Nostalgia and experiences of cold war tourism

The Approach

The research objectives are as follows:-

• Analyse interpretation and narrativisation of Cold War heritage
• Evaluate visitor experiences within Cold War and related attractions
• Examine the ways in which western otherness pervades and impacts upon the tourist gaze within the context of former Cold War sites
• Investigate how nostalgic experiences translate to other former Cold War countries
• Critically evaluate and mediate the complex narratives that exist between tourist visits to Cold War heritage sites and personal and collective memories to support public interpretation of this recent historical period

Three countries and locations have been selected because they have developed tourism products that offer experiences of the Cold War or communist regimes and their downfall at dedicated heritage sites.

UK attractions are disparate in their approach to interpretation and post-Cold War narratives. Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker (UK), focuses on the potential impact of a nuclear warhead targeting the north-west of the country with a visitor experience that includes a nuclear blast simulator.

The Secret Nuclear Bunker at Kelveden Hatch places greater emphasis on the design, use and secrecy of the building, although Hermann (2010) argues that the private ownership of the bunker has enabled the owner to create a largely ambiguous collection of original and imported items. He suggests it offers a particularly nuanced explanation and celebration of the site, suggesting it represented a “profane tangible tribute to emphasize the imminence and inevitability of World War III” (Deery, 2000) with little social context or memorialisation (Hermann, 2010).

Orford Ness in Suffolk (UK), owned by The National Trust and accessible only by boat, is managed as a site for wildlife and conservation – the large concrete pagodas which can be seen from the mainland which covered test laboratories for building atomic trigger missiles are being allowed, together with other historic monuments on the site, to return to nature.

In Germany, tourists can stay in the ‘Ostel’ Hostel, a hostel offering a variety of rooms decorated and furnished to a design that echoes that of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). You can also partake in a Trabi Safari, enabling visitors to negotiate the streets of modern-day Berlin, whilst driving a cult symbol of former East Germany (Gawthrop and Williams, 2011). Many of these experiences are not without their critics. At Checkpoint Charlie, the experience currently on offer to tourists provides commodified and poorly related experiences including the opportunity to obtain a false visa supplied by a fake GDR soldier and have a photo taken in front of a reconstructed border house with fake ‘Soviet’ or ‘American’ soldiers (Bartoletti, 2010).

In Bulgaria, there are walking tours around Sofia that include sites and sights associated with the communist regime and its downflow. The Red Flat experience in Sofia offers a glimpse of the everyday lives of people during the regime, and Trabi tours to the abandoned monument house of the Bulgarian Communist Party on the peak of Buzludzha present the forgotten heritage of the communist period.

From a management and planning perspective, the study will illuminate and inform management practices at heritage on the ways that personal and collective memories of tourists can shape the ways they engage with and experience heritage sites.

The research will take place over the next 18 months, at sites in the UK, Germany and Bulgaria, involving visitors and site owners. Sites will include the Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker, in Brentwood, Essex, the DDR Museum in Berlin, and the Red Flat in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The project builds on some of the researchers’ previous research and expertise on communist heritage, tourism and memory to offer an innovative and fresh insight by examining Cold War tourism from both eastern and western European perspectives.