Given the relatively stable political situation and the limited support for British fascists, Britain’s political elites and society in the 1930s were considered largely impervious to the various overtures made by the Nazi regime to the Germans, toward developing tolerance, approval, or even enthusiasm for its policies and goals. It was believed that only a few misguided individuals had succumbed to Hitler’s persuasive power, Germany’s rise on the international stage, or other factors such as the perfectly organized 1936 Olympics. In reality, however, there was a significantly broader spectrum of reactions to the Nazi regime on the British side, with a surprisingly high degree of support for the measures taken by the new rulers since 1933 in a wide range of areas: in economic reconstruction, in social policy initiatives, in the organization of youth, in the staging of the “Führer,” and even in large-scale propaganda spectacles such as the Reich Party Congress or the persecution of political dissidents. Hardly any group illustrates this as impressively as the British men and women who traveled to Germany between 1933 and 1939. The spectrum ranged from members of the diplomatic service to representatives from politics, business, the churches, associations, and the press, all the way to those who were simply vacationing in the country. As an analysis of their travel reports shows, alongside certainly present critical interpretations, there was a surprising degree of approval for what they had seen and experienced in the country. This approval was often based on drawing a distinction between Germany and National Socialism. Thus, phenomena such as the construction of the autobahn or the comparatively easy recovery from the Great Depression could be praised as apolitical or even ideology-free achievements.

Factory tourism is generally known to the public primarily as a contemporary phenomenon, such as tours of breweries or automobile manufacturing plants. In fact, however, factories in German-speaking countries had already been increasingly becoming places of tourist interest as early as the 1890s. Just as traveling to foreign countries did, exploring the unknown right on one’s own doorstep became particularly appealing to the middle class. This is evidenced not only by richly illustrated reports in magazines but also by tourist materials such as postcards bearing greetings from the factory, descriptions of tour itineraries for visiting groups from company records, and menus for multi-course banquets that some companies hosted for their guests. As a result, factory visits came to be regarded on par with trips to exotic countries, modern metropolises, or visits to classic attractions such as museums. The research project reveals that, in addition to curiosity about the foreign and the unknown, the visitors’ motivations included a search for their own identity within the unfamiliar surroundings of the factory halls. The transformation of the factory—a place of work—into a tourist attraction created a new tourist space in which the bourgeoisie reinvented itself in the face of the dual challenge posed by the increasingly aggressive demands of social opponents and by the crises emerging during the transition to modernity. In this context, the encounter with technology became a spectacle focused less on factual understanding and more on the extraordinary personal experience.

Since the massive social, economic, and cultural transformations of the modern era, anything that appeals to travelers’ need to wander into a sense of distance—whatever form that may take—can become a tourist destination. Since the 19th century, a great curiosity about history has also developed and spread, with the allure of the past taking center stage. As with tourism, this encounter with history revolves around the extraordinary and the experience of the foreign and the distant, in which the past appears like a country that can be traveled through and explored. It is therefore hardly surprising that both phenomena have converged—and continue to do so—today as they did in the past, giving rise to historical tourism as a distinctive phenomenon and a unique experience (or offering). But what makes history so attractive as a tourist destination? The project posits that the tourist’s view of history on site has a specific character that is distinctly different from other forms of popularizing history and the ways in which they are received. From the “tourist gaze”—which transforms the everyday into the extraordinary and thus makes it consumable—and the “historical gaze” —the willingness to classify what is perceived as historical—something new has emerged in the modern era. This approach aims to address the research gap regarding a model for analyzing historical tourism.