Introduction: Camp Archaeology in Poland

The archaeology of the twentieth century in Poland has mainly focused on the two world wars and their material traces (compare Carr and Mytum 2012; Myers and Moshenska 2011; Mytum 2014; Mytum and Carr 2013). Areas marked by genocide, including concentration, death or prisoner of war (PoW) camps, turned out to be of a particular interest to scholars. In fact, camp archaeology, treated as a separate branch of archaeology, was established about 20 years after the Second World War, although the preliminary studies that were carried out since 1944 focused mainly on documentation of camps and internment places treated as crime scenes and evidence in trials against perpetrators of war crimes. Special prosecution commissions were set up to survey, collect material traces, and – in some cases – excavate mass graves (e.g., Jasiński 2018; Pawlicka-Nowak 2015:350–360).

The first such archaeological research supervised by Jerzy Kruppé began in 1967 at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The excavations were carried out in the vicinity of Crematorium III – they were even recorded in a short, 15-minute documentary entitled “Archeologia” directed by Andrzej Brzozowski. Over 16,000 artifacts and their fragments that were discovered there were transported to Warsaw. For decades, the material traces of genocide were stored in a warehouse of the Polish Academy of Science without any supervision. As a result, many of them were partially destroyed or disassembled. The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum took care of the artifacts and carried out their conservation in 2017. Finally, in 2018 they were transferred back to the museum (Cajzer 2016).

While early excavations at Auschwitz could be treated as an exception, later research began in the 1980s in Kulmhof am Ner extermination camp (today’s Chełmno, Greater Poland Voivodeship). The camp located in central Poland was the place of extermination mainly of Jews from the territories of Poland incorporated into the Third Reich as Warthegau. The camp complex was established in an abandoned manor, where people were exterminated using mobile gas chambers in vans. Their bodies were further cremated and buried in the so-called Waldenlager (the Rzuchów Forest, about 4 km north of Chełmno). One year later, after the formal protection of the former camp area by the Konin District Museum was confirmed, a series of research investigations were launched. Between 1986 and 1987, the plan was to divide research into two groups. In addition to historians who were collecting information and testimonies from nearby residents, a group of archaeologists was also involved in field research. Nevertheless, further excavation did not take place until a decade later (1997–2005) (Pawlicka-Nowak 2015:140–141).

For many years the main interest of scholars was focused on documentation and localization of mass graves and relics of the camps infrastructure. The specificity of the extermination centers determined the scope and scale of the work. The first efforts were focused primarily on verifying the localcation of mass graves and camp remnants within Rzuchów Forest. At the next stage, the research covered the former farm buildings, together with the palace and the vicinity of the church, which was used as a storehouse for the victims’ belongings. In addition to excavations of architectural remnants and garbage pits, coring was also carried out. The ruins of Chełmno manor were excavated at the final stage of the project. The uncovered basements were the final part of the path the Jews took before they were put into gas chambers. Now, the building’s foundations are uncovered and open for public viewing (Ziółkowska 2019), as are the former crematoria and field furnaces identified by Łucja Pawlicka-Nowak in the Rzuchów Forest.

In the late 1990s, archaeological research related to the world wars became an important component of the politics of memory. This occurred mainly due to the commencement of the exhumation and verification of the graves of Polish officers killed by the NKVD in Katyń, Kharkiv, Mednoye, Kiev, and Minsk (Kola 2005). The research methodology used at that time significantly consolidated the position of research methods in archaeology and also defined its social functioning and potential.

In 1997, research began on the death camp in Bełżec (Kola 2000). It accompanied the construction of a new memorial dedicated to the victims of the camp established as part of Reinhardt Action. The research was conducted between 1997 and 1999 by Andrzej Kola on behalf of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites. The coring method was applied while small test pits were examined during the next two years (Kola 2015:101–104). Since then, excavation has mostly been applied in the context of Polish research within what can be called camp archaeology. Also, the program for the Sobibór Memorial can be conceived as one of the most paradigmatic examples of this approach. Since 2001 the camp has been excavated (Bem and Mazurek 2012), and after establishing the spatial layout of the camp, the field research is still being continued. Different circumstances took place during archaeological surveys undertaken in other memorials like Żabikowo (western Poland). The area of the former forced labor camp for Jews, then a “labor re-education” penal camp for Poles, was excavated because of the construction of the A2 highway (Banaszek 2011:28).

Since the 2000s, other types of archaeological methods have been more often applied while conducting field research at landscapes of former camps. The possibilities of spatial imagining, analysis of aerial photography (archival and contemporary), and non-invasive research were recognized by many scholars as valuable sources of scientific analyses. It can be said that they have been widely adapted in Polish archaeology since 2004 – the date of research at Sobibór. Furthermore, archaeological projects even without any excavations started to be realized. One entitled “Sztutowo czy Stutthof? Oswajanie krajobrazu kulturowego” [Sztutowo or Stutthof? Taming the Cultural Landscape) was among the first. It consisted in surface surveying, geophysical prospection, as well as the analysis of the landscape of the former concentration camp area (Konzentrationlager Stutthof), including that adjacent to the memorial. Archaeology was only a part of the project combining also anthropological memory studies of the local inhabitants investigated by scholars from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland) and employees of the Stutthof Museum. The authors stressed that the main results of the project enabled them to better understand the camp area and its post-war functioning (Banaszek and Pospieszny 2011:41; see also Kwapiński et al. 2018).

