Gas workers dig up human remains at Nazi death camp in Poland

Construction crew was repairing pipeline near Plaszow death camp outside Krakow

The Nazi concentration camp in Plaszow near Krakow. (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
The Nazi concentration camp in Plaszow near Krakow. (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Polish prosecutors are investigating if workers violated laws protecting buried human remains when they apparently dug up bones at the site of a former Nazi concentration camp and a Jewish cemetery.

A construction crew unearthed bones at the site of the former Nazi concentration camp in Plaszow, near Krakow.

The workers were repairing a decades-old gas pipeline on the property last week adjacent to the former funeral home of a Jewish cemetery on which the camp was established during World War II.

The Jewish community of Krakow, which officially owns the property, was not informed of the plans to repair the pipeline, its president said.

“All the former Plaszow camp area is a cemetery,” Tadeusz Jakubowicz said in an interview with the Dziennik Polski newspaper. “Also, this area is listed on the register of national historic monuments.”

The memorial at the Nazi death camp at Plaszow, near Krakow, Poland. (CC BY Jacques Lahitte via Wikimedia Commons)
The memorial at the Nazi death camp at Plaszow, near Krakow, Poland. (CC BY Jacques Lahitte via Wikimedia Commons)

Krakow police are investigating the incident. Police spokesman Mariusz Ciarka told reporters on Tuesday that the bones were sent for forensic tests to determine if they are human.

Plaszow was erected on the grounds of two Jewish cemeteries. Today it is only marked by a stone memorial. Its commander, Amon Goeth, was known for his sadistic treatment of prisoners.

Amon Goeth, the brutal SS commander of Plaszow concentration camp near Krakow, Poland (Wikimedia Commons)
Amon Goeth, the brutal SS commander of Plaszow concentration camp near Krakow, Poland (Wikimedia Commons)

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