A Vibrant Place: The Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes

Krystel GualdĂ©, Nantes History Museum All images: Memorial to the abolition of slavery, Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) © PHILIPPE PIRON /LVAN In Nantes, there is a place where silence speaks, where footsteps slow, caught by the weight of a long-buried history. A vibrant place, on the riverbank, where memory takes form: the Memorial to the Abolition of …

Transforming Liverpool’s Waterfront

Andrew Davies, University of Liverpool, and Nick White, Liverpool John Moores University1 Liverpool’s waterfront1 is currently undergoing major change as part of the Waterfront Transformation Project, a multi-million pound process coordinated by National Museums Liverpool with multiple funding bodies and significant community involvement2. This project seeks to reimagine the city’s historic docks and port in …

“Martyred Villages” in Europe

By StĂ©phane Michonneau, Paris-Est CrĂ©teil University / CRHEC and Babeth Robert, Director of the Memory Centre of Oradour While working on the emblematic site of Oradour-sur-Glane, researchers involved in the ANR Ruines project explored the phenomenon of “martyred villages” found in several European countries, including Spain, Italy, Greece, and the Czech Republic. The term refers, …

Democratising the Memory of Gusen: The Participatory Process for the Creation of a New Memorial Space in Austria

The Gusen concentration camp began construction in December 1939 and officially opened on 25 May 1940, with the arrival of over 1,000 Polish prisoners. From the start, it was part of the SS’s plans for the economic exploitation of the granite quarries in the region through the forced labour of concentration camp prisoners. The camp held a special position within the system of concentration camps named after its main camp, Mauthausen, which included over 40 subcamps. More than a subcamp, Gusen was considered a twin camp to Mauthausen.

The bright future of memory

Olivier WievirkovaHistorian, Faculty member at the École normale supĂ©rieure de Cachan Cover image: Japanese Embassy in Seoul and watched from behind a bronze statue of comfort women. Sakaori, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The memory of the Second World War clearly remains very much alive. To give just one example, the conflict triggered in …