The Atlantik Wall was a 5,000-kilometre-long line coastal defense system built by Nazi Germany. It covered the whole Atlantic coastline of Europe, from Norway till Portugal. The Wall is considered contested heritage as part of trauma-scape: a landscape showing the trauma, pain and hurt of memories from the past. People’s attitude towards the remains evolve over time: should we erase the wall or preserve it as a painful memory? In this Thesis Lab we dive deeper into the role of heritage for todays and future challenges, together with societal organizations such as municipalities and heritage organizations.
Application opens in the summer, keep an eye on the website!
Between 1942 and 1944 the Atlantik Wall was built to halt an anticipated Allied invasion from the United Kingdom. It consisted of fortifications including coastal guns, batteries, mortars, and artillery. Since its construction, many structures have eroded, have been demolished, or disappeared under sand. Still, at several locations along the Dutch coast, elements of the Wall are viewable, memorizing this difficult period in our history.
Landscapes, such as the Atlantik Wall, can be used to connect people. To overcome trauma by collaboration, storytelling, performative arts and so on. The Atlantik Wall bunkers, which were also used in the Cold War period, can be ‘used’ to solve social, biodiversity and spatial challenges or can be utilized for recreation and tourism.
In this Thesis Lab, we will dive deeper into the various aspects of the role of this heritage. You will carry out your own thesis project, based on one of the themes in the thesis booklet. In your research, you will collaborate with societal organizations. Next to that you will join a 12-session bi-weekly program between January and July 2027. Together with other students and societal partners, you will develop multidisciplinary insights for a heritage management plan of the Atlantik Wall.
The lab invites students to apply for themes that connect to the overall challenge. The thematic questions can be re-formulated by the students to make it suitable for a thesis research within their specific study programmes. We have selected 3 thesis themes:
- Nature & environment
- Society, communities & tourism
- Heritage management, governance & design
These themes ask for a variety of disciplines, for example (but not limited to) biodiversity, archeology, landscape architecture, environmental sciences, governance, cultural and social studies.
MAIN challenge
What can be the role of the contested heritage of the Atlantik Wall in todays and future society?
case holder
The LDE-program Global Heritage and Development focuses on connecting social challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss with heritage and knowledge about our (deep) past. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus universities want to integrate education and research at this intersection more closely into society. By letting students work on practical assignments in collaboration with social partners. The program encourages the broad cooperation needed to enable ‘heritage’ to contribute to integrated solutions, for example through this Thesis Lab.
This LDE Thesis Lab cooperates with the following partners and experts:
- Municipality The Hague
- Erfgoedtafel Zuid Holland
- Bunkermuseums The Hague
- Municipality of Leiden
- Independent researchers
Themes
Nature & environment
Examples of research questions are:
- How can the remains of the Atlantik Wall be used to solve social and spatial challenges such as climate change, sustainability, and inclusivity?
- How can this large-scale military landscape be used to improve nature and biodiversity? How can it create new nature (rewilding) with the challenges of sea level rise in our European coastal landscapes?
- Create your own angle! Come up with your own thesis research related to this theme and main question.
Society, communities & tourism
Examples of research questions are:
- How can the contested heritage of Atlantik Wall meet the goals of the Faro Convention (2005)? Can we put people central in creating Living Heritage? Can it be utilized for recreation and tourism? Can bunkers be part of local communities?
- How can communities be involved in these contested places? How can we attract more (and younger) people besides the standard bunker fanatics? And what story do we want to tell in the future with the Atlantik Wall? Which and how can you show different narratives in bunker museums?
- How can we overcome the trauma of landscapes by community building? Which methods can you use for participation and co-creation?
- How can we integrate professionals and amateurs into an Atlantik Wall’s heritage community considering also the (illegal) trade in WWII objects? (e.g. Platform Militair Erfgoed)
- Create your own angle! Come up with your own thesis research related to this theme and main question.
Heritage management, governance & design
Examples of research questions are:
- How can or must the Atlantik Wall’s cultural heritage rightfully play a role in environmental policy and spatial (urban) designing the tangible and intangible past?
- What principles, guidelines and strategies are needed for sustainable preservation, heritage management, preservation for development, Faro, tangible and intangible heritage?
- How to deal with Atlantik Wall remains in archaeological excavations? Excavate or not, and how? What to do with the objects? What does it contribute to our (historical) knowledge of this period?
- Create your own angle! Come up with your own thesis research related to this theme and main question.