architectural report on ion camp westerbork - ivana bidikova

8/6/2019 Architectural Report on ion Camp Westerbork - Ivana Bidikova

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Architectural report on Transportation camp Westerbork

Treatment of 2nd World War heritage

By: Ivana Bidikova

Date: 13 July 2011

Supervisor: Koos Bosma


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Architectural report on Transportation Camp Westerbork Treatment of 2nd World War heritage

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1 . Introduction

This report is part of an advice to various organizations on the treatment of the 2 nd World War heritage

in Holland, particularly transportation camp Westerbork in the Dutch province of Drenthe

(Westerbork ). The main aim of this report is to come up with a concept for preservation and

reconstruction of Westerbork as a 2 nd World War heritage.

Firstly, I will go into the general treatment of 2 nd World War heritage. Secondly, I will discuss the history

and present situation of Westerbork. Thirdly, I will analyse the background and theoretical framework of

heritage protection and presenting some international examples of the treatment of concentration

camps. Lastly, I will propose an architectural concept for preserving the memory of Westerbork.


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2. Architectural treatment of the 2 nd World War heritage

The 2 nd World War collective memory has a central position in many European countries, but the

heritage from this period is faced with very different treatments across Europe. Architecturally, the

conservation or reconstruction of 2 nd World War heritage is a very sensitive subject with difficult

requirements since many actors and emotions are involved in the process. The 2 nd World War heritage

has many sides and different angles of observation and interpretation. This report will only consider

cultural heritage treatment with respect to architectural objects and landscapes of the 2 nd World War.

Today we witness a struggle for cultural identity in many countries. There is a very complex relationship

between the physical memory (architectural) and the emotional memory (social). History is written

differently and thereby sometimes even used to contest cultural identity and deny the significance of

certain artifacts or only recognize the significance of those artifacts to some. Every symbol, artifact,

identity or memory, is culturally important and relevant in all its aspects.

With respect to 2 nd World War architectural artifacts some were long after the war in use, whereas

others were destroyed very quickly after the war. Many military objects were considered good strategic

sites and they remained in use. But many artifacts disappeared with time or were destroyed being

considered a symbol of a bad memory or simply because of the need for space. Because of that we

witness a different situation of these sites and their treatment today.

The architectural design for a reconstruction of a memorial monument or site from the 2 nd World War is

a very sensitive subject. It is in the same time a big challenge for the architectural profession. There are

for instance many concepts of heritage protection, applicable laws and bylaws, and many actors that are

involved.

In Holland the process of heritage protection is supervised by government institutions such as the

Rijksgebouwendienst , memorial foundations and other organisations. Holland does not have a long

memorial tradition. 1 On the Dutch Heritage list there are 76,000 monuments of which more than 80

percent of the historic stock consists of houses. The other 20 percent consists of churches, castles, civil

1This may be partly explained by the fact that Holland was not involved in many wars, as opposed to many Balkancountries which do have an extensive memorial tradition.


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works, windmills and smaller objects. 2 In general any king of heritage without taking into consideration

their typology or use, can be equally treated architecturally in the process of conservation.

There are 3 different ways of treating heritage: (1) preservation, (2) restoration and (3) reconstruction.

In Holland as well as in many other countries in Europe today, 3 there is a trend of completely rebuilding

historical architectural objects yet making them look old. Often very cheap materials are used and the

reconstruction needs repairing within a few years afterwards. Is that creating a false authenticity? How

long will people believe in the preservation of old cities and monuments when they will find out that

much of the preservation is fake? 4 When it comes to reconstructing architectural object one needs to

keep in mind the kind of memory one aspires to create. Do we need to create only visual architectural

artifacts or do we also need to create emotions? In others words, should we also care about the

reception of that memory?

Bonette uses the following guidelines which to him are fundamental to the practice of conservation in

an urban context: 5 (1) conservation, to preserve everything on a is bases, (2) valuation, to value the

objects and treat it accordingly, (3) adaptability, to what extend the objects are allowed to adapt to

modern times, (4) continuity, the way the reconstructed object fits in the context of its surroundings and

