See-through panel Camp Zwartemeer

See-through panels are corten steel frames with a transparent plate. On that plate, a drawing visualises an object/activity that is not (or no longer) visible in the landscape. Through the correct perspective of the drawing and the correct positioning of the frame, the drawing is as it were projected into the current landscape. In this way, a special event or a former structure that stood at a specific location can come back to life for a while. Via the vista panels, we make the special history and unique story of Northeast Polder more visible.

The Doorkijkpaneel Kamp Zwartemeer stands at the junction of Zwartemeerweg and Neushoornweg, south of Kraggenburg and Ens, and tells the story of the residential barracks where polder workers from all over the country could be housed close to their work. If you look through the panel, you can see the polder workers on foot and on bicycles, with shovels and wheelbarrows passing in front of their barracks, setting out to reclaim the polder.

There were more than 30 such labour camps in the Northeast Polder and they all had the same ground plan: four barracks placed together in the shape of a window with a kitchen barrack in the middle, which served as the manager's office in addition to kitchen. Each residential barrack had a toilet block and a shed for the workers' bicycles. Up to a hundred farm workers could be housed in one barrack. For relaxation, they could go to the camp canteen.