Places of traumatic memories: The ruins of the Bolzano lager in the core of neighborhood life

The paper focuses on the history and memories related to the lager of Bolzano and its ruins. This place of traumatic memory, once abandoned after the Second World War, has gone through phases of transformation of its use that are very different from the processes of museumization connected to the “Tourism of memory” which, on the other hand, characterizes the German concentration camps. Indeed, at first, the lager of Bolzano was used as a summer camp of heliotherapy, then it was occupied by poor families and finally, in 1966, demolished by local authorities. During that period, the institutions tried to conceal the traumatic memory represented by the lager and its ruins, which correspond essentially to a wall, remained hidden in the core of a popular neighborhood that has been growing up in the last decades. However, in recent years local institutions and associations have carried out a relevant work to reconstruct the lager’s memory, restoring the original perimeter wall, installing information panels and a contemporary artwork in the area (named “Passage of Memory”). Our analysis addresses the multiple and dynamic memories related to the different usages and perceptions of this place by different stakeholders such as some specific associations as well as the institutional meaning attributed by local authorities.