In Europe as well as on an international level, immersive technologies have not been employed widely in historically-contested sites. At the same time, despite the fact that the German Occupation in Greece (1941-1944) has influenced public debates, and inspired artistic displays and performances, the sites of memory of the Second World War remain invisible.

The present project focuses on the infamous Block 15 of the Haidari Concentration Camp in Western Athens, the largest and most notorious German concentration camp in wartime Greece, as a showcase of a largely neglected site of difficult heritage and will attempt to make the building, currently an endangered one, accessible to audiences and communities of diverse backgrounds through the use of immersive technologies.

The project aims at creating impact on many different levels:
– enhancing understanding of and engagement in the functions of the building and the historical context
– renewing cultural identity of the region of Athens
– fostering civic participation of diverse socio-cultural groups

Through original scenarios based on primary and multimedia archival sources that will largely be based on digital storytelling, the interactive, immersive Virtual Reality experience to be developed will not only bring back to life the actual monument that is Block 15, but will also function as a reminder of the horrors and torture inflicted by the Nazis on prisoners, in an attempt to reintroduce a historically and politically contested site to heterogeneous audiences, both in situ as well as in sites outside the Concentration Camp.

The production will combine:
– Dramatic story-driven exploration of the concentration camp and important landmarks
– Interactive discovery of facts through narration and point-and-trigger actions and events
– Incorporation of authentic historical material
– Reconstruction of the original site based on historical and architectural evidence
– Strictly non-commercial, free-to-use policy