A mass grave containing the remains of 14 German soldiers has been discovered near the village of Bolemin in western Poland.
The burial was discovered on May 26th while doing earthmoving at a quarry in Efekt-Silikaty. Employee Paweł Gontarczyk saw bones and footwear just beneath the surface while operating a wheel loader and immediately notified the police.
Following the discovery, the District Prosecutor's Office in Gorzów Wielkopolski ordered an archaeological investigation and exhumation of the site.
Excavations revealed a shallow grave containing the remains of 14 German soldiers. Archaeologists said the burial site was previously unknown and does not appear in available archival records.
The artefacts recovered were military dog tags that may help identify at least one of the
The grave is believed to date from the last months of the Second World War, when fighting spread across the region during the Soviet advance into Germany.
The discovery occurred in a region that was transformed for decades by the quarrying and raw material extraction for silicate production. From archaeological and excavational perspectives, such activity can expose previously unknown wartime sites, but they also put them at risk.
The excavation team thanked prosecutor Ilona Szyszkowska-Dominiak and Efekt-Silikaty for their help. Gontarczyk was particularly praised for having reported the new discovery, which ensured that the site could be investigated properly.
The remains and recovered artefacts are being examined as researchers work to identify the soldiers and establish the circumstances surrounding their burial.
Sources : POMOST