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Legacies of Occupation pp 83–140Cite as

Bunkers: Edifices of Abomination or Heritage Sites?

Changing Perceptions of German Bunkers

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Part of the book series: Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology ((CGHA,volume 40))

Abstract

More than 50 years after Paul Virilio walked along the beaches of Brittany and nearly 70 years after it was built, the seven European countries which played host to the Atlantic Wall are still finding ways to deal with their concrete legacy of occupation and war, still going through phases of destruction and preservation, neglect, conservation, reuse and restoration. Many old bunkers have been turned into occupation museums; others have been restored to how they would have looked during the war. Because many were built using slave or forced labour, or even local ‘collaborators’, German bunkers across Europe are difficult heritage. And because the contribution of these groups are often excluded or marginalised in heritage presentation inside bunkers, they are also dissonant heritage. Instead, bunkers are frequently used as symbolic space of a very particular kind, where memories, identities, and attitudes towards, and perceptions and narratives of, occupation can be expressed by and controlled by specific groups. This chapter explores and seeks to interpret the particular situation in the Channel Islands, where restoration has often been controversial, and proposes future strategies for ethical heritage presentation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the Channel Islands.

  2. 2.

    My thanks to Professor Marek Jasinski at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology for this information.

  3. 3.

    My thanks to Rose Tzalmona at VU University Amsterdam and the Technical University in Delft for this information.

  4. 4.

    My thanks to Niko Rollmann, Robert-Tillmanns-Haus, Berlin, for this information.

  5. 5.

    http://www.wartourist.eu/places_overview_gb.htm

  6. 6.

    http://www.museumscenterhanstholm.dk/

  7. 7.

    http://www.batterietodt.com/

  8. 8.

    http://www.lacoupole-france.com/en/default.asp

  9. 9.

    http://www.westwallmuseen-saar-mosel.eu/

  10. 10.

    I credit Professor Koos Bosma, VU University Amsterdam, for the use of the term ‘collateral damage’ in this context.

  11. 11.

    Interview between Paul Burnal and the author, Jersey, 15 August 2010.

  12. 12.

    Email from Jeremy Hamon to author, 25 August 2011.

  13. 13.

    Email from Paul Burnal to author, 25 August 2011.

  14. 14.

    Email from Matthew Costard to author, 25 August 2011.

  15. 15.

    Jersey Evening Post, 11 June 1945: 1; Guernsey Evening Press, 8 August 1945: 1.

  16. 16.

    Guernsey Evening Press, 6 May 1947, 1.

  17. 17.

    The local newspaper in Guernsey, the Guernsey Evening Press, merged with The Star newspaper in November 1965. In September 1999, it became renamed as the Guernsey Press and Star.

  18. 18.

    Guernsey Evening Press, 17 September 1945.

  19. 19.

    Jersey Evening Post, 23 February 1946.

  20. 20.

    Guernsey Billets d’Etat, 3 April 1946.

  21. 21.

    Jersey Evening Post, 10 May 1946.

  22. 22.

    Richard Heaume personal communication 2009.

  23. 23.

    Email to author from AS, 17 September 2007.

  24. 24.

    Interview between author and Michael Ginns, 9 February 2009.

  25. 25.

    Conversation between author and Chris Addy, Jersey War Tunnels, 19 August 2008.

  26. 26.

    In the summer of 2008, Jersey was the focus of media attention over the child abuse scandal at the former childrens’ home of Haut de la Garenne. On 24 July 2008, the Jersey Evening Post carried a report on the excavation of a nearby network of bunkers which had apparently been the location of child abuse in the 1970s and 1980s.

  27. 27.

    In 2007, a local art group in Guernsey known as the ‘Readerswives Collective’, and made up of disaffected youths, petitioned to cover a bunker in graffiti or ‘street art’, as they preferred to call it. This grossly offended members of the CIOS, who saw such an act as vandalism. Permission was not granted.

  28. 28.

