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Paper No. 63-8
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-5:30 PM
THE MASS GRAVE AT KAUNAS FORT VII, LITHUANIA
The horrific atrocities of the Nazis during WWII were first committed in the Baltic state of Lithuania. Prior to Hitler's Final Solution for the Jewish communities of Europe, mass extermination began within the cities of Lithuania when the Germans occupied the country in 1941. Jews were rounded up, shot and buried in mass graves, each in growing number as killing efficiencies increased. Many of these mass burial pits exist across Lithuania, still lost to history. In July of 2017, a research group from University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, University of Hartford, Duquesne University, and WorleyParsons, Inc. used ground penetrating radar (GPR), a noninvasive technology that sends electromagnetic frequencies to look into the subsurface, to verify the location of one of these mass graves at Fort VII in Kaunas, Lithuania. Using 225, 450, and 500 MHz antenna with a step size of 0.1m, 0.05m and 0.02m (respectively), GPR data was collected over two grids. One grid measuring 16mx8m; the other 12mx7m, and each having a line spacing of 0.25m. The GPR data was then processed using the GFP_Edit, EKKO_Project, and Voxler programs to look below the surface and verify the existence, size, and location of the mass grave at Fort VII. Results showed an area of unnatural, hummocky subsurface less than 1 meter below the current surface. A pit shaped feature about 8 meters wide and 13 meters in length is also visible between 0.2 m and 0.8 m below the ground. This data will help keep the entire mass grave protected from disturbance or harm; respecting the lives of the 1000’s of people buried there.