Renee van Bavel

What to take if you don’t know where you’re going?

In 2010, commissioned by Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught – Camp Vught National Memorial, I wrote the songs “Helden (Heroes) en “Wat neem je mee als je niet weet waar je heen gaat? (What do you take with you if you don’t know where you’re going?’).

For writing these songs, I went on a research trip in and around the present Memorial of the former concentration camp in Vught. This former camp was situated in the village where I was born. By doing my research for this project and writing these two songs it gave me the opportunity to ask all the questions that I already had as a young person, living in this village. I had the chance to speak with survivors of the former concentration camp and with refugees of today.

In the song “Wat neem je mee als je niet weet waar je heen gaat? (What do you take with you if you don’t know where you’re going?) I wonder about what do you take with you when have to flee and leave everything behind, when you have to leave your home and you don’t know where you are going.

A few years later, at the Commemoration of the Evacuation of the camp on 4 September 2017, I performed the 2 songs at the former “Fusilladeplaats” (Site of Execution) in Vught.

The Commemoration was broadcasted live by the Dutch national television.