Places of Traumatic Memories and Difficult Heritage: The Ruins of the Bolzano Lager in the Core of Neighborhood Life

This analysis focuses on a case study considered as an example of urban difficult heritage: the process of memorialisation of some specific sites in the city of Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) related to the Italian fascist regime and the Nazi occupation. In this context, we intend to delve into the history and memories related to the Bolzano lager and its ruins. This place of traumatic memory, which was once abandoned after the Second World War, has undergone phases of transformation in its use that are very different from the processes of museumization connected to the “Tourism of memory” typical of the Nazi concentration camps. Indeed, at first, the lager of Bolzano was used as a summer camp for heliotherapy, before it was occupied by poor families and finally, in 1966, demolished by the local authorities. During that period, the institutions tried to conceal this difficult heritage represented by the lager and its ruins, which correspond essentially to a wall, and it remained hidden in the core of a popular neighborhood that has been growing over the last few decades. However, in recent years, local institutions and associations have carried out relevant work to reconstruct the lager’s memory, restoring the original perimeter wall, as well as installing information panels and a contemporary artwork in the area (named the Passage of Memory). Our research highlights that this articulated and complex semanticisation of the difficult heritage embodied by this urban place shows a significant diversity in the way its memory is reconstructed by different stakeholders (associations, local authorities, etc.) allowing to identify the tensions, the collective traumas, the different perceptions, feelings and claims corresponding to the various groups involved. At the same time, it represents an attempt to bring these memories and narratives into dialogue through the spatiality and signs of the place itself.