offer.

Offer	Description
Memory 4.0	Memory 4.0—an online educational tool for international youth groups. It is a package of six interconnected lessons on the persecution of Poles and people of other nationality as political prisoners, racist persecution of Jews, racist persecution of Roma and Sinti and other types of persecution. It is preceded by an introduction and ends with a summary. It is a project developed in English and partly in Hebrew.
Lessons	Online lesson offer. Each of the lessons is developed by professional historians. The offer includes 29 different lessons, which are enriched with multimedia material: photos, videos, interactive maps, and plans, so as to make it easier to understand the history of not only this place but also the events that led to its creation. There are various topics that concern selected issues. These topics—among others—are women in KL Auschwitz, deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, the resistance movement in KL Auschwitz, etc. Two lessons are worth paying attention to: introductory lessons on Auschwitz—concentration and extermination camp and extermination of Jews at KL Auschwitz. The first, due to the content, can be practically classified as information of a general nature. Its uniqueness also lies in the fact that it has been proposed in 10 language versions, including Hebrew, Arabic, and even Persian. The other lesson about the extermination of Jews is basically a series of seven lessons describing the attempt to exterminate the Jewish people.
“On Auschwitz” podcast	These are recordings presenting various topics related to the camp in 30 episodes. Duration varies from 13 to 48 min, depending on the complexity of the topic.
To Understand Holokaust	A book supporting teaching about the extermination of Jews. This is an extensive publication (354 pages) produced by the museum, available free of charge. It presents, in addition to the tragedy of the Holocaust itself, the culture and history of Jews in Europe, as well as their heritage and contribution to the development of the contemporary world.
Multimedia presentations for the publication “Voices of Memory”	Didactic publication devoted to issues related to the camp. These are nine multimedia presentations available for free on the website for teachers to download.
Artwork of prisoners in KL Auschwitz	Teaching materials for educators in the form of readymade lesson plans.
Educational package: Polish citizens in KL Auschwitz	The package consists of three elements: a documentary film (40 min), a lesson designed on the Prezi platform with a scenario for teachers and worksheets, and reflection cards for students—all in a free downloadable version. The lesson is available in three languages: Polish, English, and Hebrew.
Education portfolio—75 years after Aktion Reinchardt	Contemporary Remembrance of the Holocaust of Polish Jews: the contents of the scenarios contained therein are divided into two groups: the local history of the Jewish community and five scenarios relating to general issues related to the culture and the Holocaust of Jews. The electronic version of the scenarios is a total of 110 pages of text to download in PDF version.
Movie	A two-part recording of the educational conference “Memory in us is still immature...” devoted to the issues of how to teach about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.

Source: own elaboration based on [129].

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The educational offer of the remaining six analyzed memorial sites basically fits the pattern presented above, except that it is usually much more limited. In the case of the State Museum at Majdanek, as part of the teaching aid, the website offers the Didactic Package available for free in the pdf version. It consists of two publications, Educational visits to the State Museum at Majdanek: Guide for teachers—a collection of scientific articles on this topic, and Out-of-school education at the State Museum at Majdanek—a practical guide for teachers on how to prepare, conduct, and summarize lessons about the Holocaust and the museum. The package is supplemented with photos of the camp museum exhibits, which support the proposed lessons [131].

The museums in Bełżec and Sobibór offer the publication “Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust” published in 2019 by the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), available in pdf version. They also inform about the possibility of ordering lessons conducted by museum employees [132,133]. Similar information about the possibility of conducting classes is offered by the museums in Płaszów and Stutthof. Płaszów provides educational materials on the history of the facility on its website, and Stutthof also offers online lessons, but this is not a publicly available offer. To use it, one must log in [135,136].

