How is European Bunker Day organized?

There are three levels of European Bunker Day organisers:

  • The central organization of Atlantikwall Europe
  • The national contact points per country (Atlantikwall Europe member and main participating sites)
  • The participants (the Atlantic Wall sites and other organisations).

The role of Atlantikwall Europe 

Atlantikwall Europe provides:

  • a best-practices multilingual starter information and toolkit for candidates respecting national particularities
  • the European Bunker Day logo (promoted with Atlantikwall Europe and Creative Europe and European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 logos) and hashtags
  • other common communication material (website, flyer, flag, poster designs etc.)
  • collection of all event information, organized by the participants, passed on by the national contact points. 

What do the national contact points do  ?

The national contact points, Atlantikwall Europe partners and the main participants in each Atlantic Wall country, activate the national network of Atlantikwall Europe sites, participating in European Bunker Day in their country and inform them on central guidelines and communication material. They can use the operating guidelines in the European Bunker Day Handbook for this.

They are responsible for the coordination of the national Bunker Day, and will provide the participants with:

  • the event name, visuals, logos, hashtags (the use of which is obligatory for all participants)
  • a flag / banner to use on-site
  • formats for information boards and signs (on-site or for digital use)
  • your event on the atlantikwalleurope.eu and europeanbunkerday.eu websites
  • national promotion of your actions
  • assist you with access to the Atlantikwall  Europe - Wall&Space street art project : a cultural project on street art, linking art and the remnants of WWII’s Atlantic Wall, organised with ‘Wall&Space’, an Atlantikwall Europe partner.
  • assist

The national contact point will coordinate communication of the Bunker Day :

  • to possible new European Bunker Day participants
  • by coordination social media actions and posts, advertising, press releases, postering
  • by generating a national Bunker Day program to be send to Atlantikwall Europe.

The national contact points coordinate the communication actions and check the quality of the participants European Bunker Day actions (use of logo’s, execution of planned events etc.).

After European Bunker Day, they collect all copies of event and communication material and send it to the Atlantikwall Europe central address.

What do the participating sites do for their national Bunker Day?

First, the participating sites send planning, photos and planned actions and dates to the national contact point which collects them from all national participants and sends it to Atlantikwall Europe.

Besides the opening of the memorial sites and museums on a national day, supported by common communication material, logo’s, website and banners, each site is invited to combine its Bunker Day action with a (cultural) action in order to underline the relevance of its heritage:

  • guided tours, walks, theatre, music, exhibitions, lectures, performances, conferences, etc. (see also for inspiration the European Bunker Day Handbook)
  • focus on grammar school groups and integrated activities (testimonies, arts)
  • establishment of a special entrance fee (or not) on Bunker Day.

Participating in EU-subsidised activities comes understandably with certain obligations. As a participant in the European Bunker Day, you have to:

  • enrich the opening of your site on Bunker Day with a cultural action reflecting on or relating to the Atlantic Wall European heritage
  • inform on the day and on your website and social media accounts and all other communications before, on and around the Bunker Day date about your participation in European Bunker Day and your membership of Atlantikwall Europe (use of visuals)
  • use the provided Atlantikwall Europe and European Bunker Day visuals and logos on all sites and communication material (see website for downloading), and use hashtags #europeanbunkerday #atlantikwalleurope #europeforculture
  • send, within one month after your event, photo material, links, copies of brochures on your event to your national contact point.