Conflict Archaeology and WWII

Well now that our case study is finished and ready to go, I can finally take the time to look into topics that other people had covered that I had also found interesting. If I hadn’t joined the Pacific Northwest Coast group, I think my next area of interest would have been the archaeology of World War II and conflict archaeology in general.

With this in mind I was interested to see the editor of archaeology magazine, Samir Patel (HereandNow, 2011), had been on National Public Radio (my favorite network in the world) talking about the archaeology of World War II. (The link to the podcast can be found here: (http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/12/07/archaeology-wwii/player) After listening to the podcast I followed the link to an article in archaeology magazine also on the topic (http://www.archaeology.org/1105/features/world_war_II_wwII_archaeology.html), which also provided some interesting information, and raised many more questions than I had anticipated in regard to archaeology of death and burial, which you, the reader, now have to delve into with me.

In keeping with the theme of the class, it interests me how attitudes and expectations in regards to death and burial change in wartime for both soldiers and civilians, and particularly how they changed in World War II. World War II, as we all know, resulted in a huge loss of life from a variety of intersecting conflicts, including but not limited to the Holocaust, the conflict between the allied and axis powers, and the controversial dropping of the nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Since I can’t (with the amount of work I am drowning in) explore every facet of these examples of death and burial (or lack thereof), I will just briefly go over some questions that have arisen out of a few of these areas which, with any luck, I will one day have time to look into more.

The first instance in World War II that entails an altered perception of death and burial was during the horrific period of the Holocaust. During this period, Nazi forces slaughtered and disposed of countless numbers of men, women, and children. Most people know the stories of the gas chambers, the mass burials, and the complete disregard for the humanity of these people. The attitude towards death and burial here was one of mass murder and ‘efficient’ disposal. I think we can all agree on the horror of this, however, one interesting shift in attitude that I did not know of before is that today, the mass graves, disrespectful and horrible as they were, can usually not be excavated and reburied in a more respectful manner since, according to the Daily Mail, “Jewish religious law forbids disturbing burial sites” (Cain, 2012). It is interesting to me that the manner of burial during Holocaust time does not affect this belief held by the Jewish community, which of course should be respected.

The second instance of conflict I would like to address is that between the allied and axis soldiers on the battlefront. I volunteered at the Military Museums in Calgary, Alberta for quite a while when I lived there. Being surrounded by the history of World War II and veterans stories I learned that many of the soldiers who fought in World War II were buried where they fell rather than being returned home for burial. I later learned that the offer was made to families whose deceased had been recovered, to return the bodies home for burial. However, many refused, believing they should remain where they were. It is interesting to note the change in expectation for burial in this wartime context of where it is appropriate to lay ones dead to rest.

Another note on this subject, which I will not get into here but I would be interested to hear about if anyone reading has time to tell me more is the differential treatment of the dead between allied and axis powers based on which side they were fighting for and into whose possession the remains fell.

I would also like to take the time to go more into the alternative practices surrounding death and burial regarding the controversial dropping of the nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, however do not have the resources at the moment to show the topic the respect it deserves through extensive research. Please let me know if you have any comments on this!

Lastly I would like to bring up the concept of memorial in wartime. With such massive loss of life, mass memorials come into play. Think of Remembrance Day, monuments to fallen soldiers and civilians and more. It is interesting how the methods of commemoration change when loss of life is on such a grand scale. 

 World War Two Memorial - (Vcelloho 2005)

Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_War_Two_Memorial.JPG

In conclusion, this is a topic I have barely scraped the surface of in researching. Here I have only introduced a few questions that were raised for me. If you are in the WWII archaeology group or know anything about the topic please feel free to leave comments or other questions that have been raised for you.

References

1. Hereandnow.wbur.org (2011) Archaeologists Unearth Artifacts, Creating Fuller Picture Of WWII | Here & Now. [online] Available at: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/12/07/archaeology-wwii [Accessed: 29 Mar 2012].

2. Cain, L. (2012) British archaeologist discovers fresh evidence of mass graves at World War Two death camp Treblinka | Mail Online. [online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087735/British-archaeologist-discovers-fresh-evidence-mass-graves-World-War-Two-death-camp-Treblinka.html [Accessed: 29 Mar 2012].