The Second World War had global effects, leading to unique national experiences and traumas. Its impacts on collective identities and narratives are still visible today. WW2 acted as a catalyser for European integration, prompting the birth of institutions that would later evolve into the European Union.
European integration should not lead to unifying national perspectives and narratives, but rather embrace the diversity and foster mutual understanding and empathy. This project focuses on the site of the former Valkenburg Military Airport near Leiden in the Western Netherlands. We view the WW2 heritage of the airport as a part of the common heritage of the Atlantic Wall, and the whole European traumascape of WW2. We propose a pan-European narrative connecting the unique local perspectives into a train-ride across Europe with several chapters in different places. The story of WW2 is told through the eyes of an innocent child, an unknown German soldier, and various local protagonists. It creates a framework to which local stories can be added, and which helps contextualise and relate subjective national experiences. One of the chapters is at Valkenburg airport, with a Dutch citizen forced to work on the airport construction as the local protagonist. We envision different ways to deal with WW2 heritage at the site and connect the locations into a route.