Concrete Reminders: Changing Perspectives on WWII Defences in Denmark

Abstract

ABSTRACT In Denmark, the most obvious and persistent evidence of the Second World War is concrete bunkers dotting the landscape. On the west coast of Jutland, facing the North Sea, the structures formed the Danish part of the Atlantic Wall, and today these bunkers have become an integral part of the landscape. This paper explores the ways in which this tangible proof of the Nazi occupation has been assimilated into Danish culture, and how the Danish people engage with these structures both on an official and an unofficial level. It will also explore the strange juxtaposition of attitudes towards the preservation and presentation of these extant remains from the war.