Page "Belzec extermination camp" Paragraph 33

From late 1997 until early 1998, a thorough archaeological survey of the site was conducted.

The survey was headed by Andrzej Kola, director of the Underwater Archaeological Department at the University of Toruń, and Mieczysław Góra, senior curator of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Łódź.

The team identified the railway sidings and remains of a number of buildings.

They also found 33 mass graves, the largest of which were 210 by 60 feet.

The team estimated that they had found 15, 000 unburned bodies, and " The largest mass graves ... contained unburned human remains ( parts and pieces of skulls with hair and skin attached ) and entire bodies preserved in wax-fat transformation.

The foul smelling bottom layer of the graves consisted of several inches to a meter thick of human fat resembling black soap.

One grave contained uncrushed human bones so closely packed that the drill could not penetrate.