New details revealing the atrocities of the Nazis in Poland during the beginning and end of World War II are revealed, including how they tried to destroy evidence of their crimes.
Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and sparked World War II. In the early months of the conflict, the Nazis acted extremely brutally, especially in the Pomeranian region of northern Poland, where an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 Poles were massacred.
Every conjecture about Nazi atrocities, with various attempts to hide. These large-scale atrocities were the first of many that occurred in Poland during the war.
This massacre, known as the Pomeranian Crimes of 1939, is considered a harbinger of the later Nazi genocide committed in World War II. Some of these killings were carried out as part of the Intelligenzaktion, in which prominent and highly educated members of Polish society such as teachers, religious leaders, doctors, activists, office workers, and former officials, were executed by the Nazis.
Quoted from Gizmodo, Friday (3/9/2021) these murders occurred in about 400 different locations in Pomerania, including a site on the outskirts of the city of Chojnice, Poland. Another massacre of some 600 imprisoned Poles occurred at this location in late January 1945, when the German retreat along the Eastern Front was in full swing.
According to eyewitness accounts, the Poles were executed and their bodies burned to destroy evidence. The site near Chojnice was later named Valley of Death because of the killings that occurred at the site during the war.
"Investigations carried out immediately after the war found the remains of 168 victims. However, it is evident from excavation reports that not all human remains were found and excavated," reads a new study published in the scientific journal Antiquity.
As researchers led by Dawid Kobiałka of the Polish Academy of Sciences note, the graves of Poles imprisoned and killed in 1945 have also not been fully investigated. Therefore, finding, mapping and analyzing the material remains of this crime from World War II, is one of the goals of the research project 'An archeology of Death Valley'.
Burial evidence
Kobiałka and his colleagues looked at more than 1,000 pages of historical documents in Polish archives and interviewed people whose relatives are believed to have died in the Valley of the Dead. The team explored nearly 10 acres of land where the killings took place with LIDAR, metal detectors and other equipment.
Data from the survey is then compared with historical aerial photographs taken of the area. This analysis reveals the existence of a series of trenches dug by Polish soldiers in the weeks leading up to the war. The Nazis used these trenches to bury their murder victims.
"The execution took place in a ditch. The victim fell into a ditch or his body was dumped there by the perpetrators. Then the trenches were backfilled with earth," the report said.
The sensitive nature of this study requires archaeologists to carry out limited excavations. A total of eight moats were opened at various locations in the Valley of Death leading to the discovery of a mass grave where as many as 500 victims of Nazi killings are believed to be buried.
Archaeologists also found evidence of cremated bones of victims of the 1945 massacre. Some of the ashes were even found scattered on the ground. Archival evidence reveals a list of potential victims, who were members of the Polish resistance movement. This paper provides a grim account of what happened during this massacre.
Researchers found the place where the victims in January 1945 were killed and are believed to have been burned in a pile formation. Preserved wood fragments, confirming the accuracy of witness testimony about the bodies and the piles doused with flammable substances. The existence of valuables belonging to the victims indicates that the bodies were not robbed. These artifacts also allow identifying individuals through their possessions.
"Despite the Nazis' attempts to conceal their crimes, material evidence of the murder, which is preserved to this day can be found and bears witness to the massacre, and tells the story 76 years later," the researchers concluded.
Investigations are still ongoing, as more victims were found in the Valley of Death in Poland. The team plans to carry out a DNA analysis of the remains found in hopes of identifying more victims. These remains would then be reburied, and the Valley of Death would become an official war-victim cemetery.
