Elite hotel on the site of a former concentration camp
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Elite hotel on the site of a former concentration camp
Montenegro gave permission to a private company to invest 15 million euros for the restoration of the fortress of Mamula and its conversion into an elite hotel.
Montenegro has confirmed its decision allowing the island fortress to be converted into an elite resort, in the territory of which, during the Second World War, there was a concentration camp. This decision provoked outrage among relatives of former prisoners, writes AFP in Podgorica.
Mamula is located in the popular tourist spot - Kotorska Bay. In the XIX century, the fort was in charge of the fascist Italian troops, in the same place, during the Second World War, a concentration camp was located. Dozens of prisoners from among the prisoners died in the walls of the camp during its existence.
Now the state provides this fortress with a 49-year lease to the Swiss-Egyptian company Orascom, which plans to invest € 15 million (£ 11.4 million) to build a modern luxury hotel with a spa and a marina.
Olivera Brajovic, head of the Montenegrin national tourism development agency, gave an interview to Agence France Presse: "We had two options: to lose the structure, turning into ruins or to find investors who would agree to restore it and make it accessible to visitors." She also noted that the reconstruction plans include a memorial room dedicated to former prisoners.
Relatives of some Mamula prisoners express open protest against the project, which they say is inappropriate, given the tragic past of the island.
"The construction of a modern hotel designed for entertainment in the place where so many people have been injured and killed is a blatant example of the lack of a serious approach to history," Olivera's colleague told Agence France-Presse Doclistic.
A 54-year-old resident of Montenegro, whose grandfather, father and uncle were imprisoned in Mamula, believes that the fortress should be restored and open to visitors, but as a historical monument. "Concentration camps can not be converted into hotels," she said.
According to the local veterans' society, more than 2,000 prisoners were held in Mamula, 80 of whom were executed, and another 50 died of starvation and severe conditions of detention.
While the relatives of the former convicts are opposed to the hotel construction plans, PR agency Magna, which represents the interests of the company Orascom, said that the local group of veterans of the war group approved a project that includes plans for the preservation of the fortress.
"Salt and Water", a Serbian design studio for resort areas, said in an open letter that it is extremely important to preserve the original structure of the fortress, because Mamula has a "great historical value". "The biggest problem was to design a completely new and extravagant object for hospitality on existing buildings while preserving the unique facade of Mamula," the company representatives said. "Thus, all potential interventions in the exterior of the fortress should be minimized."
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