(5) participation through documentation, participation of local people in the process, for instance by

informing them. 6 When proposing a new concept for the reconstruction of Westerbork these guidelines

should be used. 7

2 A.Elbers Preservation Policies in Netherland, Historic Cities and Sacred Sites Cultural Roots for Urban Futures,editors: I. Serageldin, E .Shluger, J. Martin-Brown. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2001.p.46.3 See for instance the reconstruction of the Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam.4 M. Bonnette Strategies for Sustainable Urban Preservation, Historic Cities and Sacred Sites Cultural Roots forUrban Futures, editors: I. Serageldin, E .Shluger, J. Martin-Brown. International Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment, 2001. p.133.5 Later on in this report I will show that Westerbork can be treated as an urban structure.6 M. Bonnette Strategies for Sustainable Urban Preservation, Historic Cities and Sacred Sites Cultural Roots forUrban Futures, editors: I. Serageldin, E .Shluger, J. Martin-Brown. International Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment, 2001. p.133 , 135 and 136. Even though Bonette mainly focuses on historic districts, his guidelinesare in my opinion also applicable to conservation of sites such as Westerbork.7 The guidelines are also reflected in the proposed concept in paragraph 5.


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3. Observation of the needs and existing situation of Transportation Camp

Westerbork

When observing Westerbork, one should not visualize an ordinary monument nor an artifact as an

architectural object, but a historical site with many layers of history and collective remembering. The

history of Westerbork can be presented broadly and in great detail, but for the purpose of this report a

short outline with an overview of the most important historical facts is sufficient.

The idea for building Westerbork came from the Dutch authorities themselves. The authorities wanted

to keep Jewish refugees coming from Germany out of the cities and villages. Therefore they built the

camp to provide housing and shelter for the refugees.

When the Nazi army invaded The Netherlands in May 1940, the camp was enlarged to become a

temporary interment and transport camp for Dutch Jews, Gypsies and political prisoners en route to

death camps in the east. In total 102,000 people transited Westerbork and only very few returned.

Westerbork was not a classic concentration camp. Originally it was organized in a different way from the

other camps. There was an attempt for organized social life by the Nazis with the intent to keep the

refugees relatively calm. In the camp there was for instance a sport accommodation, music workshops,

a school, an orphanage, a hospital and even a theatre.


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Image 1 - Model of the camp as per August 1944

The buildings of the camp Westerbork do not exist today. After the war the camp was used as a

temporary housing complex but in the end the wooden constructions were pulled down. Historically,

the existence of the camp has a few main periods: (1) shelter for German Jews: Oct 1939 May 1940,

(2) Nazi occupation transportation camp: May 1940 Sep 1944, (3) residence for soldiers from The

Dutch East Indies and the Moluccans and their families: 1951 1970.

Today the site of the camp is something completely opposite of what it used to be. Westerbork now is a

green open space. The locations where once important buildings stood are marked with an elevatedgrass slope and name signs. Architecturally there is nothing material. The only thing that still remains,

albeit outside of the camp, is the commanders villa. Unfortunately, this architectural object is in a very

bad condition.


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Image 2 - Present situation of the camp

Present Urban analysis for the site:

Open urban space (landscape);

Green public area (accessibility);

Architectural emptiness (nothing physical).

Need:

Reconstruction of an experience for a visitor.

Main Questions:

What to rebuild?

How to treat the historical periods of the site? Which one, if any, is most important?

How to incorporate the existing commanders villa in the story of the camp? How to preserve it?

If the camp is reconstructed, what kind of memory should be created, a good one or a bad one?

Is there a need for creating a space for remembrance or the recreation of the camp?


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4. Background and theoretical framework

During the 2 nd World War a lot of different military buildings and structures were built. Among them

were many jails, concentration camps and other strategic sites. As can be seen on Image 3, more than

50 labor, prison and transit camps and 8 extermination camps were built in Europe during the war. In

addition more than 20 European cities had ghettos or were transit cities, for people en route to

concentration or extermination camps.

Image 3- Map of the Holocaust in Europe

In this paragraph I will go into the treatment of concentration camps, their remains, architectural and

memorial treatment and ideas for reconstruction.

Today, many of these sites are almost gone. They are only a mere memory or only have some very

minimal physical remains. Some sites are partly preserved or reconstructed as part of the establishment


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of memorial centers, yet many governments are still struggling with finding the right concept of what

should be done with these sites. It is almost absurd to see that often in the process of `finding the right

concept for a solution, the tooth of time turns many sites into mere memories, without any physical

presence. Many 2 nd World War cultural sites disappeared due to the expansion of cities and villages or

the lack of the capacity, the will or the competence to conserve these sites.

