“We Found People…”

The Discovery, Research, Experiences and Artistic Documentation of Mass Graves from 1945 in Death Valley in Chojnice, Poland

Authors

  • Dawid Kobiałka University of Lodz

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.26659

Keywords:

art, crime scene, mass grave, materiality, World War II

Abstract

This photo essay shows human remains. Viewer discretion is advised.

Death Valley in Chojnice, Poland, is the site of mass crimes committed by officers of the Third Reich against citizens of the Second Polish Republic during World War II. This photo essay describes the circumstances of the discovery of mass graves dating from late January 1945, when several hundred Poles were taken to the outskirts of the town, murdered, and their bodies burned to cover up the traces of the crime. The text advocates the presentation of human remains as irrefutable material evidence of the crime and of the the cover-up attempt. The reason it is presented as a photo essay is because the visual arts, in the context of documenting mass graves, are able to capture aspects of the site – the materiality of the crimes committed and the aura of the exhumation itself – that are not usually taken into account in archaeological field research. Such elements, however, are inherent to any field research that involves the exhumation of innocent victims.

Author Biography

  • Dawid Kobiałka, University of Lodz

    Dawid Kobiałka is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University of Lodz, Poland, and head of the international and multidisciplinary research project “An Archaeology of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939”, which is financed by the National Science Centre, Poland. His research interests include archaeology of the recent past, modern conflict archaeology, forensic archaeology and community archaeology.

References

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Kobialka, D. 2022. “The Devil Burns Gold there – The Heritage of Nazi Germany Crimes in Death Valley, Chojnice, Poland.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 26: 359–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00604-9

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Kobialka, D., M. Kostyrko, F. Waldoch, K. Kosc-Ryzko, J. Rennwanz, M. Rychtarska and D. Nita. 2021. “An Archaeology of ‘Death Valley’, Poland.” Antiquity 95 (383): Article e29. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2021.109

Pollock, S. 2020. “Archäologie, Zeugenschaft und Counter-Forensics.” In Archäologie der Moderne. Standpunkte und Perspektiven, edited by F. Jürgens and U. Müller. Bonn: Habelt. https://doi.org/10.18440/ha.2020.117

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Smykowski, M. and D. Kobialka. 2023. “Death and Life Valley: Environmental Memory of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939 in Chojnice.” Lud 107: 170–201. https://doi.org/10.12775/lud107.2023.06

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Wróblewski, R. 2020. Zbrodnia. Podgaje 1945. Pila, Poland: Libri Militari.

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Published

2024-04-15

Issue

Section

Photo Essays

How to Cite

Kobiałka, D. (2024). “We Found People…”: The Discovery, Research, Experiences and Artistic Documentation of Mass Graves from 1945 in Death Valley in Chojnice, Poland. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 10(2), 310-327. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.26659