Plaszow Soundscape

events Programme

Plaszow Soundscape is a location-based sound walk through the site of the former German Nazi concentration camp KL Plaszow in Kraków, developed by FestivALT. Combining oral history, sound recordings, and location-based storytelling, the project enables participants to explore the history of the camp while engaging with contemporary approaches to its interpretation and commemoration.

The Polish-language version of the walk was completed at the end of 2024. In the following months, an English-language version was developed to make the project accessible to international audiences. Its script drew, among other sources, on interviews with English-speaking participants and project partners, allowing visitors from different countries to experience the walk.

Before its public launch, the project was presented during the 4th Kultur-Lige Gathering, where artists, researchers, and professionals working with Jewish culture had an opportunity to test the walk and provide feedback. Their comments contributed to the final refinement of the project before its official release.

The walk was subsequently presented during a series of public events in Kraków. Each guided walk was followed by a discussion on difficult heritage, contemporary commemorative practices, and the role of artistic interventions in interpreting sites of memory. One of the events was organised in collaboration with Centropa. At the same time, the walk remains permanently available through the Echoes app, allowing visitors to experience it independently throughout the year.

The project was very well received by participants, educators, artists, and heritage professionals. It was also presented at the Interpret Europe Symposium, an international conference dedicated to heritage interpretation, where it attracted the interest of professionals working in heritage education and the management of sites of memory.

The methodology developed through the project has already inspired the creation of another location-based sound walk for the site of the former forced labour camp in Nowa Huta, currently under development. In addition, Plaszow Soundscape has been selected as the subject of an academic publication to be published by the Jagiellonian University Press, focusing on new approaches to interpreting Holocaust heritage and sites of difficult memory.

📸 Vira Kosina-Polańska