In order to be able to conserve or reconstruct heritage sites in general, including concentration camps

such as Westerbork, one needs to understand the framework of managing historic sites. According to

Bonette there are two fundamental tasks involved:

finding the right approach to urban conservation and ensure that all the actors involved in the

planning and decision making understand and support it. 8

Urban reconstruction or urban preservation is a process of playing with live materia , it is a process of

finding and inventing, a process of historical facts and collective memory. Assmann puts the difference

between history and collective memory as follows:

History turns into myth as soon as it is remembered, narrated and used, that is woven in to

fabric of the present. 9

While maintaining the distinction between history and memory, Assmann warns against a stark and

overly simple opposition. For him the key to understanding the difference between these two ways of

relating to the past is the degree to which they are shaped in accordance with, and through the lens of

the present. 10

I personally do not agree with Assmans statement and I think that putting history and memory in

opposite categories is wrong. In the case of collective remembering of a heritage urban environment we

always have to look into history and use historical facts in order to be able to establish the right

approach for conservation or reconstruction. Every place, site or any kind of urban structure needs its

own history, protection and remembrance.

8 M. Bonnette Strategies for Sustainable Urban Preservation, (Historic Cities and Sacred Sites Cultural Roots forUrban Futures, editors: I. Serageldin, E .Shluger, J. Martin-Brown.) p.131.9 J. Assman - Mosses the Egyptian: the memory of Egypt in Western monotheism. Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 1997, p.14.10 J.V. Wertsch and H.L. Roediger III Collective memory: Conceptual foundations and theoretical approaches,Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA. MEMORY, 2008, 16(3), 318-326, p.321.


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Internationally observed the concentration camps in Europe are very differently treated. Some are

partly reconstructed, some are only preserved and some are completely destroyed. In some cases there

is a focus on the historic aspect of the site, whereas in other cases the focus is more on the memorial

aspect. The following international examples will show this.

1. Auschwitz Birkenau Poland

A Museum Preservation Department is responsible for protecting everything that remains at the

Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp site.

The Department plans and carries out renewal and conservation. It oversees 155 buildings(including original camp blocks, barracks, and outbuildings), some 300 ruins and other vestiges

of the campincluding the ruins of the four gas chambers and crematoria at the Auschwitz II-

Birkenau site. There are kilometers of roads, drainage ditches, railroad tracks including a spur

and unloading platform. 11

Auschwitz remains present on the image 4 are conserved and they represent both a history and

a memory of the site.

Image 4 - Preserved Barrack and interior of the barrack in Auschwitz.

11 Auschwitz official web page:http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=583&Itemid=37


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2. Buchenwald concentration camp - Germany

In October 1950, it was decreed that the concentration camp Buchenwald would be demolished.The main gate, the crematorium, the hospital block, and two guard towers escaped demolition.All prisoner barracks and other buildings were razed. Foundations of some still exist and manyothers have been rebuilt. According to the Buchenwald Memorial website, "the combnation of obliteration and preservation was dictated by a specific concept for interpreting the history of Buchenwald Concentration Camp."

The first monument to victims was erected days after the initial liberation. Intended to becompletely temporary, it was built by prisoners and was made of wood. A second monument tocommemorate the dead was erected in 1958 near the mass graves. Inside the camp, there is a

living monument in the place of the first monument that is kept at skin temperature yearround. 12

The image 5 below displays the area where the prisoner huts were. To the right is thecrematorium and in the background center is the 'Hospital Block', where the main museumexhibits are housed today.

Buchenwald Concentration Camp today treats the memory of the victims with conservation andpartly reconstruction of some remains.

Image 5 present situation of Buchenwald Concentration Camp

12 E. J. Young At Memory's Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture , NewHaven: Yale University Press, 2000, p. 105.


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3. Concentration Camp Sajmite near Belgrade Serbia

In 1944, Sajmite was hit by U.S. bombers in raids, which killed 80 people at the camp andinjured 170. The bombers' intended target was the nearby railway station. Today there is almostnothing there.

As of 2006, Sajmite is still not a memorial center. Camp Sajmite is not listed among the namesof the 22 largest camps for Jews in Europe in the Memorial Center Yad Vashem in the Hall of Memoirs in Jerusalem. The location is proclaimed a "Cultural Heritage of the city of Belgrade" in1987, and a monument was erected in April 1995. 13

Image 6 - Monument to honor the Sajmite victims

As we have seen in paragraph 3 Westerbork is almost completely destroyed and there is a focus on the

memorial aspect of the site.

