Mass graves found at Nazi camp

Opening up Poland's Nazi camps is controversial

Researchers have discovered seven mass graves at the Sobibor Nazi death camp in north-eastern Poland.

It is necessary to confirm scientifically the existence of the camp, because some crazy voices have denied the existence of the events of that period

Polish official

The research team, which began its government-sponsored investigation in the summer, said the graves - the largest of which is about half the size of a football pitch - contain charred remains.

The researchers say this is evidence that the Nazis burnt their prisoners during the final months of the camp's existence.

Some 250,000 people, mostly Jews, are thought to have died in the camp.

Holocaust denial

The president of a committee responsible for protecting historical sites in Poland, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, said the investigation had the important role of scientifically proving the camp's existence.

"Some crazy voices have denied the existence of the events of that period," said Mr Bartoszewski, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The Nazis razed the camp in 1943, one year after they built it, after some 300 prisoners managed to escape, killing a number of guards as they did so.

Many were killed in a surrounding mine field and the Nazis recaptured many of the survivors but nevertheless they decided to immediately destroy the camp.

Hidden atrocities

They demolished all the buildings and tried to wipe out evidence of the camp by planting trees over the site.

In addition to the graves, the researchers also found 1,700 bullets in the corner of a barracks, which they believe mean that the Nazis executed the prisoners there.

Andrzej Kola, an archaeology professor supervising the study said the barracks may have also served as a gas chamber but further investigation was necessary.

More research is planned for next year when the ground thaws.

The government plans to use artefacts discovered during the archaeological study in the museum at Sobibor, which was opened in 1996 but is to be further expanded.

A monument to the victims was erected in the 1960s.