A similar approach was proposed by Caroline Sturdy Colls (2012) for the purpose of the “Holocaust Landscape Project.” In 2007, she headed archaeological research of the former labor and extermination camps in Treblinka. The large-scale, non-invasive methodology was complemented by small-scale test pits (Sturdy Colls 2015a, b). The field works were followed by detailed cartography and archival aerial photography provided by Sebastian Różycki and his team (Różycki et al. 2017, 2019).

The search for a balance between the use of non-invasive and excavation methodologies, as well as ethical issues, was the beginning of research on the site of the former concentration camp Plaszow in Kraków. Unlike the others, the site is located in the center of an urban, densely populated agglomeration, and nearly half of the site is covered with modern blocks and shops. The situation is also complicated by the fact that the camp was partly established on the site of two prewar Jewish cemeteries. In 2016, comprehensive archaeological exploration of the area by Krakow Museum began. For the next three years, a series of analyses of historical records was followed by site mapping and documentation, interpretation of aerial and traditional photographs, as well as non-invasive methods of various types. In the second phase, mid-scale trenches were opened in the area of the mass graves and Jewish cemeteries (Karski 2020).

In the last few years, research of minor camps has been carried out by Polish archaeologists as well. The research headed by Mirosław Mazurek was conducted at the camps arranged by the NKVD in Trzebuska and Żabno – today’s Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Kleszczyński 2020). In 2023, surveys at Pustkow camp (today’s Pustków, Subcarpathian Voivodeship) consisting of forced labor and PoW camps and the firing area of the Waffen SS Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager are going to take place as well (Apel do mieszkańców… 2022).

One of the most recent archaeological research projects concerns the former camps at Lamsdorf (Łambinowice). The next part of this paper provides a historical context of the various camps that functioned in Lamsdorf (Łambinowice). The next section presents the main ideas of the project entitled “Nauka dla Społeczeństwa, Społeczeństwo dla Nauki w Miejscu Pamięci Narodowej w Łambinowicach” [Science for Society, Society for Science at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice], describing archaeological and ethnographic research that was carried out in 2022. Our attention is paid to the material remains of the so-called Britenlager (British camp) which was a common name for Stalag VIII B (344) where British prisoners of war were mostly kept behind barbed wire (Wickiewicz 2017). Our argument is twofold. First, that the application of archaeological methods can offer new knowledge even in the context of such a well-documented and researched a site as the camps at Lamsdorf (Łambinowice). Second, community archaeology can be effectively used even within such difficult landscapes as PoW, displacement, and forced labor camps. The research enabled us to discover unknown aspects of the history and heritage of the site and actively co-create contemporary values of relicts of the camps. In this way, society and science (i.e., history, archaeology, and ethnography) work together as partners for a common good.

The Site: An Outline of the Historical Context

Łambinowice, former German Lamsdorf, located in Nysa district in the Opolskie Voivodeship, Poland, is a village inhabited by fewer than 2,500 people. However, this relatively small village is known in the country and abroad because since the second half of the nineteenth century, various types of PoW, displacement, and forced labor camps functioned in the village and on its outskirts. The history of today’s Łambinowice is therefore marked by the heritage of these difficult and painful events (e.g., Nowak 2009; Rezler-Wasielewska 2017) (Fig. 1).

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Location of the site described in the article (prepared by M. Michalski)

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In the nineteenth century, the Germans established an artillery shooting range near Lamsdorf, which was also associated with the construction of appropriate infrastructure. Its organization was partly related to the village’s geographical location. When the Prussian army captured many French soldiers as a result of the ongoing fighting in 1870–71 (Kisielewicz and Niestrój 2006), it was decided that the outskirts of Lamsdorf would be one of the detention places for the soldiers taken captive. It is estimated that around 6,000 French were held behind the barbed wire in the Lamsdorf camp. Several dozen of them never returned to their homeland – they were buried in the cemetery created especially for them (today called the Old PoW Cemetery), which was also used in the following years and decades (Rezler-Wasielewska 2000).

The artillery shooting range was reused during the Great War (1914–18) (Fig. 2). One of the largest German PoW camps functioned in Lamsdorf, consisting of several subcamps. It is estimated that around 90,000 soldiers of the Entente countries passed through the camp gates during the four years of the conflict and even a little longer (the last PoWs left the camp in 1919/20). After the end of the war, most of the infrastructure was pulled down, with some of the facilities being used by the local population and for military purposes. One of the most impressive and genuine relics of the PoW heritage of the Great War is the Old PoW Cemetery. The remains of more than 7,000 soldiers of various nationalities were buried there (Ciasnocha and Dzionek 2006) (Fig. 3).