4.2.3. Temporary Exhibitions

In addition to permanent exhibitions, selected museums also present temporary exhibitions. The Treblinka Museum presents on its website information about four exhibitions that can be seen at the museum between 2019 and 2020. The information comes down to providing the subject, a short description, and a gallery of several or more photos presenting the materials presented at the exhibition. One of the exhibitions is accompanied by an 11 min film presenting the elements on which it is based. A similar scheme of presentation, a short description combined with photos, is included on the website of the Museum at Majdanek [131,134]. The museums in Sobibór and Bełżec also present temporary exhibitions of a similar scheme. It is worth emphasizing that both temporary exhibitions available on the museum premises are presented, along with those that the museum has prepared and are or have been presented outside the museum premises. Their range is supra-regional (Przemyśl, Białystok, Kielce, and Warsaw) [132,133]. In the case of the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, the temporary exhibition has a global reach; Auschwitz. Not so long ago. Not so far away is presented until the end of August this year at the Regan Library in California. The description of the exhibition is accompanied by an almost 2.5 h film presenting a conference devoted to this topic [129]. The Museum of KL Płaszów approaches the presentation of information about the temporary exhibition in the most detailed way. In addition to a detailed description of the exhibition itself, it presents the place where it is located in the camp, justifying its choice, the author of the exhibition together with a photographic presentation, and the events accompanying the exhibition itself [136]. The Stutthof Museum is the only one that does not use this form of informing visitors about its heritage.

4.2.4. Other Channels of Complementary Information Distribution

Information about the heritage that museums protect and present is also conveyed in other, sometimes surprising, ways. An example may be the tab museum map. The map can be active (after clicking on a specific point, suitable information is displayed about it) or classic, with a legend attached explaining its individual elements.

An interesting way to present intangible heritage is offered by the museum in Treblinka. In the tab History, there is a link to the subpage Biograms (Figure 5). Biographies of camp prisoners are presented in alphabetical order. Under 40 names, there are personal stories of people who were prisoners about whom more or less detailed information has been preserved. These stories often cover a larger time span than just life in the camp thanks to which the reader has a chance to learn about the prisoners’ personal history against the backdrop of the tragic history of Europe and the world in the 1940s. Among the biographies, there is the biography of the famous educator and physician of Jewish origin—Janusz Korczak [134].

More detailed information is available on the website of the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum. In the Museum tab, there is a link, available data. This subpage contains very detailed information on death records, prisoner photos, memory books, escapes, transports, etc. These are various messages from the museum’s archives. Other sources of information on heritage include photos and videos, along with a tab presenting material resources and movables which are remnants of difficult history. These are usually everyday objects, once the property of the prisoners they were deprived of upon admittance to prison, or the items they used every day during their camp life [129].

4.3. Heritage and Form of Transmission

It is worth looking at the form of communication of the heritage found in museums and Holocaust memorials during World War II. The content of the websites attempts to affect all the senses starting with the sense of sight.

Textual information is the most popular form of communication, which is confirmed by the way the primary and complementary information is presented. The text describes the heritage, as well as its history. It is the tool to present the official story as well as the stories of individual participants; it informs about the past and present of the memorial. It is the foundation that builds the identity of heritage in virtual space. However, words are not enough to convey the heritage richness. Therefore, the story is completed by an image that is very important in the virtual space.

In accordance with the old rule that a picture is worth 1000 words, museums also use images to represent reality. Static images are used, and these are usually photographs presented in the form of photo galleries. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum uses this tool more than others (Figure 6). The Museum tab redirects to a sub-page, photo gallery, which in turn proposes five sub-themes. These are historical photos and documents divided into further 15 categories: Memorial—presenting contemporary photos of the grounds of the camp and events connected with it (six categories), Exhibitions—presenting photos of the main exhibition and national exhibitions (14 categories), Camp and post-camp art—photos of works created secretly in the camp, as well as post-war art works by prisoners, and Museum functioning—photos presenting the departments of the Museum and its staff [129].

The photo gallery is also offered by the KL Płaszów museum, dividing the photos into four categories: prisoner memorabilia, archaeological artifacts, items related to the camp crew, and arts and crafts. The majority of texts describing the heritage under the auspices of memorial museums are accompanied by photographs to complement the text [136].

A moving image is used alongside the static one. In fact, every site posts various videos, usually on the YouTube platform to present a story, a specific event, or a visualization of a space. Another way to use the image is to propose a virtual tour, as mentioned above.

