1/ Today, in #Archaeology_Online, for #HolocaustMemorialDay , a different kind of #thread in memory of 6 million who were murdered during the #SWW Holocaust. Let's talk about an archeological excavation in an extermination camp, Sobibor. >>
@nickfshort @WW2girl1944 @nidgethompson

2/ >> On March 1, 1942, construction began on the Sobibor extermination camp, by Jewish forced workers from the ghettos in nearby villages. Sobibor was one of the first three camps built by the Nazis, together with Belzec, Treblinka. >>

3/ >> This was called "Operation Reinerhardt" named after Reinhard Heydrich who died of his wounds a week after an assassination attempt on the outskirts of Prague. >>

* The monument in memory of the underground reasistance memberswho took part in the assassination of Heydrich.

4/ >> From April 1942 to October 1943, 170-250 thousand Jews were exterminated in Sobibor. After a revolt & escape attempt of Jewish prisoners in 1943 & fearing future escape attempts, the Germans closed & destroyed the camp. >>

Leon Feldhandler, one of the rebellion organizers.

5/ >> In 2008, an archeological excavation began at Sobibor, led by Israeli archaeologist Yoram Chimi.
Aerial photographs helped find the gas chambers area & the excavation focused there. Chimi used regular archeological excavation methods in Sobibor. >>

* The excavation area.

6/ >> Part of the road that passed there was removed, & the gas chambers foundations were found beneath. 8 gas chambers were found in a ​​350 sq/m area, where 800 Jews were murdered every 7 minutes. 70,000 items of murdered Jews were found. >>

* Remains of the gas chambers.

7/ >> 2 special items were found. A pendant with an engraving saying "Mazal Tov" (Congratulations in Hebrew), dated 3.7.1929 with the name Frankfurt am Main. The second is a wedding ring found outside the gas chambers with the Jewish marriage vow "You are consecrated to me". >>

8/ >> The difference between #FWW & #SWW excavations is that excavations at extermination camps are much more sensitive due to the risk of encountering human remains. Therefore it is usually avoided. But, the excavation at Sobibor was of paramount importance. >>

9/ >> The main goal was to prove the camp existed, what the Nazis tried to hide by destroying it. When Holocaust denial is only growing, each one of us has a duty to preserve memory in every way possible, this is the greatest contribution of the Sobibor excavations.

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