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The PoW camp in Lamsdorf during the Great War (source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Fig. 3
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The “Old PoW Cemetery” – the most evocative and self-evident heritage of the PoW camp that operated in Lamsdorf during the Great War (author D. Frymark, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Between 1921 and 1924, the camp infrastructure was used to accommodate German immigrants from the areas of the reborn Polish Republic. Historical sources indicate that during this short period, several thousand Germans stayed in Łambinowice on a temporary basis (Pawlik and Rezler-Wasielewska 2006). Similarly, one of the largest complexes of PoW camps in Europe between 1939 and 1945 was established and operated in the area of Lamsdorf. One part of the complex was commonly labelled Russenlager (Russian camp). Its official name was Stalag 318 / VIII F (344). The other one, where British Army soldiers were kept, was Stalag VIII B (344) – commonly called Britenlager (British camp) by the German guards and PoWs themselves. Although it is not possible to make precise calculations, historians estimate that in the period between 1939 and 1945 around 300,000 soldiers were held on the outskirts of Lamsdorf. Most of them were Soviet, Polish, and British PoWs, although in Lamsdorf, there were also – in a greater or lesser number – soldiers from a dozen other armies involved in the conflict (Nowak 2006a). Almost 40,000 prisoners – mainly Soviets – were buried in Łambinowice land (Sawczuk and Senft 2006) (Fig. 4).

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Britenlager – photographs documenting day-to-day life of PoWs during the Second World War (source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Similarly as in previous periods, also after the end of the Second World War, some of the military buildings were reused, this time by the communist Polish authorities. A forced-labor camp was then established for the German civilian population before their relocation into the heart of post-war Germany. Between 1945 and 1946, about 5,000 German civilians were held there, nearly a third of them dying under various circumstances (Nowak 2006a, b).

The historical context outlined above was the main reason for the recognition of the former camp grounds as the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice, which is under the content-related supervision of the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War. In recent years, the Museum has been carrying out various educational, social, conservation, and scientific projects related to the history of this difficult but unique site. One of the most recent undertakings of the museum, which combines the above aspects, is the scientific project entitled “Science for Society, Society for Science at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice,” financed by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. Below, the main ideas and the first results of the archaeological and ethnographic research carried out in 2022 are outlined. The site proves to be of unquestionable scientific, conservation, and social value.

Science for Society, Society for Science at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice

Today’s archaeology goes far beyond its original interests in times – to put it simply – before the advent of writing sources (e.g., González-Ruibal 2019; Kola 2005; Ławrynowicz and Żelazko 2015). One of the most dynamically developing branches of archaeology in recent times is modern conflict archaeology, the subjects of who are usually things, places, and landscapes related to the history of the twentieth century (Saunders 2007; Schofield 2005). This observation is justified in the context of Polish archaeology which, in the last decade, has witnessed the undertaking of many important large-scale and multidisciplinary projects, sometimes conducted with international cooperation. These efforts have been concerned with the difficult and usually painful recent past (e.g., Sturdy Colls 2015a, b).

Another characteristic feature of the present-day archaeology, as well as of the entire humanities, is drawing attention to the social and practical dimensions of the professional activities undertaken by scientists. The area in which both of the above-mentioned trends overlap is community archaeology, focused on active cooperation with and for the good of local communities, the depositors of local heritage (e.g., Derry and Malloy 2003; Kajda and Kostyrko 2016; McDavid 2014). Thus, the role and significance of archaeological research understood in this way were the main idea that guided us during the preparation of the project application, which ultimately received positive feedback and funding.

The project consists of three main and closely related elements, namely: (1) science, (2) society, and (3) the context of their mutual relations and cooperation which is the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice (Fig. 5). Science is understood here as the use and integration of various methods and sources that are specific to three disciplines: history, archaeology, and ethnography. To this day, relatively numerous visual, written, and oral materials have survived, which allow scholars to study the history of the camps operating in Lamsdorf in many different ways. Importantly, one of the museum’s statutory aims is to conduct research on these camps, but the amount and variety of historical material, due to the limitations contained therein, do not allow complete reconstruction of the history of the camps (Nowak 2006a, b, 2009).

Fig. 5
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Russenlager – the ruined and preserved remains of the barracks are most evident heritage of the PoW camp that functioned in Lamsdorf during the Second World War (author A. Lokś, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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The “archaeology of the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice” is meant to allow us to record what has remained of the PoW, displacement, and forced labor camps in the local landscape. At first glance, it may seem that – as one of the participants of the field research observed – “There is only a forest here” (P. Torłop, pers. comm. 2022). The project’s ambition is to prove that the use of modern archaeological research methods and tools will enable the identification, documenting, mapping, and inventorying of the richness and diversity of the camp (and the artillery shooting range), relicts that have survived in various forms until today.

The project methodology is based on our previous field experience (e.g., Karski and Kobiałka 2021; Karski and Kobiałka et al. 2021; Kobiałka 2022; Kostyrko and Kobiałka 2020) and that of other researchers who have carried out similar projects (e.g., Sturdy Colls 2012, 2015a, b). For the purpose of the project, historical records (e.g., plans, drawings, photographs), aerial photographs and derivative products of airborne laser scanning were collected, analyzed, and interpreted. They were complemented by contemporary aerial photographs taken with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (a drone). Moreover, one of the most important research methods was that of systematic metal detector surveys. The method of non-invasive research also included photogrammetry, which allowed creating 3D models of selected structures, remnants, layers, or entire archaeological trenches. Selected post-camp terrains were also surveyed by geophysical prospecting (ground penetrating radar). The culmination of the archaeological part of the project was the opening of test trenches to answer the research questions that arose during the analysis of the collected data.

