Svatava (Sokolovsko) – Archaeologists from the University of West Bohemia (ZČU) in Pilsen are uncovering the remains of a women’s concentration camp in Svatava, Sokolovskogo, which in the spring of 1945 was the largest in the Czech territory at the time, with around 750 female prisoners. The archaeological survey revealed the foundations of the kitchen or the remains of weapons, lamps or fencing, Pavel Vařeka, an archaeologist from ZČU and head of the research, told ČTK today.
According to him, this is the first research into a women’s concentration camp in occupied Europe. Its area exceeded 18,000 square meters, and archaeologists located it on the basis of a picture taken by an American reconnaissance plane from April 1945.
“The research revealed the object of the camp kitchen, which was very well preserved only a few centimeters below today’s surface. In the ruins of the camp, we found parts of the equipment of individual prison barracks, we also found the remains of a fence. The camp was surrounded by a fence with barbed wire that was under high tension. In addition to the barbed wire, we also have porcelain insulators,” Vařeka said.
The remains of the camp are being examined by 15 students of archeology from ZČU and the British University of Cambridge, and according to the mayor of the village, Eva Třísková (née), this is another step towards recalling the neglected history. “Originally, there was a plot of land here, which we had occasionally mowed down. The piece is a perfectly preserved anti-aircraft shelter, which the citizens of Svatava cleaned with their own efforts and keep it accessible on their own initiative,” said the mayor, adding that in the future, Svatava would like to make the entire place accessible so that The fate of female prisoners could also be remembered by the public.
“Now there is a small collection of artefacts in the Sokol museum, as the camp was burned and razed to the ground in the 1960s,” she added.
The Svatava women’s concentration camp was a branch of the tribal camp in Flossenbürg. In Svatava, women were imprisoned not only from Czechoslovakia, but also from all over occupied Europe. From 1943 to May 7, 1945, when the camp was liberated by the American army, up to 750 women were imprisoned there.
The camp was not an extermination camp, but a work camp. Women used to go to the Svatava factory for the production of aircraft parts. Nevertheless, they were dying in Svatava. In their memory, the town set up a monument commemorating hundreds of imprisoned and murdered women on about a tenth of the original area.
The current research is part of the Czech-Polish landscape archeology project.
CR archeology history Svatava PHOTO
Source: www.ceskenoviny.cz
