History lesson taken from anthropologists

Two participants of the interdisciplinary research; Doctor Paweł Konczalski - archeologist and project coordinator and Master of Science Katarzyna Kuźniarska – a PhD student from the Institute of Anthropology at the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław, spoke about the large scale exhumation of communist terror victims which began last October in the Osobowice Cemetery in Wrocław. The meeting was organized by students from the JUVENIS Student Scientific Circle of Anthropologists, and took place on Wednesday, February 15th in the AZ lecture theater at 38C Chełmońskiego Street. This date also coincided with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Home Army, which made the event somewhat of a history lesson.

– This is an incredible example of interdisciplinary research – said the Head of the Institute of Anthropology Professor Krzysztof Borysławski, as there are many different parties involved in the exhumation work, including: archeologists, anthropologists – graduates and PhD students from the Institute of Anthropology from the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław, doctors from the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Wrocław Medical University and historians. National authorities have also supported the entire project.

Exhumations are being conducted on plots 81A and 120. It has been estimated that the roughly 400 prisoners that were buried there, either died, or were executed, between 1945-1956 in the prison located at Kleczkowska Street. The location of the victims’ burial was kept confidential and also concerned prisoners who were executed as a result of capital punishment. The primary purpose of the research conducted on Osobowice is to determine the place of burial as precisely as possible, get rid of symbolic granite crosses, and then bury the victims in proper graves. More than 200 victims have been identified so far.

Confirmation of the graves existence was disclosed no sooner than in 1987. The common graves included, among others, members from the Freedom and Independence Organization (Zrzeszenie Wolność i Niezawisłość WiN), Polish Army officers, soldiers from General Anders Army, participants of Silesian and Warsaw Uprising, soldiers from Świętokrzyska Brigade (NSZ) and participants of the Polish-Bolshevik war.

– Identification research allows for discovering the nature of the victims’ suffering, although they only examine bone remains – admits Katarzyna Kuźnierska, MSc.

After conducting an anthropologic analysis, the remains are then labeled with special certificates and placed into small coffins. There is also a modest ceremonial funeral. Participants includes the color guard, students and scientific workers involved in the excavations, students from Wrocław secondary schools, and most notably of course family and relatives of from the deceased that have been identified. Since information about the exhumation was released to the media, families of victims throughout Poland have been reporting to the Institute of National Remembrance in order to obtain information regarding the fate of their missing relatives.

The project will be completed in May of this year and will be concluded by funeral ceremonies with full military honors. At this time, every grave will have its own label, and the whole plot will be taken under the patronage of the President of Poland. This will help ensure that the memory of our buried heroes will never fade again.