The last aspect of the research of the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice related to examining its role, significance, and value for the local community. It was termed an “ethnography of the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice.” Using such research methods as among others participant observation, focus-group interviews, in-depth interviews and analysis of existing and evoked sources, our intention was to gain knowledge concerning the different ways of valorizing and assigning meanings and values to campscapes in the present day. Thus, not only was the past studied based on discoveries of material traces related to the history of the Lamsdorf camps, but also their contemporary role and significance for people living today (see also Seitsonen 2017).

Society, according to the key idea of community archaeology and the so-called civic science, was treated by us as a partner in the implementation of individual research tasks (Lewis et al. 2020). These days, such methodology has been given more resonance in Polish archaeology as well (e.g., Kajda et al. 2022). Consequently, volunteers, members of various organizations, and associations can take part in metal detector surveys, making geodetic measurements, the preparation of archaeological documentation (including photogrammetry), as well as actively participate in excavations.

The Site: The Archaeology of the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice (Field Work in Britenlager in 2022)

The first stage of the work begun in 2022 consisted in obtaining historical aerial images and various types of blueprints, sketches, etc., documenting the campgrounds with varying accuracy at specific time intervals (Fig. 6). This is important because each document or photograph is a static image documenting a fragment of historical reality (Rączkowski 2008). The PoW, displacement, and forced-labor camps, like all landscapes, should be seen in a dynamic perspective because they were built, extended, changed, reused, and razed to the ground (e.g., Kobiałka et al. 2017). Thus, comparisons and analyses of various plans and aerial photographs enabled us to emphasize these dynamic changes (see also Michalski and Różycki 2021).

Fig. 6
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Plans documenting the spatial organization of Britenlager in 1940 (a) and 1943 (b). Documents were prepared after the war. They were based on memories of PoWs detained in Lamsdorf (source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Over a dozen aerial photographs were obtained from Polish, German, British, Scottish, and American institutions. The American photographs taken in September of 1944 are of especially excellent quality. They document the peak development of the Lamsdorf camps. Allied photographs show both the British camp – Stalag VIII B (344) and the Soviet part – Stalag 318 / VIII F (344). In both cases, hundreds of camp facilities can be discerned: PoW barracks, anti-aircraft ditches, paths and roads, watchtowers, fences, camp commandant’s office buildings, a football pitch, gardens, warehouses, and even a swimming pool and makeshift gardens tended by the prisoners between the barracks. These are just some of the structures visible in the aerial photographs. For the purposes of spatial analysis, each plan and aerial photograph, regarded as an important document, was geo-referenced in order to embed it in a real, contemporary landscape.

The interpretation of the aerial photograph made it possible to map and georeference 170 buildings related to Britenlager and the lazarette located to the northeast (Fig. 7). The number mentioned can be compared with 159 buildings that are visible on the plan showing the camp in 1943 (see Fig. 6). On this basis, it can be said that the interpretation was much more difficult in the area occupied by administrative buildings which was then forested. This is due to the month the photograph was taken (September) and that most of the trees growing in this area were deciduous. The leaves had not yet fallen so it was difficult or impossible to identify one-story buildings. Attention should also be drawn to a number of small buildings, shown on the above-mentioned plans (see Fig. 6), adjacent to the northern side of the former lazarette – the described area was, as the historical records indicate, occupied during the Second World War by the Abwehr.

Fig. 7
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An aerial photograph of Britenlager taken in 1944 (a) and its interpretation (b) (prepared by M. Kostyrko, source: National Archives and Record Administration, USA)

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Based on the aerial imagining, it was not possible to identify a similar arrangement of buildings in this place. While there is a discrepancy between the size and shape of some of the buildings identified on the basis of the analyzed aerial photograph and the described plan, such a large discrepancy is not analogous in other cases (see Fig. 6). One can only guess that we are not dealing with a change in the camp infrastructure between 1943 and 1944, when the photograph was taken, but only on an inaccurate representation of this part of the camp infrastructure on the plan.

The interpretation of the aerial photograph from 1944 enabled us to identify buildings that were not drawn in the known plans dating from that time. In the case of some buildings, it can be assumed that they were put up after 1943. In other cases, however, they may have been deliberately omitted because they had little importance in the infrastructure or the daily functioning of the camp. This type of camp infrastructure includes guard towers, whose identification was possible because of the shadows they cast.

The interpretation of the described aerial photograph also gives an insight into the context of everyday life of the camp as well as a look at spatial development, characterized by greater elusiveness, located both in the camp and in its immediate vicinity. This group of structures includes a fragment of the area changed as a result of sand extraction (Fig. 8 – purple arrows), which terrain is visible as a wasteland in the photograph taken ten years earlier. To the north of it, an area in the shape of a triangle (on the north-south line) can be noticed, cut by small linear unevenness of the terrain parallel to its base (on the east-west line, Fig. 8 – red arrows). The function of this area is difficult to determine, but it can be assumed that we are dealing here with earthen mounds intended for storing potatoes. The northern part of the area shows clear traces of recent activity (brighter phototonus and the shadow cast by small mounds), while the southern part of the area seems to show only traces of the existence of an earlier mound.

