Mass grave found at Nazi forced-labor camp Treblinka I
Experts are determining the number and size of the burial pits in the location, near the more well-known Treblinka II death camp, before exhuming and attempting to identify the bodies.
By ZACHARY KEYSERThe train station in Macedonia from where Jews were deported to Treblinka(photo credit: ROBERT HERSOWITZ)
The Institute of National Remembrance and a team of experts have unearthed a mass grave in a camping ground adjacent to the Nazi forced-labor camp known as Treblinka I, the director of the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation said on Thursday.Within the four sq.m. grave, the team found human remains among shells of bullets and pieces of clothing and other belongings, after removing just 10-15 cm. of top soil - at about the depth of the grass roots, according to Polish newsite Polsat News.At this stage in the process, the experts are determining the number and size of the burial pits in the location, a process they will complete before exhuming and attempting to identify the bodies.This is the first such comprehensive study performed within the area of the infamous German forced-labor camp. Specialists are using geological and forensic methodology to determine more about the Nazi facility.Many are aware of the Treblinka II Nazi German death camp, created for exterminating mass populations of people by way of gas chambers and incendiary means; many of those who arrived at this death camp were dead within hours. Throughout Treblinka II's existence, nearly a million people were tortured, murdered and incinerated or buried in mass graves such as these until the camp was closed in 1943, ahead of the Soviet advancement.However, Treblinka I, a forced-labor camp not known as widely to the public, was a Nazi facility where mainly Polish citizens were the majority of its victims – later also holding Jews, as well as political prisoners and captured civilians. There were normally around one to two thousand prisoners working at the camp at any one time, who were normally obtained during German raids of the Warsaw district, where enemies of the state were gathered in organized roundups targeting civilian citizens to "replenish the workforce."Nearly 20,000 people are estimated to have worked at this forced-labor camp, according to Polsat, and half of them died from disease, hunger, torture, natural causes or a bullet to the head or torso - to be buried in a mass grave.Work within the newly discovered burial ground is expected to be completed in the coming days; the team will be expanding their search to the surrounding areas as well.
