Managing controversial heritage through education. Experience at a site of perpetrators

This essay frames sites of perpetrators as a controversial heritage and explores the approaches taken to manage this class of heritage through education, proposing considerations from the analysis of the educational programme conceived and implemented at the Museum of Secret Surveillance “House of Leaves” in Tirana, which is housed in one of the former offices of the Albanian communist regime’s State Security. Beginning with a review of the scholarly literature on controversial heritage, sites of perpetration and education in memorial museums, the research proceeds with a methodology that combines the analysis of educational materials and interviews with museum staff and collaborators in educational activities. The research identifies the potential and shortcomings of two key approaches to managing controversial heritage through education: embracing multivocality through witness testimonies and fostering critical thinking through personal engagement. The paper concludes pointing to the distinction between education at sites of perpetrators and education on perpetrators, and to underexplored educational opportunities.