News

Yesterday, in the Łambinowice seat of the Museum there was held the second Łambinowice Museum Meeting this month. The meeting was devoted to this year’s archaeological research carried out in the Site of Remembrance.

The meeting was run by Prof. Michał Pawleta and Dr Dawid Kobiałka – archaeologists taking part in the project “Lamsdorf/Łambinowice. The archaeology of memory”. The speakers summed up the course of the field research conducted in the first half of July, aimed at, among others, finding the graves of soldiers of the Polish Army, who died in the Autumn of 1939 in the POW camp Lamsdorf as well as those of Warsaw insurgents of 1944. Despite their localization has not been possible to establish, this year’s work has brought other significant discoveries, especially as regards the scientific value.

During the research, the team of archaeologists came across an unmarked plot where 18 German airmen were buried – victims of accidents which occurred during training in the nearby airfield. Their remains were buried in the cemetery, still with time the traces of the graves got blurred so that nobody knew about them.

In turn, the excavations run outside the cemetery’s fence allowed confirming the thesis that the mass graves of Soviet POWs who were buried there in the first period of functioning of Stalag 318/VIII F (344) Lamsdorf still contain their remains. The identification discs found in the graves will make it possible to identify part of the persons, while further research on, among others, the manner of conducting burials, will allow completing and verifying the knowledge to date. The material collected in the course of the research has been documented in detail and will be analyzed further.

Yesterday’s meeting attracted a great number of participants interested in the results of the field work and their significance for documenting the history as well as dignified commemoration of POWs’ fates. The participants of the meeting could see the great determination of the members of the team and the supporting volunteers. The deeply humanistic approach to the undertaken effort was underlined several times, too. It is not only a scientific project, but also includes a strong societal component and provides a form of restoring memory about those who rest in peace in the necropolis of Łambinowice and for decades have remained forgotten.

We would like to thank all the participants for their presence and participation in the lively discussion. We will keep you updated about further establishments and plans of successive investigations.

The interdisciplinary project “Lamsdorf/Łambinowice. The archaeology of memory” is implemented thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.