The museum websites presenting heritage try to appeal to various senses. The visual sense involves words plus images, as demonstrated above. The auditory sense is addressed in podcasts offered on the museums’ websites (this is especially important for blind people), e.g., in a series of 30 podcasts posted on the website of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Site dealing with various topics related to the history of the camp: the origins of Auschwitz; medicine in the camp; the fate of children in Auschwitz; housing, sanitary conditions and clothing; sports and athletes in Auschwitz. The series of broadcasts makes it possible to understand the everyday life in which the prisoners of the camp lived. An offer that appeals to both senses (sight and hearing) at the same time is the wide range of films offered by all the museums. Lastly, it is worth mentioning one interesting initiative which, rather indirectly, also affects the sense of taste and smell. In the category news of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum on 14 October 2022, information appeared about a book published by the ABMF, which is a collection of recipes and testimonies of Auschwitz survivors, entitled Honey Cake and Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors [129].

4.4. Modes of Narration—Official and Personal

One more aspect worth noting is the mode of narration. When reviewing the content on the heritage two main ways of conveying information can be distinguished: official narrative; personal narrative.

The first type is a message focused on content and it is rather informative. Those who are not well acquainted with history here will gain an understanding of what the Holocaust was, and how the concentration camps were created and functioned from their inception to the modern period, when they serve a museum function. This information is sufficient for understanding that tragedy, complete and detailed, as well as helps to know the history of the camp architects, the executioners working there, the work conducted there, the punishment system, and the ways of killing. It helps to answer the question why this place of execution was established. It even allows one to learn about the topography of the area where the camp was set up thanks to the posted, digitized cartographic material. Where and in what way this information was presented on the websites have already been described above. However, it is worth looking at a second type of narrative, which has been referred to as a personal narrative for the purposes of this publication.

This is a look at the history of dissonant heritage from a perspective in which the history of war is the background to personal stories—the camps’ prisoners. In this narrative, personal memories are highlighted, and they build the picture of world history during the difficult years of World War II. The history here consists of individual life stories, the tragedies of people whose suffering ceases to be anonymous. In this way, they gain the rank of testimony as important as the general history. This mode of narration draws attention to the fact that the tragedy of a nation is the sum of the tragedies of its members. Their multiplicity and diversity make it possible not only to get to know but also to feel what the planned annihilation of entire societies really was for millions of people. Here, it presents the history of the action of extermination of the Jews (Einsatz Reinhardt) carried out as part of the Endlösung der Judenfrage—the final solution to the Jewish question—as shown in the letter written by Mrs Róża Kapłan to her husband Szumel in the Warsaw Ghetto. In this letter, she writes about her fear of death and her attempts to find a way out of a situation from which millions of victims failed to survive [131].

The personal narrative varies in nature. First and foremost are the testimonies of those who survived the tragedy but also of those who did not manage to survive the war of whom only records remain. Survivors tell their stories recorded as films or broadcasts digitized in the form of podcasts, as in the case of the Kulmhof, Belzec, or Auschwitz museums. The museums on their websites present also written accounts which are included in the source texts, as is the case of the Kulmhof Museum or the Bełżec Museum [130,132]. These texts are part of a teaching package to enrich lessons on the tragedy of the Holocaust. Some diaries have been edited and made available as publications. Less extensive information has also been made available digitally, although its content can be just as important as in the case of a secret message from the Auchwitz camp [129] or a postcard found in an Italian prisoner’s belongings in the Majdanek camp [131]. The Treblinka Museum used such personal accounts to supplement information on the prisoners whose biographies are included in the History tab [134].

Equally moving are the photographs depicting camp movable property that accompanied the prisoners’ lives, such as photographs of a characteristic outfit from Auschwitz, artifacts such as a cup or comb from the Kulmhof camp [130], or prisoners’ memorabilia from KL Płaszów or Auschwitz (Figure 7) [129,136].

A separate place should be devoted to the unnamed photographs of prisoners who had their names taken away and were given a number. Equally shocking are the photographs depicting scenes of everyday camp life, such as the roll call of prisoners or the arrival of a new transport of prisoners.

