A team of archaeologists unearthed the skeletons of five people, without hands or feet, in a former Nazi military base in Poland.
The skeletons were discovered in a Nazi command center known as the Wolf’s Lair, in Gierloz, in northeastern Poland, where archaeologists began by discovering a skull fragment during a first excavation, on February 24, and alerted local authorities, who decided to carry out new excavations.
The remains belonged to three adults, a teenager and a newborn, reveals a statement from the Latebra Foundation, a historical organization based in the Polish city of Gdansk.
The remains were found in what appears to be an old bathroom.
Photography: Latebra Foundation
The five skeletons were arranged close to each other, facing the same direction, outside a house occupied by Nazi commander Hermann Göring, a pilot who became one of the most powerful Nazi leaders in World War II and a close friend of Adolf Hitler.
Next to the skeletons were burned boards and remains of sewage infrastructure, but there were no traces of clothing.
Adrian Kostrzewa, a member of the foundation’s board of directors, tells CNN that the team of archaeologists initially thought they had found an ancient bathroom when they found pipes underground.
Polish police are investigating the discovery.
Photography: Latebra Foundation
However, even before finding the skull fragment, archaeologists came across ashes and a burned key. “It was very surprising,” Kostrzewa recalls.
Authorities are now awaiting the results of a police investigation into the remains, as there are still many doubts to be clarified. “There are many theories about the fact that they didn’t have hands or feet”, observes Adrian Kostrzewa, adding that, for now, “it’s still very difficult to say” what happened to those bodies.
The excavation site, outside a house inside Toca do Lobo
Photography: Latebra Foundation
Researchers must first understand how old the remains are, using carbon dating for this purpose.
Built deliberately kilometers from civilization, in the forests of northeastern Poland, the Wolf’s Lair was the headquarters of the Nazi Eastern Front. It was one of the largest bases of its kind in Europe, according to that foundation.
“The uniqueness of this discovery lies in the fact that the bodies were found in the facilities of the best guarded complex of the Third Reich”, says the foundation’s statement. Adolf Hitler spent almost three years at that base.
The fortress was the scene of Operation Valkyrie, an assassination attempt on Hitler in July 1944, before being destroyed in January 1945 to prevent it from falling into the hands of the advancing Soviet army.
