{"title":"An archaeological evaluation of crimes committed in the Arnsberg Forest (South Westphalia, Germany) in the final months of the Second World War","authors":"Michael Baales, Marcus Weidner, M. Zeiler","doi":"10.1080/15740773.2022.2124142","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In recent years an historical reappraisal has been carried out of one of the worst crimes – outside of prisons and concentration camps – committed in Germany by the SS and Wehrmacht in the final months of the Second World War: the execution of 208 forced labourers by firing squad in the Arnsberg Forest near Warstein and Meschede (Westphalia, western Germany) by the ‘Division for Vengeance’ of the SS in March 1945. The use of archaeological research methods allowed us to (1) pinpoint both the scenes of the crimes and the events, (2) recover and classify finds attributed to both the victims and the perpetrators and (3) uncover and record in their historical context concrete finds and features from when the atrocity occurred, the period of the initial burial of the victims by US troops in May 1945 and their exhumation in 1964, with the aim of preserving them for future presentations.","PeriodicalId":53987,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","volume":"16 1","pages":"162 - 189"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2021-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Conflict Archaeology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2022.2124142","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ARCHAEOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT In recent years an historical reappraisal has been carried out of one of the worst crimes – outside of prisons and concentration camps – committed in Germany by the SS and Wehrmacht in the final months of the Second World War: the execution of 208 forced labourers by firing squad in the Arnsberg Forest near Warstein and Meschede (Westphalia, western Germany) by the ‘Division for Vengeance’ of the SS in March 1945. The use of archaeological research methods allowed us to (1) pinpoint both the scenes of the crimes and the events, (2) recover and classify finds attributed to both the victims and the perpetrators and (3) uncover and record in their historical context concrete finds and features from when the atrocity occurred, the period of the initial burial of the victims by US troops in May 1945 and their exhumation in 1964, with the aim of preserving them for future presentations.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Conflict Archaeology is an English-language journal devoted to the battlefield and military archaeology and other spheres of conflict archaeology, covering all periods with a worldwide scope. Additional spheres of interest will include the archaeology of industrial and popular protest; contested landscapes and monuments; nationalism and colonialism; class conflict; the origins of conflict; forensic applications in war-zones; and human rights cases. Themed issues will carry papers on current research; subject and period overviews; fieldwork and excavation reports-interim and final reports; artifact studies; scientific applications; technique evaluations; conference summaries; and book reviews.