Concluding Comments (Chair of the Advisory Board)

Description

A joint initiative Houses of Darkness is a joint initiative of three WW2 memorial centres: Falstadsenteret (The Falstad Centre, Norway), Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork (the Netherlands) and Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen (Germany) with documentary producer Paradox. The three memorial centres collaborated
earlier in the Horizon 2020 research project iC-ACCESS (2015– 2019). The idea of exploring the perpetrator perspective making use of audio-visual media was developed in close cooperation with Paradox. The collaboration of the three memorial centres in a consortium with a non-profit creative organisation
is based on the main objective: to raise awareness of WW2 heritage from an alternative angle – the role of the perpetrator - for a culturally diverse, young audience. ‘Perpetrator spaces’ are present at all three sites in different conditions complementing each other: one recently renovated commander’s
house (Falstad), one preserved under a glass roof (Westerbork), one completely gone, but where the Kommandatur remains (Bergen-Belsen). Paradox, with its expertise in documentary storytelling on multiple platforms – ranging from books to films and from exhibitions to web apps - adds important artistic and creative competence.

Period	28 Jan 2021
Event title	Houses of Darkness. Images of a Contested European Memory: Digital Opening Meeting
Event type	Expert Meeting
Conference number	1
Location	Ekne, Norway
Degree of Recognition	International