13 "Istorijat" (in Serbian). Municipality of New Belgrade. http://www.novibeograd.rs/default.asp?jez=l&str=1 .Retrieved 2007-09-06.


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5. Proposal of possible concepts for Westerbork preservation and architectural

treatment of the memory

In my opinion, Westerbork can be treated as an urban structure or historic city. For a site to be

acknowledged as an urban structure, it needs to be designed and to have historical layers. Westerbork

falls within this definition because of its history that represents a live transformation and a development

in time. 14 Observing Westerbork as an urban structure, for instance a piece of a city, village or even a

city, we can compare its plan with the historic cities legislation and the available expertise with respect

to heritage treatment.

The camp is built before the war and it represents a well thought through urban plan that delivered a

certain level of human social life. The same urban space is again used by the Moloccans after the war.

Therefore, the history of the camp proofs that the camp has a structure which looks more like the

structure of a small city than just a transportation camp in the 2 nd World War. A big challenge for any

designer and for all parties that participate in this process is choosing the right approach, to

acknowledge the concept and to apply it to the site.

Today Westerbork is an open space, a landscape, a green area that could be symbol of emptiness. Butthis symbol needs to be stronger and more material, and in the same time very clear and simple, for the

following reasons.

The National monument, the railway track going into sky, has a very strong message. It represents that

no more trains will leave from that place. But a simple visitor (tourist) without any previous knowledge

of the camp will ask: what really happened here? What was the place like? How was life functioning in

that kind of surrounding?

Today there is no visual content of the place. There is no impression that we are visiting a 2 nd World War

Transportation camp, or any camp for that matter. On the site there is literary nothing left.

The reconstruction of the memory should be well thought through architecturally. The concept should

be one where every period of the camps history will be recreated. In this process I would use the

concept of less is more. This concept will save the emptiness in the visitors hart. The emptiness will be

14 That can be clearly seen on Image 1 the model of Westerbork.


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a symbol for the people who were send to death, to the remembrance of the ones who died. On the

other hand, in this open space we also need to create an experience of a presence of the camp, of a

presence of buildings that will enhance our experience but will not disturb the quietness and the

clearness of this green and open environment. 15 Another important aspect of the process of recreation

the memory is the evaluation of the history of Westerbork. Which period, if any, is most important and

how should it and the other periods be treated? 16 Also important for any decision making is the

communication with people involved in the history of the camp. 17

From the existing situation on the site there is almost no visible authentic content left, with the

exception of the commanders villa. The villa of the commander is outside the camp but it is the only

existing and clearly visible artifact belonging to the camp. Some people might be offended by the fact

that this artifact is preserved, let alone conserved. Yet, I feel that this is an important artifact and it

should remain in its existing situation and only be preserved. To achieve this, the villa can be placed

under a kind of glass jar. The villa needs to be treated as an artifact and the design of the glass should be

very simple and clear in order not to distract any observation of the artifact.

Westerbork needs to be reconstructed as a memory. There needs to be a feeling of existing space,

without forgetting any of the historical periods.

15 In accordance with the guideline of conservation of Bonette, see paragraph 2. 16 In accordance with the guideline of valuation of Bonette, see paragraph 2. 17 In accordance with the guideline of participation through documentation of Bonette, see paragraph 2 .


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ReferencesJ. Assman - Mosses the Egyptian: the memory of Egypt in Western monotheism. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press, 1997.

M. Bonnette Strategies for Sustainable Urban Preservation, Historic Cities and Sacred Sites CulturalRoots for Urban Futures, editors: I. Serageldin, E .Shluger, J. Martin-Brown. International Bank forReconstruction and Development, 2001.

A.Elbers Preservation Policies in Netherland, Historic Cities and Sacred Sites Cultural Roots for UrbanFutures, editors: I. Serageldin, E .Shluger, J. Martin-Brown. International Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment, 2001.

E. J. Young At Memory's Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture ,New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.

J.V. Wertsch and H.L. Roediger III Collective memory: Conceptual foundations and theoretical approaches, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA. MEMORY, 2008.

Web recourses:

Auschwitz official web page:http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=583&Itemid=37

"Istorijat" (in Serbian). Municipality of New Belgrade.http://www.novibeograd.rs/default.asp?jez=l&str=1 . Retrieved 2007-09-06.

architectural report on ion camp westerbork - ivana bidikova

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