The remains of over 8,000 people murdered by Nazi Germany were uncovered near the former Nazi concentration camp of Soldau in Poland.
Excavators uncovered two mass graves containing a total of 19 tons of ashes belonging to the more than 8,000 people near the area, according to reporting from BBC and the Daily Mail.
Researchers, according to the Daily Mail, believe these remains belonged to those whom the Nazis might have killed earlier before they exhumed and incinerated the bodies to prevent the mass murder from being uncovered.
According to Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, the Nazis ran a transit camp in military barracks located at Soldaufrom 1939 to 1944.
The objective of the camp, according to the institute, was to exterminate members of the Polish intelligentsia.
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“Its first inmates were Polish POWs, but they were soon replaced by Jews, clergy, intelligentsia and representatives of all other classes of the society,” the news release from the institute said.
“Nearly half of people imprisoned there in the years 1939-1945 did not survive — either shot or killed by starvation, illnesses and mistreatment.”
However, in the Spring of 1944, in order to cover up the mass killings carried out in the camp, German soldiers burned up the bodies of those they killed, the institute said.
“The unburned remains were ground, so that the crime would not see the light of day and no one could be held responsible,” said Karol Nawrocki, the president of the institute.
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“The cover-up has failed because the IPN is determined to search for the victims and heroes of WW2 and will never allow even one of them to be forgotten,” Nawrocki said.
According to archaeologists who examined the remains, there were several traces of clothing, buttons and other possessions that the dead inmates of the camp had, BBC reported.
However, the archaeologists studying the remains were unable to find any valuables, suggesting the Nazis robbed the inmates before burning their corpses, according to the BBC.
The BBC reported that researchers believe the Nazis murdered up to 30,000 people at the site.
They hope to perform DNA analysis on the remains to uncover more information about them, the outlet reported.
On Wednesday, authorities unveiled a stone monument erected to commemorate those killed at the camp, The Daily Mail reported.
According to the newspaper, an inscription on the monument reads, “Unknown martyrs they fell for Polishness. 1939-1944.”
The discoveries revealed Wednesday were the result of work by a team of archeology and anthropology experts led by researcher Andrzej Ossowski of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, the institute said.
