Living Death Camp: The Archaeology of Staro Sajmište

Living Death Camp is a project initiated in 2013 by the collective Forensic Architecture, and it investigates the archaeological remnants of Staro Sajmište, a place connected with the Holocaust. The physical evidence that lies within survives as reminders of the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis. Forensic Architecture’s aim is to construct methods for making historical evidence legible. Through various techniques such as news sources, video-game-like renders, and datasets, Forensic Architecture is committed to the truth as a public asset. With the help of archaeologists and developed scanning techniques, they have presented Staro Sajmište as an ongoing site of transformations and traced its history from being a concentration camp to its repurposing as residential areas and artists’ studios. Since 2013, its residents, including Roma communities, have continually been evicted in order to make place for a museum to commemorate the Holocaust.