WWII mass grave including bones and bullet shells found in carpark
A mass grave has been found in a carpark at the site of a former Nazi work camp.
The bones were discovered along with bullet shells from pistols and machine-guns just 10-15 cm below the surface at the site of the former Treblinka I forced labour camp set up by German troops during WWII in what was then occupied Poland.
Investigators from the Institute of National Remembrance as well as an international team of experts also found fragments of clothing, including a metal belt buckle.
Specialists are using geo-radar equipment to see a geological cross-section of the ground, its various layers, any underground obstacles, as well as cavities and archaeological objects.
Prosecutor Andrzej Pozorski from the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation said: “Our work has revealed a grave of 4.5 by 3.4 metres containing human remains in an area currently used as a car park in the forest, adjacent to the site of the Treblinka I camp.”
The bones were discovered along with bullet shells from pistols and machine-guns just 10-15 cm below the surface.
He added that the depth of the grave was very shallow and that so far only individual bones have been found and not full skeletons.
The work, which started on November 12, is part of a criminal investigation by the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation based in Szczecin into the crimes against prisoners of the German forced labour camp Treblinka I.
Investigators also found fragments of clothing, including a metal belt buckle.
Treblinka I which covered 17 hectares is often overshadowed by the notorious Nazi German extermination camp Treblinka II located a short distance away where around 900,000 Jews were gassed to death during the Holocaust.
The mass grave was found in a carpark at the site of the former Nazi-German work camp.
Initially its prisoners were Polish men and women charged with crimes by Germans as well as those captured during street round-ups.
Prosecutor Andrzej Pozorski from the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation said: 'Our work has revealed a grave of 4.5 by 3.4 metres containing human remains in an area currently used as a car park in the forest, adjacent to the site of the Treblinka I camp.'
Around 20,000 people were imprisoned in the camp, of which around 10,000 died from exhaustion, injury or execution.
The majority of executions continued until the last days of the camp’s operation, at the end of July 1944.
Around 20,000 people were imprisoned in the camp, of which around 10,000 died from exhaustion, injury or execution.
The investigators at the site of the new horror discovery say they will now try and determine the number and size of burial pits before carrying out any exhumations.