    Michael Ginns personal communication 2011; this perception gave rise to a film of the same name, made by the CIOS in 1976.

  29. 29.

    Noirmont Point is a headland in the south-west of Jersey known today for its concentration of bunkers.

  30. 30.

    Letter to author from Michael Ginns, 11 March 2009.

  31. 31.

    Interview between author and Michael Ginns, 11 September 2011.

  32. 32.

    Interview between author and Michael Ginns, 11 September 2011.

  33. 33.

    Interview between author and Michael Ginns, 11 September 2011.

  34. 34.

    Interview between author and Michael Ginns, 11 September 2011.

  35. 35.

    Michael Ginns Personal communication 2009.

  36. 36.

    Letter to author from Michael Ginns, 11 March 2009.

  37. 37.

    Scars on the Landscape; script by Michael Ginns. Jersey Heritage L/D/25/J2/1.

  38. 38.

    Jersey Evening Post, 24 June 1977: 11.

  39. 39.

    Michael Ginns personal communication 2009.

  40. 40.

    Michael Ginns personal communication 2009.

  41. 41.

    Letter to author from Michael Ginns, 19 February 2009.

  42. 42.

    Letter to the President of the Ancient Monuments Committee from Colin Partridge, 4 May 1990.

  43. 43.

    Email from Jason Monaghan to author, 13 March 2009.

  44. 44.

    Although this was in poor taste, Channel Islanders have a sense of humour about the Occupation. Above the bar in a pub in Alderney hangs a sign saying ‘Don’t mention the war!’ (a quote from the popular 1970s television programme, Faulty Towers). At a bicycle hire shop in Sark, a photograph of a platoon of German soldiers on bicycle is accompanied by the caption ‘rare photograph of the 1940 Tour de France.’

  45. 45.

    Michael Ginns personal communication.

  46. 46.

    See also SSI/2007/0835.

  47. 47.

    Interview between author and Freddie Cohen, 26 January 2009.

  48. 48.

    Planning permit, planning application number SSI/2007/0835.

  49. 49.

    Email to author from HC, Guernsey, 5 March 2009.

  50. 50.

    Observations made from the 2011 tourist ‘ebrochure’, http://ebrochure.submarine.gg/alderney/.

  51. 51.

    Letter to author from JM, Alderney, 9 February 2009.

  52. 52.

    Alderney is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and thus falls under its jurisdiction.

  53. 53.

    The position of Bailiff in the Channel Islands is that of chief justice; he (there has never yet been a female Bailiff) presides over the Royal Court. He also serves as president of the legislature and has ceremonial and executive functions. Bailiffs are Crown appointments.

  54. 54.

    Interview with Sir Geoffrey Rowland, 16 February 2009; comments added by email 19 February 2013. My thanks to Sir Geoffrey for permission to quote him.

  55. 55.

    Interview with Sir Philip Bailhache, Jersey, 22 June 2009. My thanks to Sir Philip for permission to quote him.

  56. 56.

    Statistics presented at Jersey War Tunnels.

  57. 57.

    Letters to author from Michael Ginns, 19 February 2009 and 23 February 2009.

  58. 58.

    Interview with Michael Ginns, 11 September 2011.

  59. 59.

    Interview with Michael Ginns, 11 September 2011.

  60. 60.

    Interview with Michael Ginns, 11 September 2011.

  61. 61.

    Interview with Michael Ginns, 11 September 2011.

  62. 62.

    Interview between PB and the author, Jersey, 15 August 2010.

  63. 63.

    Interview with Malcolm Amy, 11 September 2011.

  64. 64.

    In six years of fieldwork and extensive visits to all Occupation museums in the Islands, the author did not witness this.

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  1. St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, UK

    Gillian Carr

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  1. Gillian Carr
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Carr, G. (2014). Bunkers: Edifices of Abomination or Heritage Sites?. In: Legacies of Occupation. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology, vol 40. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03407-2_3

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