Haut de La Garenne and the Redemption of Memory
“Hiding the evidence and scars of such events is, in many ways, an act of denial.” (Kenneth Foote)
The JEP recently asked people what to do with Haute de La Garenne. For residents who survived and were abused there, it is still a raw wound. But equally, it has now become home to “The Jersey Accommodation and Activity Centre” where it is providing a life enhancing experience for young people. What can be done to remember the past, redeem the memory of past abuse so that it is not hidden or forgotten, and yet also look forward to the future?
One way in which the past might be memorialised would be to have an interpretation area, perhaps a wall or walls, sculptures, a plaque, and a memorial garden. There is already a war memorial in the entrance, but to one side, there is plenty of space for a very special memorial to the survivors of the home.
Remembering the Past in Memorial
In his book, “Commemoration and Bloody Sunday: Pathways of Memory”, B. Conway looks at ways in which the past can be remembered and transfigured.
Bloody Sunday occurred in the Bogside area of Derry on 30 January 1972. Also known as the Bogside Massacre, civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot upon by British army soldiers. As part of the healing process, a memorial was placed at the site. The memorial is a twelve foot obelisk of limestone and bears the names of the fourteen people killed.
Conway notes that “A memorial is more likely to have ‘legs’ when it is located in a publicly owned site, lacks competing claims on the space it occupies, resonates with a wide audience, and is promoted by memory choreographers.”
He suggests that this “suggests that the commemoration of a single event can encompass both fragmented and consensual commemorations.” They do not speak completely, but they tell their story, and they also contain the names of victims inscribed on the memorial.
In the USA, the Veterans Memorial Garden is located at 3200 Memorial Drive in Antelope Park. This also commemorates the past with a “brick of honour” on a wall next to the memorial, available for is available for all Veterans, living or deceased.
In the book “Deleuze and Memorial Culture: Desire, Singular Memory and the Politics of Trauma. Contributors”, Adrian Parr comments that:
“When expressing grief over a violent event, a community often memorializes the area where the incident happened, paying tribute to the victims of violence. Certainly moulding the landscape in order to respond to a shared loss is one way of reempowering a community.”
“Geographer Kenneth Foote, for instance, understands landscape memorialisation to be a platform whereupon the past is interpreted and given meaning. He examines how traditions are reinforced and even changed through what he describes as the sanctification of particular sites.”
Foote explained in an interview the different ways we can treat sites associated with traumatic events and history:
“At one end is the response I term ‘sanctification,’ where people see some real moral value or lesson epitomized by tragedy. Gettysburg or shrines to prominent leaders like John F. Kennedy are examples. Also, when communities experience loss, they often want to honour the victims and families who lost loved ones.”
“At the other end of continuum is ‘obliteration’; After events like Aurora, which are shocking or shameful, or involve taboo subjects like child abuse, people tend to obliterate or remove the evidence of the crime in efforts to downplay the event and create some distance.
“In between sanctification and obliteration are ‘rectification’ and ‘designation.’ With rectification, people fix up and reuse sites, perhaps after a fire or accident. People know why it happened and they’re saying, “Let’s get on with life.” The last area on the continuum is “designation.” People put up a sign indicating that the place is significant. Someday, it might be sanctified, but it isn’t quite at that stage yet.”
Redeeming Haut de La Garenne: A Proposal
A local example of what Foote calls “sanctification” is found in the Bunker at Hougue Bie. Once more of a museum displaying life in the bunker, it now has photos and quotations from those who were victims and survivors in the Occupation of Jersey. It is an interpretation of the events, and the suffering which took place, and while it is of historical import, it is also raw and painful to walk through.
Shrines to trauma and suffering such as this, and those examined above, are examples of sites which memorialize the horrible events that occurred there, and also the grief of relatives, survivors and complete strangers who feel kinship.
So I would recommend keeping Haut de La Garenne, because also part of the healing process is turning it from a place of suffering to one of joy, from a place where children were abused, to one where children can come in safety. That in itself is a good memorial.
But more is needed. An interpretation wall or memorial, and a garden, and perhaps the first names of those who suffered abuse (if they wanted it) in the grounds, in the public space before the building and in front of it, would also sanctify that space. This is, as Foote would say, something which everyone in the community should never forget. It is specific to the survivors, but the Care Inquiry Report showed that the tragedy of how children were mistreated was also a common, public loss: the whole community bears the scars as well.
Why a garden? A garden also points to future hope, that we find “in the sorrow, the seeds of joy” It is more than a bare memorial; it is a living symbol of those who survived. And it can be planted afresh to keep the memory alive.
In exact terms of deciding what should be placed in the grounds, Foote has some useful words of caution. He says that “the views of all parties touched by a tragedy need to be heard as plans for memorializing develop. If one group or a small group takes charge of major decisions, conflicts often arise. Conflicts may also arise when decisions about memorial making are rushed. Pushing for decisions too soon can cause resentment and friction later.”
But expertise should also be made available. As Kenneth Foote notes, “artists and landscape architects have been trying to develop innovative ways of symbolizing and expressing loss and grief.” They can suggest what might be possible, and what might work best and work with those looking for a memorial space.
And if there is a ceremony to open the interpretation wall and garden, there must also be the survivors at the forefront of that. The failing of the church services held by the former Dean of Jersey was that it was very much the establishment come to pray. The church may be present, but it should be the survivors who are allowed to take the lead and initiative over the form of any opening ceremony, and also any annual commemorations thereafter.
What needs to be heard are the voices of those who were unheard: people telling their stories as a way to make it real for them and for us.
