| dc.description.abstract | Fjell fortress is a fortification on the island of Sotra, in the Øygarden Municipality. The fortress was constructed during World War II after Hitler gave the order to form the Atlantic Wall, a coastal defence system which consisted of 15,000 larger and smaller fortifications along the coast of Western Europe. The fortress was mainly built by Soviet prisoners of war who were housed in a prison camp nearby. The prisoners of war were subjected to brutal treatment, and several of them were killed in the fortress area. In this thesis, I am performing a cultural analysis of the Fjell fortress as a site of memory and a museum, within the theoretical frameworks of Pierre Nora, Maurice Halbwachs, James Young and Anne Eriksen, by using the key concepts ‘collective memory’ and ‘sites of memory’, in addition to the term ‘master narrative’ as used by Eilean Hooper-Greenhill. Based on Fjell fortress’ transformation from a local site of memory to an official museum in 2008, the thesis examines some of the challenges that may arise when a site of memory, which is defined by collective memory, is actualized at the same time as it is managed as a museum. A public museum has clear guidelines for its operations. Therefore, the management of the site is guided by certain intentions. These intentions do not necessarily correspond to how the fortress is perceived as a site of memory, which carries many different narratives related to interventions in the local community, the everyday life of the German soldiers, and war crimes against the Soviet prisoners of war. The facility thus functions as a memorial to which various and conflicting emotions and expectations are attached. Through interviews, observations, and archive material, this thesis demonstrates how the Fjell fortress represents different perspectives as a site of memory and as a museum, and how this creates a complex framework in how the fortress is being actualized. | |