Fig. 8
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An interpretation of an aerial photograph of Britenlager taken in 1944 (prepared by M. Kostyrko, source: National Archives and Record Administration, USA)

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As part of the internal infrastructure, the spaces between the barracks and various parts of the camp demand closer attention. Some areas were designated for small-scale cultivation (Fig. 8 – blue arrows), in some others, top-down activities (by the camp administrators) can be discerned, while in others with bottom-up (group or individual initiative with the consent of the camp guards) (Fig. 8). One can get the impression that in 1944 every free space between PoW barracks was covered with crops.

After the war, most of the camp area became an artillery shooting range. This usage continued until 2002. From the huge, approximately 130 har area covered with dense buildings, it seems that only the cemetery areas and fragments of the ruins of Stalag 318 / VIII F (344) have survived. An analysis of contemporary aerial photographs highlights this contrast. Therefore, for documentation, conservation, and analysis, the next stage of the research process was the acquisition and analysis of derivatives of airborne laser scanning products, which were collected for the IT System of the Country’s Protection against Extraordinary Hazards (ISOK program) (see more in Kobiałka 2017, 2018). In line with the adopted research hypothesis and our previous experience in examining the remains of PoW camps, LiDAR technology revealed all the richness and variety of the (post)camp relics that have survived to the present day in the form of larger or smaller landforms (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9
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The terrain of Britenlager: a an area of the former camp overlaid upon contemporary aerial image (source: geoportal.gov.pl), b an airborne laser scanning derivatives visualization (combination of Local Dominance superimposed layers) (source: Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography, Poland), c an airborne laser scanning derivatives visualization (combination of Local Dominance and Slope superimposed layers) (source: Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography, Poland), d archaeological relicts interpreted as remains of former camp roads and buildings (compare Figs. 6, 7 and 8). Features of yet unknown origin interpreted as formed military training conducted on this area are marked with gray color filled polygons (prepared by M. Kostyrko, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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The area of the former camps in Lamsdorf is mostly a densely wooded one, which is beneficial because areas that have been forested for a long time offer better opportunities to preserve traces of past human activity. Forest-covered land can maintain its untouched terrain form, unlike zones subjected to plowing, whether intensive in fields or shallower in forests. After the closure of the camp, the area was gradually afforested and no agricultural activity was carried out that could affect the state of preservation of the relics of the camp, although potential damage could result from intensive forestry activities or actions related to the use of the area as a firing ground.

The structures whose traces still have a visible terrain form in the field could be documented using derivatives of airborne laser scanning (e.g., Kobiałka 2017). The research proved the usefulness of the analyzed data in the context of landscape changes caused by building and operating the camps during the decades since 1870. Six methods of digital model terrain (DMT) visualization were used during desk-based research: hillshading, shaded relief, sky-view factor, simplified local relief model, local dominance, slope analysis, and visualization for archaeological topography (VAT) (Kokalj and Hesse 2017; Kokajl and Somrak 2019). The interpretation of airborne laser scanning derivatives allowed distinguishing 144 negative and positive structures, which can be unambiguously interpreted as camp remains. Based on the data analysis, the remains of the buildings of Stalag VIII B (344) and its spatial organization were identified in accordance with the plans from 1940 to 1943 (compare Fig. 6). Aerial photographs were also integrated during the processing and interpreting of the derivatives (compare Figs. 7 and 8).

During the interpretation of the airborne laser scanning derivatives, a number of traces characterized by a diverse shape and geomorphology were documented and classified into two groups: as concave (negative) and convex (positive) features. Landforms were divided into two types represented by a linear vector (marking communication routes) and polygons representing all other structures. The traces were initially divided into two groups. The first one consists of the remains directly related to the functioning of the camp, which are the focus of the project’s research. The other group includes all remaining the elements (e.g., features related to the functioning of artillery shooting range and others).

Next, the data obtained on the basis of airborne laser scanning were compared with plans of the camp from 1940 to 1943, photographs of the camp in the collection of the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War and of the Imperial War Museum, as well as with aerial photographs from 1944, which allowed discerning elements not documented on the plans. All in all, as part of the visualization of the airborne laser scanning derivatives, it was possible to extract 1,186 structures and their fragments which demonstrate the astonishing complexity of the local landscape used for various kinds of camps. The desk-based research and interpretation were verified during on-site visits. They made it possible to document the present state of preservation of the diverse heritage associated with Britenlager – both its cultural aspects (e.g. relics of barracks, camp roads) and the vegetation, which was also an important element of the campscape between 1939 and 1945 (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10
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The cultural and natural heritage of Britenlager preserved to the present: a the camp path with its course marked in the 1940s, b a cluster of ruderal plants with a predominance of nettles (Urtica L.) on the site of the hospital barracks, c vegetation marker clearly distinguishable recorded in the area of ​​buildings in the lazarette part of the camp, d mosses and lichens on the walls of the water reservoir in the camp, e historical plantings along the oldest part of the camp (author K. Karski, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Taking into account the character of the research area, the archival and remote sensing sources enabled us to decide that the test excavations would be carried out in the hospital (lazarette) part of Stalag VIII B (344) (Figs. 11 and 12). Trench no. 1 was delineated on the basis of a preliminary interpretation of the processed data. It was 14 m long and 2.5 m wide. The idea behind it was to try to cut one of the hospital barracks across, so that by recognizing one relict, it would be possible to gain an insight into the wider camp landscape. This assumption was also based on the premise that, since the hospital barracks have identical dimensions, they were erected in a similar manner. We revealed during our field research the main corridor and two side wings with bunks for sick PoWs. The trench was marked out in a way that made it possible to document the space with symmetrically located doors to the left and right wings of the building (Fig. 13).

