Project: Accessing Campscapes: Inclusive Strategies for Using European Conflicted Heritage (iC-ACCESS)

iC-ACCESS aims to develop inclusive strategies to provide access to Nazi and Stalinist 'campscapes' as sites of remembrance, education and research. Most of these have been demolished; others are either monumentalized without physical remnants or the history they stand for has been erased. Hence the challenge of a sustainable (re-)use of these often-contested 'heritagescapes' demands a transnational, interdisciplinary and integrated approach. Research questions include: How do we best valorize their dissonant heritage, given the multiplicity of users, memorial practices and visitor expectation, incorporate and display testimonial material of their problematic history, and preserve, use and add value to them? This project examines campscapes: Westerbork, Bergen-Belsen, Treblinka, Falstad, Jasenovac, Lety, and Jáchymov. The objectives are three-fold: to evaluate the cultural dynamics and narratives that have shaped the safeguarding and significance of these selected campscapes; to identify and analyze the ethics and practices of their preservation and presentation; and finally to develop state-of-the art strategies and implement innovative tools which provide sustainable in-situ and virtual forms of investigation and representation. Through new transnational partnerships, outputs of the project include 1) publications and educational materials, 2) workshops and community interventions, 3) digital mapping and interactive display tools; these will unravel and problematize new physical evidence and heritage paradoxes, and stimulate further research, exchange, and debate. With relevant stakeholders the project will share cutting-edge ways of increasing inclusivity and accessibility to European campscapes.

Acronym iC-ACCESS (Reference Number: HERA.15.092)
Duration 01/04/2016 - 31/03/2019
Project Topic REFLECTIVE-1-2014
Network HERA JRP UP
Call HERA Call “Uses of the Past”

Project partner

Number Name Role Country
1 University of Amsterdam Coordinator Netherlands
2 NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology Partner Norway
3 Staffordshire University Partner United Kingdom
4 Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of West Bohemia Partner Czech Republic
5 Freie Universität Berlin Partner Germany
6 Department of Communication and Information Technology, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Partner Spain
7 Post Bellum Observer Czech Republic
8 Herinneringskamp Westerbork Observer Netherlands
9 Jasenovac Memorial Site Observer Croatia
10 Falstad Centre Observer Norway
11 Lidice Memorial Observer Czech Republic
12 Muzeum Walki i Meczerstwa w Treblince Observer Poland
13 Bergen Belsen Memorial Observer Germany
14 Wiener Wiesenthal Institut Observer Austria