Dr. Anette Homlong Storeide is a research associate at the Memorial Falstad Center in Ekne and at the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies in Oslo. She specializes
in the history of WWII and the Holocaust and has worked extensively on memory politics
as well as digital Holocaust memory. She is the author of numerous publications.
The Memorial Falstad Centre decided to work on a digital reconstruction of the former site and offer visitors a virtual or augmented reality tour. This system has been made available
to the public since 2018.
The main building that still stands today is located in a very remote area and was originally constructed in the early 1920s as a special branch for the nearby Falstad reformatory school for boys. In April 1941, Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany, and in the autumn
of the same year, the German Security Police established Falstad as a prison camp for political prisoners. It served as a labor camp, transit camp, and death camp, operated by the German SS until May 1945. During the war, the site expanded to include barracks, workshops,
the commandant's house, as well as features like a gateway, watchtowers, and barbed wire fences. Today, the site looks very different from how it did then, with most of the buildings having been dismantled. This makes it challenging for visitors to understand and recognize the historical significance of the site. Shortly after 1945 and until 1949, the site was used
as a detention camp for the region's collaborators. After 1949, the area was repurposed
as a school until 1992. When the school closed down, former inmates argued that the place should be turned into a memorial. The establishment of the museum led to another renovation of the main building, which initially made the traces of the past even less visible at first glance. Visitors are often surprised when they come to the memorial, as they wonder where the authentic site is, given that the landscape has changed significantly. This historical site is a mixture of remnants from the past, ruins, open spaces, sculpted art, post-war topographical and architectural interventions. The memorial faces challenges in meeting visitors' expectations to experience the “real thing.”
Over the years, the memorial site has attempted different measures to activate the site
as a memory medium for visitors, making it more accessible by incorporating physical installations such as models with explanatory signs, marking the locations of the former camp buildings, and displaying historical images in various places across the outdoor landscape. We have had multiple discussions about what would be the wisest thing to do with this outdoor area.
Their discussions and debates led to the development of a non-invasive approach
to interpreting the outdoor landscape using a location-based tablet app. Skepticism arose within the educational department, questioning the educational value of VR or AR reconstructions. Concerns centered on the potential of young people running around
and playing at the site of the former camp. In 2016, the discovery of the Bergen-Belsen app and project, implemented with SPECS labs, convinced them to take the leap. For Falstad,
this project extended beyond a simple site reconstruction, it involved active, embodied exploration of the memorial grounds. Participants stand in today's landscape, yet they can investigate and explore the past through the virtually reconstructed one.