Fig. 11
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The lazarette in Britenlager (source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Fig. 12
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Excavations of one of the barracks in the lazarette of Britenlager (author D. Frymark, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Fig. 13
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The area of Britenlager: a aerial photograph from 1944 (source: National Archives and Record Administration, USA), b location of archaeological trenches on the basis of airborne laser scanning derivate (source: Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography, Poland), c ortophotomap of the excavated area (author A. Lokś, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Trench no. 2 was opened south of the first one. While carrying out metal detector surveys in around trench no. 1, the research team noticed fragments of ceramic stove tiles. It was presupposed that these indicate the location of a tiled stove in this place, which was used to heat the hospital barracks. The excavation within an area of 2.5 × 3 m revealed the base of a furnace and its immediate surroundings. From the archaeological point of view, this is an interesting discovery as there are no archival documents showing this kind of equipment in the lazarette barracks in Lamsdorf. On the western side, the stove was adjacent to the wall, which was also an element of the corridor. Various types and sizes of tiles were used to build the stove. Even small tile waste was used, which proves that every material available at that time was made use of during the construction of the furnace. Additionally, some of the discovered tiles had floral and geometric decorations. Manufacturers’ marks on several tiles were also present, which will allow us in future research to identify the suppliers of the raw material used for the extension of the camp. Interestingly, the research revealed that the barrack, despite its hospital function, was not tiled. Its floor was an ordinary concrete screed. The red discoloration on it were the remains of plaster on the walls of the barracks, which lay on the floor during the demolition.

From June 2022, metal detector surveys were carried out on a regular basis in the lazarette area and other selected camp areas. They made it possible to find several hundred metal objects and their fragments. These are mostly things related to the PoWs’ everyday life and the camp infrastructure, including buttons, identity marks, coins, various fittings, needles, razors, and metal utensils.

The Site: The Ethnography of the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice (Field Work in 2022)

The archaeological field work conducted in 2022 also had important social, cultural, and community-oriented aspects. It was carried out in accordance with the tenets of community archaeology (e.g., Kajda et al. 2022; Moshenska and Dhanjal 2011; Tully 2007) and consequently assumed an active engagement with local communities in archaeological activities undertaken around the heritage of the Lamsdorf camps (Fig. 14). A pivotal element consisted of interviews with local people and various heritage stakeholders to assess how they perceive archaeological field work and how it connects to their traditional ideas about the discipline and determines their attitudes and values toward heritage and the painful past. Consequently, the primary goals of the ethnographic part of the project aimed at: (1) recognition of the contemporary role and significance of the post-camp sites in Łambinowice for local communities, and (2) examination of the attitudes and values of the volunteers participating in the archaeological research conducted at the post-camp sites toward heritage and archaeology.

Fig. 14
figure 14

Community-oriented archaeological field work on the grounds of the PoW camps in Lamsdorf (Łambinowice) (author D. Frymark, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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It should be mentioned that engaging volunteers in archaeological projects dealing with difficult heritage is not a novel approach in Poland and abroad. The eminent examples include initiatives aimed at scrutinizing its contemporary role among local communities. One of them is “Lapland’s Dark Heritage” project which deals with material remains and memories related to German presence there during Second World War (Banks et al. 2017; Seitsonen 2021; Thomas 2019). Another example of such an approach is the project conducted in Death Valley – a site of mass killings orchestrated by Nazi Germany – that took place on the outskirts of Chojnice, Poland, between 1939 and 1945 (Kobiałka et al. 2021; Kobiałka 2022).

In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, it was decided to carry out research with communities of interest, using qualitative methods derived from anthropology and sociology (e.g., Bernard 2002). Accordingly, in order to sufficiently gauge all values and meanings of heritage sites and evaluate them, a suite of methods is likely to be the best course (Jones 2017:27). Since these values are inherently dynamic and changing, in order to properly assess them, a methodological triangulation was applied, which means employing numerous methods and techniques to study a single problem (Konecki 2008:15). This is not a new research paradigm, as it was already popularized by Norman K. Denzin in the 1970s. Based on his typology (Denzin 1970), let us specify that at the first stage of our ethnographic research we used the triangulation in a twofold sense. Thus, firstly, only qualitative data were collected, but using a variety of methods (“within-method triangulation”), and secondly, we made use of what is known as “investigator triangulation,” in which a researcher’s unconscious beliefs that potentially affect his or her findings are mitigated by other researchers involved in the project observing the same data, who may disagree on their interpretation of the data. In this case, there were researchers representing three disciplines: archaeology, ethnology, and sociology.

