Holocaust Mass Burial and Submarine Shtetl Mapping in Kaunas and Rumsiskes, Lithuania

The overall goals of this project were to illuminate the beginning of the Holocaust in Kaunas, what was then the capital of Lithuania, by providing non-destructive evidence of the mass murders at Fort IX, and a snapshot of a Jewish town at the onset of World War II.

The team used geophysical methods to identify, describe, and delineate the mass graves at Fort IX in Kaunas and nearby Rumsiskes in Lithuania, and to map the pre-World War II submerged Jewish town (shtetl) of Rumsiskes.

This project used non-invasive drone-based mapping techniques to provide a more rapid approach to mass burial mapping, and inclusion of metal mapping using a ground-based gradiometer, side-scan sonar, GPR, a drone-based magnetometer, ERT and Induced Polarization (IP) cross-sectional imaging. There was also geochemical soil sample analysis for total phosphorus content. >38 experts teamed up from various geoscientific and humanities discipline from Canada, United States, Lithuania and other EU nations. The team also included 10 student volunteers from various universities.

An additional aspect of this project was to continue from previous investigations in the use of geophysical methods to investigate Holocaust sites in a manner that may initiate further work including excavations and memorialization.

UNSDGs Addressed

SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and SDG 17 (Partnership for goals)