Anloo War Memorial

The shelter consisted of a space hollowed out of the sand and covered with a roof construction and branches. The shelter was completely invisible in the winter too thanks to the young, dense coniferous wood that stood there at the time. There was room for two or three people, though it sometimes had to hold more than ten. It was discovered in September 1944: five managed to escape, three were caught and executed in Westerbork on 12 October 1944. On 8 April 1945 ten prisoners from the Scholtenshuis in Groningen were brought here, tortured, executed and buried. They were later reburied elsewhere. The coniferous wood was largely destroyed by a storm a few decades ago. Now the shelter lies in a clearing in the wood at the foot of a group of conifers that weathered the storm. It is an unusual spot, with a panoramic view of the wet field and a green dome of rhododendrons in the distance.

Only the edge of the shelter is visible today. The Historical Anloo Association wants to keep the past alive by making the spot visible again in the landscape in a reticent way. Strootman landschapsarchitecten was invited to make a design.

The design is reticent and accentuates the landscape qualities that are already there. Limited interventions create a serene, poetic place of remembrance. The placing of a new fence of local, sustainable wood marks the entrance to this special location. The existing memorial stone is moved stands now next to the entrance of the fence. The existing bronze plaque is replaced by a new one with the names of the thirteen executed and a short description. A ‘reflection bench’ is placed in front of the fence to sit, look out over the field, and reflect on the events of the past. An informal path is created that merges with the landscape. It is made from boulders from the field scattered at random so that they fan outwards. The existing earthen edge of the shelter is reinforced on the outside and raised a little with soil from the area. Thirteen man-sized boulders placed at the entrance to the shelter stand for the thirteen people who were executed there.

Copyright pictures Van Oost Media