The research involved focus-group interviews with local community members, in-depth interviews, participant observation, secondary data analysis (Internet sources, social media posts) and visual data analysis of photographs taken during the research. In the first phase of the research, participant observation was particularly important, since this method offers the great advantage of the researcher becoming a member of the community under study (Hammersley and Atkinson 2000:112), and thus gaining access to those behaviors and opinions that might have been concealed from an external observer-researcher. Participation, in this case, meant physical work in the trench and undertaking any other tasks carried out by the team in the field. In addition, such an observational method makes it easy to conduct the so-called conversational interviews (i.e., unstructured short conversations) inspired by previously outlined research problems (Given 2008). In this way, we pre-identified, among other things, the motivations and social backgrounds of the volunteers.

It should also be noted that representatives of the detectorist community (mainly members of two exploring groups: “Triskelion” and “Piast”) were involved in the project and this community has a specific, ambivalent relationship with archaeologists (e.g., Lagerlof 2013). In Poland, participation of detectorists in excavations still seems rather debatable, given that such an initiative ethically and legally defies the status of professional archaeology as the “Declaration of the Polish Archaeological Community on the Devastation of Archaeological Sites by People Using Metal Detectors” (Deklaracja… 2011/2012). Amateur explorers assisted in the search for artifacts, but also were an object of ethnographic study – their activities were closely observed and recorded – by taking photographs and filming. As an aside, it is worth adding that the participation of detectorists is in itself an interesting social as well as research problem. Certainly the key here is to build a relationship based on basic trust, but also on some degree of social, spontaneous in-group control, and institutional supervision.

Before the start of the excavations, in the park close to the museum building, an archaeological workshop in the form of an open excavation was organized for volunteers and local inhabitants. The location of the event was of particular importance because the park is a public space, willingly used by local residents for recreational purposes. Although the area is part of the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice, it is not perceived in the same historically defined way as its other spaces or objects. Therefore, the effect of juxtaposing the “ordinary” terrain of the park with potential finds excavated from the ground during the workshop was expected.

The workshop was mainly attended by families with children. It is estimated that around 60 people participated in it, which, relatively speaking, in such a small locality means a lot of interest. Its main idea was to be a kind of agora where participants could share their findings and discuss them with experts or to play the role of a professional archaeologist for a while. The workshop offered them an opportunity to actively discover material traces related to the history of the camps once located near Łambinowice. The participants had the opportunity to observe the work of archaeologists and to be introduced to scientific principles of archaeological excavations as well as modern technologies used by archaeologists today. They could also become acquainted with the artifacts found at the site and to understand the process of their conservation (Figs. 15 and 16).

Fig. 15
figure 15

Items of material culture found by the volunteers during field research on the grounds of former PoW camps in Lamsdorf (Łambinowice) (author D. Frymark, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Fig. 16
figure 16

Planigraphy of the artifacts discovered during community-oriented field research documented upon a aerial photograph from 1944 (National Archives and Record Administration, USA) and b airborne laser scanning derivative (source: Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography, Poland) (author A. Lokś, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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Interestingly, in the course of further ethnographic research, it turned out that the workshop had a very tangible effect. Indeed, it should be explained that during this event many people were interested in the presentation of the artifacts found during the search at the site of the former Stalag 318 / VIII F (344) and included in the collection of the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War. The presentation was accompanied by stories about the objects: their past (i.e., their original owners and methods of use) and their contemporary “life” (i.e., the circumstances of their discovery and subsequent conservation). These stories aroused particular curiosity and surprise at the fact that the museum collects such seemingly ordinary artifacts as, for example, nails from the barracks. There were voices like: “Then now I know where to bring it.” But that is not all: in a conversation with a Museum employee, one of the residents admitted that abandoned militaria had been lying around in one of the neighboring barns for several years, and shortly afterward someone anonymously donated to the museum (or, in fact, tossed at the door) a collection of military canteens from the Second World War. The museologists were informed that “the items had previously been collected at the post-camp site,” but no one knows at which location. This part of the historical context has been lost.

Through active participation of the project members in the excavation and interviews with the volunteers, both during and after the excavations, and with the people currently living in the area of Łambinowice, different attitudes and approaches toward heritage, the past, and archaeology were observed and documented. One of them is the volunteers’ changing attitudes toward archaeology as well as the value of activities conducted in the spirit of community archaeology:

At first I associated excavations with something exclusively remote, not only physically, but also metaphorically. But as I realized, even a beginning artist has the right and the chance to set her foot on a pit. And volunteering has disenchanted my superficial thinking about this field […] (Natalia, pers. comm. 2022).

Besides the conversational interviews, an in-depth individual interview was conducted with the aforementioned volunteer – a student of art education – during which the interesting issue of the evolution of beliefs about archaeology was further explored. This is, in our opinion, one of the key values associated with archaeological volunteering: that personal participation in field work is a unique social situation in which common, generally simplistic and derived from pop culture perceptions of archaeology are confronted with reality. Here is one statement that illustrates this point well:

The biggest surprise for me was that archaeology is not just digging. Seeing all that equipment, all those measurements, that just… There each person was from a different field, (…) that it’s so precise and specialized and that it’s split into such branches. That was the biggest shock to me, that just so many people have to embrace it (Natalia, pers. comm. 2022).

