The Nazis opened the camp in the town of Dzialdowo immediately after the German invasion of Poland, in September 1939. They used it throughout the war as a transit and extermination camp for Jews, political opponents and members of the Polish elite. It is estimated that about 30,000 people have been killed.
According to the researchers, the victims in the grave were murdered as early as 1939. In 1944, when the Russian army advanced into Poland, the camp authorities tried to erase the traces of their crimes. They ordered Jewish prisoners to exhume and burn the bodies. Then the ashes were buried again.
In total, the researchers unearthed nearly 16,000 kilograms of human ashes. According to the researchers, about two kilograms of ash corresponds to a human body. This is how they arrive at their estimate of eight thousand bodies. Parts of the ashes will be examined for DNA, in the hope of finding out more about the victims’ identities.
The Institute of National Remembrance investigates crimes committed during World War II and under the post-war communist regime.