Transforming through moral injury: Visitor encounters with difficult heritage

In the context of heritage tourism, limited research has examined the moral mechanisms underlying transformative learning. This study integrates moral injury into transformative learning theory to explore how visitors process moral discomfort at two Holocaust museums in the American Midwest: the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center and the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. These museums were established by Holocaust survivors through community-driven efforts, linking remembrance with educational outreach shaped by local initiatives. Employing informed grounded theory and 66 visitor interviews, the analysis identifies moral rupture, moral recalibration, and moral repair as key mechanisms of moral injury that facilitate transformation. Findings reveal how visitors reinterpret prior experiences, navigate ethical uncertainty, and extend moral concern from the self toward others. • Identifies moral ruptures as triggers for transformative learning • Demonstrates moral emotions as central to transformation • Defines doubt and moral humility as drivers of self-reflection • Positions museums as civic spaces that enable transformation • Reveals how design can surface visitors' ethical dilemmas