LIVING EVIDENCE

Secret reforestation program to hide the evidence of the Holocaust

The ‘Waldlager’ (forest camp) in Rzuchowski Forest near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem in present day Poland was the first Nazi German death camp where scientifc methods of mass killing were first tried. In the first stage of the camp’s operation (1941-1943) industrial wood furnaces to incinerate bodies and a secret reforestation program were put to use in order to hide the evidence of mass graves. The program’s purpose was not only to hide the evidence of the camp’s existence but also to disappear the traces of those victims whose bones were crushed to dust turning Rzuchowski forest into living evidence.

Building on archival research, historical aerial imagery analysis and existing archeological works we undertook a field examination using airborne laser scanning (LIDAR) which is the first of such survey of the Chelmno forest camp holocaust site. The survey generated precise, three dimensional information about the shape of the earth and its surface characteristics. We derived a digital elevation model (DTM) of the site, after removing the vegetation revealing many features at the site of the reforestation program that will require on-site verification.