Gdańsk Branch Commission Announces Completion of Archaeological Work at Lake Borówno
The Gdańsk Branch of the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation has announced the completion of archaeological work at Lake Borówno in Bydgoszcz County, where evidence of German mass crimes committed in October 1939 was uncovered.
Historical context: the Pomeranian Crime of 1939
For several years, the Commission has been conducting an extensive investigation into the Pomeranian Crime of 1939 – the mass extermination of the Polish population in Pomerania during the autumn of 1939. Archaeological research is a crucial part of establishing new facts about these events. In recent years, such investigations have made it possible to locate, examine, and recover the remains of hundreds of people murdered by various German units, including Police and auxiliary police formations.
The crimes and the attempt to erase the evidence
The evidence collected indicates that in October 1939, the Germans transported prisoners to the area around Lake Borówno, where mass executions were carried out near a line of Polish field fortifications.
In June 1944, some of the graves were destroyed by a special unit responsible for erasing evidence of German crimes as part of the operation codenamed “Aktion 1005.” As part of this operation, mass graves were located, bodies were exhumed and burned on pyres, and the remains were concealed.
Research methods
This year’s work was intended to comprehensively document the crime scene and secure evidence. The investigation was preceded by, among other things: analysis of historical aerial photographs; airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) using drones; magnetic surveys; surface surveys using metal detectors. Based on these investigations, a number of exploratory trenches were established.
Results of the archaeological and forensic investigations
A team of experts in archaeology, physical anthropology, anthropology, and forensic medicine – representing the University of Łódź, University of Rzeszów, University of Warsaw, University of Zielona Góra, and the Karol Marcinkowski Medical University in Poznań – uncovered a filled-in wartime trench.
Human remains were found within its fill, including: human skeletons preserved in anatomical order, in various positions, with no signs of deliberate burial; gunshot wounds visible on most of the skulls, predominantly with entrance wounds in the occipital region, which clearly indicates the manner in which the victims were killed;the victims were adults of various ages, predominantly men.
Discovery of the location where remains were hidden after “Aktion 1005”
A nearby forest also revealed the course of a rifle trench from which, in June 1944, Sonderkommando 1005 had removed the bodies of previously murdered victims.
Only individual, scattered remains and small objects were found in its fill, demonstrating how thoroughly the operation to erase the evidence had been carried out.
In October 1945, based on a witness’s account, the remains of a cremation pyre were located. The site is commemorated today. However, the pyre could not have contained all of the remains of the victims who had been burned.
By combining different research methods, investigators discovered what is referred to as a “dump site” left after Aktion 1005, a location where the cremated remains of the victims had been deposited.
The perpetrators chose a section of a Polish military trench running through the nearby forest as the hiding place for the evidence. The victims’ remains were found in several concentrations along more than 33 metres of the trench.
No valuable personal objects were found among the remains, suggesting that the remains had been further sorted and sifted after cremation.
Further work
The examination and analysis of the recovered human remains, as well as other evidence of the crimes and attempts to conceal them, will continue over the coming months.
At this stage, it can be established that the work at Lake Borówno has uncovered the remains of at least 150 people murdered in October 1939.
Continuation of the research
The investigation and interdisciplinary research into the Pomeranian Crime of 1939 and Aktion 1005 in Pomerania will continue as part of the international scientific project “Archeologia Aktion 1005” (Archaeology of Aktion 1005).