“Hiding the evidence and scars of such events is, in many ways, an act of denial.” (Kenneth Foote)
The JEP recently asked people what to do with Haute de La Garenne. For residents who survived and were abused there, it is still a raw wound. But equally, it has now become home to “The Jersey Accommodation and Activity Centre” where it is providing a life enhancing experience for young people. What can be done to remember the past, redeem the memory of past abuse so that it is not hidden or forgotten, and yet also look forward to the future?
One way in which the past might be memorialised would be to have an interpretation area, perhaps a wall or walls, sculptures, a plaque, and a memorial garden. There is already a war memorial in the entrance, but to one side, there is plenty of space for a very special memorial to the survivors of the home.
Remembering the Past in Memorial
In his book, “Commemoration and Bloody Sunday: Pathways of Memory”, B. Conway looks at ways in which the past can be remembered and transfigured.
Bloody Sunday occurred in the Bogside area of Derry on 30 January 1972. Also known as the Bogside Massacre, civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot upon by British army soldiers. As part of the healing process, a memorial was placed at the site. The memorial is a twelve foot obelisk of limestone and bears the names of the fourteen people killed.
Conway notes that “A memorial is more likely to have ‘legs’ when it is located in a publicly owned site, lacks competing claims on the space it occupies, resonates with a wide audience, and is promoted by memory choreographers.”
He suggests that this “suggests that the commemoration of a single event can encompass both fragmented and consensual commemorations.” They do not speak completely, but they tell their story, and they also contain the names of victims inscribed on the memorial.
In the USA, the Veterans Memorial Garden is located at 3200 Memorial Drive in Antelope Park. This also commemorates the past with a “brick of honour” on a wall next to the memorial, available for is available for all Veterans, living or deceased.
In the book “Deleuze and Memorial Culture: Desire, Singular Memory and the Politics of Trauma. Contributors”, Adrian Parr comments that:
“When expressing grief over a violent event, a community often memorializes the area where the incident happened, paying tribute to the victims of violence. Certainly moulding the landscape in order to respond to a shared loss is one way of reempowering a community.”
“Geographer Kenneth Foote, for instance, understands landscape memorialisation to be a platform whereupon the past is interpreted and given meaning. He examines how traditions are reinforced and even changed through what he describes as the sanctification of particular sites.”
Foote explained in an interview the different ways we can treat sites associated with traumatic events and history:
“At one end is the response I term ‘sanctification,’ where people see some real moral value or lesson epitomized by tragedy. Gettysburg or shrines to prominent leaders like John F. Kennedy are examples. Also, when communities experience loss, they often want to honour the victims and families who lost loved ones.”
“At the other end of continuum is ‘obliteration’; After events like Aurora, which are shocking or shameful, or involve taboo subjects like child abuse, people tend to obliterate or remove the evidence of the crime in efforts to downplay the event and create some distance.
“In between sanctification and obliteration are ‘rectification’ and ‘designation.’ With rectification, people fix up and reuse sites, perhaps after a fire or accident. People know why it happened and they’re saying, “Let’s get on with life.” The last area on the continuum is “designation.” People put up a sign indicating that the place is significant. Someday, it might be sanctified, but it isn’t quite at that stage yet.”
Redeeming Haut de La Garenne: A Proposal
A local example of what Foote calls “sanctification” is found in the Bunker at Hougue Bie. Once more of a museum displaying life in the bunker, it now has photos and quotations from those who were victims and survivors in the Occupation of Jersey. It is an interpretation of the events, and the suffering which took place, and while it is of historical import, it is also raw and painful to walk through.
Shrines to trauma and suffering such as this, and those examined above, are examples of sites which memorialize the horrible events that occurred there, and also the grief of relatives, survivors and complete strangers who feel kinship.
So I would recommend keeping Haut de La Garenne, because also part of the healing process is turning it from a place of suffering to one of joy, from a place where children were abused, to one where children can come in safety. That in itself is a good memorial.
But more is needed. An interpretation wall or memorial, and a garden, and perhaps the first names of those who suffered abuse (if they wanted it) in the grounds, in the public space before the building and in front of it, would also sanctify that space. This is, as Foote would say, something which everyone in the community should never forget. It is specific to the survivors, but the Care Inquiry Report showed that the tragedy of how children were mistreated was also a common, public loss: the whole community bears the scars as well.
Why a garden? A garden also points to future hope, that we find “in the sorrow, the seeds of joy” It is more than a bare memorial; it is a living symbol of those who survived. And it can be planted afresh to keep the memory alive.
In exact terms of deciding what should be placed in the grounds, Foote has some useful words of caution. He says that “the views of all parties touched by a tragedy need to be heard as plans for memorializing develop. If one group or a small group takes charge of major decisions, conflicts often arise. Conflicts may also arise when decisions about memorial making are rushed. Pushing for decisions too soon can cause resentment and friction later.”
But expertise should also be made available. As Kenneth Foote notes, “artists and landscape architects have been trying to develop innovative ways of symbolizing and expressing loss and grief.” They can suggest what might be possible, and what might work best and work with those looking for a memorial space.
And if there is a ceremony to open the interpretation wall and garden, there must also be the survivors at the forefront of that. The failing of the church services held by the former Dean of Jersey was that it was very much the establishment come to pray. The church may be present, but it should be the survivors who are allowed to take the lead and initiative over the form of any opening ceremony, and also any annual commemorations thereafter.
What needs to be heard are the voices of those who were unheard: people telling their stories as a way to make it real for them and for us.
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1 comment:
My view would accord with Tony's above.
One counter view would be that, were it to be demolishe, God knows what might come to light in the demolition. But if tracks were too well covered and nothing new was discovered, then where would we be?
So I think I'll stick with my original view.
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