e recently caught up with group and Wojtech, asserted with absolute certainty modern culture that Auschwitz will remain the member and artist, Hannah that we had uncovered the foundations of the go-to place for Holocaust tourism. Increased WWilson who is at the centre of the gas chambers. awareness of this site is an essential part of Sobibor excavation dig. The groundbreaking THE SECRETS OF Holocaust education, however, distance from research has led to the geographical The existence of these had been hugely the actual event has resulted in some disturbing identification of the Sobibor Gas Chambers contended in Holocaust history, and at this practices by younger generations, such as that were previsouly unknown. Excavation SOBIBOR REVEALED moment, it dawned on me just how important ‘Auschwitz selfies’, and other disrespectful of the area was always going to be a sensitive Hannah Wilson talks with Michael Challoner from the Auschwitz Study Group about her this project is. photographs. There is an unfortunate banality matter for the memories of those who experiences working on the Sobibor excavation project that comes with this level of tourism, and it does perished and the families who waited for Yoram was contacted by the Israeli, Polish, concern me in terms of how this might progress, news of what would be discovered. The Join the or how best to overcome it. Dutch and English press, and the site went incredible results of the dig have surprised Auschwitz Study Group Type Auschwitz Study group on FB or click here if online into media frenzy. Up until this point, there had everyone and offer an insight into the been a set of plans established by the steering ASG Is this something you want to be involved crimes that were attempted to be covered committee at the Majdanek State Museum to with as a more permanent career? up by the fleeing Nazis in 1943. Hannah build a wall around Sobibor, which would cross explains how she got involved with the over the ‘Road to Heaven’ and a visitor centre HW At the moment, I am finishing up my project and her views for future handling of across one of the other archaeological sites. Master’s thesis which focuses around Holocaust rembrance sites. survivor artworks from the post-war Cyprus With the help of Holocaust institutions such Detainee camps, but I am now looking towards ASG So we understand you got involved as Yad Vashem, these plans have thankfully PhD options whereby I can explore the with the Sobibor dig through the Weiss-Livnat been revised in order to work around the relationship between Cultural Holocaust memory International. How did that come about? Was team’s findings, and hopefully allow for more and archaeology practices. I hope that this there a selection process? excavations at the site. Once this has been research will call for many returns to , to approved, I will make efforts to return to the site Sobibor and elsewhere. I would love to continue HW Each week during the Weiss- Livnat as soon as I can. working with Yoram and Wojtech, two very good Holocaust Studies Master’s program in Haifa, friends and inspirational figures in Holocaust my cohort would be visited by a guest lecturer. ASG What was your opinions of Holocaust history. During one of these sessions, we heard from memorials sites before your work and have they Israeli archaeologist and historian Yoram Haimi changed since your work? for example, how Hannah Wilson was talking to Michael regarding the work he and his team had been do you view tourism as a part of the process of Challoner form the Auschwitz Study Group carrying out at the site of the Sobibor Death visitor interaction? In addition, do you think the Camp. Initially tracing the steps of his own family increased levels of tourist activity at Auschwitz history. is positive? The comparable numbers in Sobibor are only a fraction. Yoram and Polish archaeologist Wojtech Mazurki embarked upon an astounding seven year HW Having spent some time living in both Sobibor project that would map an accurate layout of the Poland and Israel, I must admit that I am in two former camp, in an effort to set straight doubts Hannah with Sobibor survivor Philip Bialowitz All pictures courtesy of Hannah Wilson minds about the benefits and negative aspects or denial about the severity of what took place at of Holocaust Memorial sites, and what I would Sobibor. Yoram showed us countless artefacts, and I arrived in Poland not knowing what to personal belongings from the transports. In your feels to find fragments of human bone, white call ‘dark tourism’. mass graves, and the true positioning of the expect, or what exactly I might find during my experience, can you separate the emotion from from cremation, or the gold teeth that shined in ‘Road to Heaven’, where the prisoners would Timeline time there. finding physical human remains to personal my hands amongst the dirt. I guess there was a To be honest, it concerned me to see how the be marched naked to their death. Frankly, I was items? Is it something that you find equally part of me that expected this, for I knew of the planning for a visitor attraction site at Sobibor March - May 1942 stunned. I had never experienced this type of I (Michael Chaloner) myself have harrowing and what is the distinction of emotion? mass murders that had occurred at Sobibor. was initially going to affect the archaeological CONSTRUCTION OF SOBIBOR research in Holocaust history before, and I felt ASG discovered human remains in the sub soil findings there. I find it hard to understand why determined to support their work in any way April 28, 1942 at the Auschwitz Birkenau site, and even HW From the first day, it became clear that I What I could not prepare for was how it felt to something that is raw and original would be built STANGL BECOMES CAMP COMMANDANT possible. personal artefacts such as spectacles, hair would be working alongside the Polish labourers find, for example, a piece of jewellery. Within over or hidden. If we, as Holocaust historians, are working to prove deniers and sceptics May 3, 1942 brushes and medicine bottles. I have read in and farmers who were digging the earth, sifting hours of my arrival, we had discovered a Hebrew FIRST DEPORTATIONS TO SOBIBOR Through independent arrangements, Yoram and an article about you where you mention several through the soil and looking for artefacts. This inscribed wedding band, a child’s elephant wrong, then surely this only exacerbates the Wojtech welcomed me as their research student, problem. Preservation should be a priority. For July 19, 1942 was by no means an easy job, both physically pendant and a pair of silver earrings. Not only HIMMLER ACCELERATES KILLING OPERATIONS and emotionally. I was working under the are these the remains of a life lost, but they example, the day before I arrived, notorious guidance of the Dutch archaeologist on site, signify characteristics, taste and personality. A Holocaust denier David Irving brought a group October 14, 1943 of Americans to Sobibor and led a tour of the UPRISING IN SOBIBOR Prisoners carry out a revolt in Ivar Schute. He explained to me what sort of woman made a choice to wear, perhaps, her Sobibor, killing nearly a dozen German staff and Trawniki- materials should be collected or disregarded, most treasured earrings, on the day she would site. Had he witnessed a preservation of the trained guards. Of 600 prisoners left in Sobibor on this so I kept my eyes open in the hope to find be taken to the gas chambers at Sobibor. remains, perhaps he would have day, 300 escape during the uprising one less thing to deem inaccurate. Generally, something that would be worthy of archiving. November 4, 1943 This heart-wrenching thought is something that however,I believe that it is extremely important SS orders that Sobibor is is dismantled It was a complex feeling; hoping to find remains will stay with me for the rest of my life. that people from all over the world have the and all signs of crime are removed.Nothing is supposed to be left for future generations to find of a person who had perished here. At first option to visit sites dedicated to the memory and I found this hard to deal with, but the team ASG What became of the work you were horrors of , in order to expand their assured me that every time an artefact is found, involved with? How will it change the shape of understanding and education. As many as 250,000 innocent I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to describe we are in fact working towards preserving the the memorial grounds? And are you planning on There are exemplary institutions dedicated to people were murdered at Sobibor how it feels to find fragments of human memory of the Holocaust, for future generations returning. to come. this in Poland and elsewhere, that aim to keep “ bone, white from cremation, or HW Coincidentally, my visit coincided with the the memory of Jewish life in Poland alive. It is the gold teeth that shined in my hands” I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to describe how it most crucial discovery at Sobibor to date. Yoram inevitable, given its reputation in history and uschwitz

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