“Archeologie Zagłady i badanie miejsc nazistowskich prześladowań” / Holocaust Archaeologies and Investigations at Sites of Nazi Persecution

The Holocaust resulted in the deaths of millions of Jews as well as Roma, Sinti, disabled people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, black people, political prisoners and other so-called enemies of the Reich (Gilbert 2012)1. These events irreversibly altered the geographic, political and demographic map of the world. Whilst some of the victims were murdered in the extermination camps, others were subject to ‘annihilation through work’, ad hoc executions and terrible living conditions. In addition to the societal impact of these killings, Europe’s landscape was physically transformed. Previously unassuming villages were to be defined by the presence of over 44,000 extermination, concentration and labour camps (USHMM 2019). Factories and fortifications were built to support the war effort. Transport infrastructures were constructed and altered. Areas were designated as ghettos and internment sites, and the fields of Europe became burial grounds for millions of people. Previously unconnected places became linked through the transportation of materials used to construct the camps and ghettos, personal belongings and people. These people included victims of Nazi crimes, bystanders and individual perpetrators, as well as specific groups such as the Nazi killing squads—the Einsatzgruppen.