5. Conclusions, Limitations, and Future Research

The modern world is divided into two spaces that are probably already equivalent: the real and the virtual. For the purposes of tourism, it can be assumed that virtual space is subordinate, performing an auxiliary function for cognition of the real space in which tourism takes place. However, despite the relationship of dependence, it becomes indispensable for the functioning of tourism in the real space. The Internet is one of the most essential sources of knowledge about destination for the potential tourists [31,36,40,44,45]. Regardless of what kind of information one is looking for, as a rule, the first step is to search for answers on the Internet: whether it concerns the characteristics of the region, the town or village one intends to visit, the most important values including the widely understood heritage, or even detailed data related to the logistics of the trip, such as accommodation, transport, and all possible attractions that the region has to offer. The Internet is helpful in resolving many issues. It allows finding out about the quality of the offers, informs about the safety, and points out the options to take advantage of [62,67,71,72,139]. It is worth noting that there is a growing belief that information alone is no longer enough [77,81]. The way it is communicated to the potential tourist also counts. What is important is the quality of the information, the attractiveness of the message, its multifaceted nature that explains any possible issues that may arise, and its relevance [75,76]. A growing number of tourists are making their decision to travel according to information they are able to access. It is, therefore, important that the attractions including the heritage resources of the region a tourist intends to visit are already well presented at the virtual level. This gives the region a chance to evoke the potential customers’ interest in its offer, dispel any doubts, and increase satisfaction from the visit because it has been well planned and executed. All this is due to the appropriate information available on the Internet.

The main factor that attracts a tourist to a region is its assets, dependent on the form of tourism one intends to practice. In the case of cultural tourism in its broadest sense, the reason to decide to go on a tourist trip is the heritage including the dissonant heritage. For complete satisfaction, one needs as complete knowledge of heritage resources as possible regardless of their type [41,83]. In addition to purely technical information such as temporal and spatial accessibility of the heritage resource, cost of visit, and temporary or permanent accessibility restrictions, what is also sought is the most basic information on the heritage resource itself in all its complexity. This need is also fulfilled by virtual space. It is safe to say that, for the purposes of tourism, cultural heritage resources have been “transferred” as fully as possible from real space to virtual space. Almost every aspect of heritage functioning is digitized. Furthermore, the Internet makes available even those elements of the real space which, for various reasons (rarity and low resistance to tourist traffic), are not presented or the possibility of viewing them is very limited. This is the advantage of virtual space over real space. It is no different in the case of the analyzed heritage of the tragic past of the Second World War.

The virtual space in which heritage is located is also a space for education. The knowledge gathered on the Internet on relevant sites (websites) is an excellent tool for educating tourists. After all, it is a well-known truth that travel educates. Thanks to the digitization of heritage, cultural tourists have the chance to start the education process even before leaving, and this commonly happens [87,88]. It also concerns dissonant heritage presented on the websites of museums—memorials. The information provided on webpages, as indicated in this publication, is multifaceted information showing the painful history of the Holocaust from many angles, giving voice not only to the official history but also to its participants—the victims whose stories complete the picture of the World War II. It is this information that, alongside knowledge, helps to shape desirable attitudes. Therefore, it is impossible to overestimate the value of this channel of distribution of knowledge about the difficult heritage, which educates the tourists as effectively as school—or perhaps even more.

One can feel tempted to conclude that digitizing heritage is the future of tourism information. Although this may have already become a contemporary reality, the proper development of tourism now and in the future will to a large extent also depend on how resources and heritage are presented in virtual space.

This study certainly had limitations. Due to the complexity of the topic and the limited volume of the article, analysis of the website content in English was abandoned, as already mentioned in the section describing the study. Information in English tends to be more limited and sometimes somewhat changed, which would have introduced too many variables into the study. Therefore, research on the availability of information for English-speaking audiences and comparative studies were abandoned at this stage. However, future research will certainly be devoted to these issues. Another limitation was the decision to analyze only websites. This is only one channel of information distribution in the virtual space of which the author is aware. What remains is the whole world of social media and app-based education available on smartphones, as mentioned in the literature review section [114,115]. Addressing this issue here would definitely extend this already long article. However, it should be emphasized that this issue also deserves a deeper analysis and is a task for another study. Lastly, it is worth adding that the study of the virtual world in the service of the real world of tourism is also an important element in the development of knowledge on the most effective communication of information on difficult heritage; in this respect, this article can be treated as an important voice in the discussion.