Site-Specific Location

Site-specific memorial projects mark specific sites of significance. Site-specific memorials transform an abstract idea about memory into a concrete plan based on historic evidence in relation to time and place. The Locker of Memory project is steeped in research and evidence gathering.

Working closely with historians and scientists for five years, the Locker of Memory project was based on a specific goal, to recover and preserve the history and memory of the Jungfernhof concentration camp and search for the lost mass grave containing more than 800 bodies. Using non-invasive ground penetrating radar, a scientific breakthrough took place in July 2024. Scientists found historic evidence in the form of recovered stones marking the foundational structure for the barracks containing Nazi-style “bunkbeds” for close to 100 imprisoned Jews. The barracks were built by Jews for Jews in the spring 1942 following the Dünamünde Action, whereby 1800 prisoners were shot on a single day into mass graves in the Bikernieki Forest. Made from crudely constructed wooden slats, prisoners who were confined to these overcrowded sleeping arrangements were exposed to typhoid, disease, and excretion of other bodily fluids, a lack of privacy, heat, interior toilets, washing facilities, as well as subjected to frequent police patrols. While darkness provided some protection, each night turned into a grim fight for survival.

The barracks remains the only recovered site on the land that verifies the presence of Jews at Jungfernhof. Therefore, the barracks will serve as an anchor, literally and figuratively, for a large-scale memorial project. The story-telling nature of the memorial will bring our attention to the dual nature of sleep at this setting. First, in its utilitarian function as a restorative nutrient in a life defined by slavery, starvation, extreme fatigue, and despair; and second, as symbolic of an interim place of rest that will also signify an eternal marker, representing thousands of German and Austrian Jews murdered at this site or in nearby forests.

The metaphor of rest becomes the most potent symbol of commemoration for the victims of the Jungfernhof concentration camp. An imaginative, iconic sculpture that strictly adheres to the history of the site, will be made from blackened steel. Situated within the foundational framework of the barracks and surrounded by glass panels containing the names of victims, the memorial will also embody a larger statement about the site as a place of rest. The complexity of this memorial will serve a dual purpose, to address the brutal history of the camp, while conveying the restorative quality of rest wrapped in a protective cocoon of remembrance.

Memorials do not provide closure. Closure produces a static outcome, akin to forgetting. Contemporary memorials challenge public audiences to reflect upon the history of the site in relation to changing ideas about truth and meaning. Memorials also pose new questions about community and civic engagement. They become gathering places that stimulate vibrant conversations about the past in relation to the present.

An internationally acclaimed team of geospatial scientists, led by Prof. Philip Reeder, Geographer and Cartographer at the Center for Environmental Research & Education (CERE); and former Dean (07/13-06/21) Bayer School of Nat. & Envir. Sciences. Now: School of Science and Engineering, Duquesne University; and Prof. Harry Jol, Geographer and Anthropologist and Ground Penetrating Radar Specialist, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire will lead the search to recover all the stones pertaining to the barracks. I am also working in partnership with Ilya Lensky, Director of the Museum Jews in Latvia and leading member of the Jewish Community in Latvia. Additional collaborations with Latvian architects and artists are in progress.