A virtual place of memory: Virtual reality as a method for communicating conflicted heritage at Camp Westerbork

Abstract

An important goal of the project Accessing Campscapes: inclusive strategies for using European Conflicted Heritage (iC-ACCESS), has been to develop inclusive approaches for the presentation and communication of contending perspectives on Nazi and Stalinist sites (Dolghin et al. 2017). A key objective for treating these ‘heritagescapes’ has been to ‘develop state-of-the-art strategies and implement innovative tools which provide sustainable in-situ and virtual forms of investigation, presentation and representation’ (Van der Laarse 2020). A central issue which is gaining increasing attention in heritage studies and management is the dilemma of preserving and exhibiting material remnants of Wehrmacht and SS-barracks or residencies at Holocaust memorial camps which are generally framed as victimhood sites. The Commander’s house at Herinneringscentrum Westerbork is a case in point and can be placed in different perspectives on the history of the camp terrain and all related sensibilities on its meaning as an object of heritage. In order to realise an application that can accommodate these perspectives, iC-ACCESS project leader Prof. dr. R. van der Laarse contracted two laboratories specialised consecutively in 3D visualisation technologies and spatial information to cooperate on its development, the 4D Research Lab (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and the SPINlab (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam). This paper illustrates the ideas, discussions and choices related to the production of the ‘Campscapes – Westerbork Commander’s House App’, provides a concise technical description of the actual application and presents a short prospection on potential future developments.