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Last weekend, on 4 and 5 July, the Old POW Cemetery at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice was a place of peculiar Open Days: all the people visiting the grounds of the former Lamsdorf POW camps complex on those days had an opportunity to take a closer look at the work of researchers and volunteers accompanying them, who were searching for graves of Prisoners of War.

Intensive archaeological works are being carried out at the moment in the Old POW Cemetery and in its direct vicinity, being part of the Łambinowice Site of National Remembrance. The works are conducted in the spirit of community archaeology, therefore their most important element is the inclusion of the public from outside archaeological environment in the process of learning about the past.

Visits of people interested in the Open Days began with getting acquainted with the historical context of the works. The cemetery in Łambinowice hides traces of many military conflicts, spanning the Franco-Prussian War of the years 1870–1871, through World War 1, into the most tragic chapter of the years 1939–1945. Afterwards, the next part of the meeting was devoted to acquainting the present with the many-year researchers’ efforts that had led to the present day stage of the works. The participants of the Open days were thus able to follow the route the researchers had covered since 2022, when the team led by Dr Dawid Kobiałka began the works at the Site of Remembrance.

Still, the highlight of the last weekend’s meeting program was presentation of the latest state-of-art field research methods. The visitors could see how the traditional archaeologist’s workshop connects with digital technology, find out about, among others, orthophoto mosaics and learn how important an interdisciplinary team is. The researchers many times underlined the investigative nature of the actions at present. After all, the main objective of this year’s works is not a mass exhumation activity but establishing the burial places.

Specifications of projects

The project called “The forest of the dead? Search for graves of Prisoners of War in the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice” is implemented by the Association of Friends of the Central Museum of Prisoners of War, under the supervision of Dr Dawid Kobiałka of the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Łódź. The project was supported financially with the means of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

The project called “In search of graves of Poles in the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice” is implemented by the Central Museum of Prisoners of War, under the supervision of Dr Dawid Kobiałka od the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Łódź. The project was financially supported with means of the Local Government of Opole Voivodeship.