THE SEARCH FOR HOLOCAUST-ERA MASS GRAVES IN JEWISH CEMETERIES IN LATVIA AND LITHUANIA

Research was completed at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Riga, Latvia, the Livas Jewish Cemetery in Liepaja, Latvia, and the Žaliakalnis Jewish Cemetery in Kaunas, Lithuania. A common practice used by the Nazis and collaborators in World War II, as part of the Holocaust, was to use existing Jewish cemeteries as places for mass burial. Each of the sites in this research have both shared and unique histories. Their shared history is that each was used for the burial of Jews for hundreds of years prior to World War II. The Old Jewish Cemetery in Riga was adjacent to the Riga Ghetto, and was used to bury individuals murdered in the ghetto. In Kaunas, an area of the cemetery is devoid of grave stones, and testimonies indicate that this area was used for the mass burial of Jews from the Kaunas Ghetto and other mass killings. In Liepaja, the history of Holocaust-related mass burials in the Livas Jewish Cemetery is unclear, but the local Jewish Heritage Foundation believes that there are mass graves within the cemetery. Methodologies for this research include the use of a pluseEkko Pro 500-megahertz ground penetrating radar (GPR) system. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data was collected through a linear array of electrodes coupled to a direct current (DC) resistivity transmitter and receiver. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Photogrammetry and Multispectral Aerial Photography was also employed at each location. ERT and GPR data indicate three separate trench anomalies in the cleared quadrant of the Old Jewish Cemetery in Riga. The presence of these anomalies corroborates Holocaust survivor testimony that bodies were thrown over the cemetery wall and buried in that area. In the Žaliakalnis Jewish Cemetery in Kaunas, ERT and GPR data indicate an anomaly in the western part of the cemetery, and ERT data further indicates that other mass graves may be present in other cleared sections. In Liepaja, preliminary GPR analysis indicates an anomaly in a cleared section of the cemetery. Based on these data, the ERT and GPR anomalies in all three cemeteries, correlated with Holocaust survivor testimony, have a high probability of indicating the location of mass graves. Future research directions include expanding the search areas in each cemetery, additional archival and testimony-based research, and the addition of other geophysical methodologies.