Most of the 11 Polish victims had their hands tied behind their backs, and some of the skulls have traces of injuries. The mass grave contained bullet casings from a German Mauser.
Around 50 graves were damaged when a sinkhole opened up beneath them in a cemetery in the southern Polish town of Trzebinia on Tuesday morning.
The appearance of the former inhabitants of Upper Lusatia - - a historical land located on what is today both sides of the Polish-German border - was reconstructed by anthropologists, archaeologists and visual artists in Wrocław.
The two amber rings, a bronze bowl, an iron knife in a leather holder and bronze buckles were found in the grave of a man who belonged to the Pomeranian elite who lived between the 11th and 12th century.
The find has been described as enormously significant as it ‘proves that religious Jews not only resisted the deportations in 1942 but also shows that religious practice among observant Jews continued in the ghetto’, director of the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw said.
The Neolithic cemetery in the village of Stara Wieś in Silesia contained the remains of three people who were found lying on their right side with arms bent and curled up and their heads pointing to the East. But Romek Turakiewicz from the Archaeology Department at Raciborz Museum said: “It could be a mass grave and there could be more skeletons.”
A specialist team of body searchers from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) made the find in a forested area in the city’s Białołęka district following a tip off from an elderly resident who recalled seeing German troops herding people into the area.
The mysterious village of Łupków has a rich history but nearly all remnants of the settlement were destroyed after WWII with just the church foundation, bell tower and cemetery remaining.
The 75 victims buried today, which include three infants, were discovered during archaeological work carried out earlier this year by a special section of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance.
Archaeologists have dated the discovery in Bydgoszcz from the 10th to the 12th centuries. If the earlier date is correct, the remains could be those of some of the first children to ever have been called Polish since the state of Poland was established under Duke Mieszko I, whose reign began sometime before 963 and continued until his death in 992.
This site uses "cookies". By staying on it, you agree to the use of cookies.