A similar opinion was expressed by another volunteer, whose participation in the research changed her previous understanding of archaeology itself with regard to its chronological and territorial scope as well as community-based activities that this discipline currently undertakes:

In terms of people’s idea that archaeology is generally about antiquity and discovering […] areas of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia or something like that. But in general, archaeology is a science that allows us to learn about the past, not only of objects but also of people, well, and in general, not only the ancient past, and also that which was less than, say, a hundred years ago (Weronika, pers. comm. 2022).

Another important theme considered the perception and significance of “the wounded landscape” (Wollentz 2020:6) of Łambinowice. Respondents pointed out the importance of the site itself, mainly due to the tragic histories associated with it, as well as stressed the need to commemorate them. This is well illustrated by the words of Weronika:

I tried to imagine what it used to look like, and it was just that […] horrible and terrifying place, simply because it was a camp and people were imprisoned there. But, on the other hand, there is such a fascination that we are doing something to commemorate them all and this site (Weronika, pers. comm. 2022).

The research also revealed a diversity in responses and practices among the local population and the various strategies of coping with a site associated with a difficult past. During the focus group interview respondents indicated a great significance of this site mainly due to the tragic events and imprisonment, sufferance, and deaths of thousands of PoWs of different nationalities in the last century. In their opinions, the importance of this site mostly results from its tragic history. Respondents referred to the broader context of painful histories, mainly from the Second World War, but also those of the post-war era. One of them was linked with the labor camp, established in a period between 1945 and 1946 in the vicinity of the former complex of German-run PoW camps, to the numerous groups of Germans from different places and persons who identified themselves as Poles. In doing so, they wove family stories and personal histories into their statements, and referred to histories they had heard. This is a very interesting phenomenon illustrating how collective memory is formed and maintained.

In the case of Łambinowice, there is also an additional historical context for this process of layering and mixing of common knowledge, historical facts (their major provider is the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War), and family oral transmission: the post-war migrations in this region. For it must be remembered that ethnically different orders of memory are intertwined here. At the same time, as the statements of the respondents indicated, at least declaratively, the old conflicts and misunderstandings on this background have rather faded away and are no longer of major importance for the daily life of the local community.

Respondents felt proud of being inhabitants of this important loci; however, this personal pride was understood in a peculiar way: for the respondents it was not connected with the fact that it is a place with a tragic history but it was also where they are currently rooted. They were rather proud of the fact that many people heard about Łambinowice or that they could tell someone about it, while, for example, being abroad. Some of them even consider themselves experts with significant knowledge of the history of Łambinowice, including its lesser-known threads:

It turns out that the camps are only a part of the huge military complex that was here, which covered a much larger area, and there were really interesting things going on here that maybe one day… Interestingly, a lot of people in the world, in different countries, know about it, and in Łambinowice rather few [Respondent 10, pers. comm. 2022].

What is characteristic, the respondents tended to consider PoW cemeteries and monuments – the Monument of Martyrdom of Prisoners-of-War or the Monument dedicated to Warsaw Insurgents – Prisoners of Stalag 344 Lamsdorf – as iconic elements of Łambinowice. Moreover, they also indicated the importance of the authenticity of material remains of the camps and the need to preserve them in situ. Symptomatically, however, when asked about the reconstructions built on the former camp sites in the post-war period – the barbed wire fence, a watchtower or the barrack’s segment at Stalag 318 / VIII F (344), they also emphasized that the remains constitute important and iconic elements, clearly connected with the symbolism of PoW camps, and therefore should remain in the present form. At the same time, they were critical of the further reconstruction of the post-camp remains:

I would leave it as it is. What is under the roof should be taken care of and the same, bare walls should be left, let it be there [Respondent 2, pers. comm. 2022].

My opinion about these old ruins is… These barracks are there, I don’t know, eight, right? Why leave all eight the same? Let there be one restored and that’s enough, for posterity it’s enough. It doesn’t have to be the same eight [Respondent 7, pers. comm. 2022].

Łambinowice’s residents also indicated that the former camp sites are important to them not only because of the tragic past associated with them, but also because they constitute an integral part of their everyday life and landscape. Thus, they pointed to their more affirmative dimension, mainly related to their natural values and beauty of nature. Today, the post-camp areas are for them a place for walks, bike rides, or seasonal collecting of undergrowth. This perspective is not surprising – Tim Edensor (2004:72) has written about it, pointing out the importance of “banal worlds” (i.e., spaces tamed by everyday routine, which, although perfectly familiar and even somehow transparent to their inhabitants, are nevertheless filled with many important signs, meanings and to a great extent shape local identities).

The taming (and even trivialization) of the local micro-world is, of course, a long process and the fact that the inhabitants’ relationship with the local space has a correspondingly long history, rooted in their childhood, was revealed in the group interview:

My adventure with Łambinowice started from the level of a curious kid who liked to penetrate the surroundings […] [Respondent 8, pers. comm. 2022].

Even as a 6-year-old child I was still digging somewhere in the garden, digging up some buttons, it was very interesting for me [Respondent 9, pers. comm. 2022].

Valuable observations were also made during a visit paid by the families of Canadian PoWs, who have been visiting the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice for a long time. Thanks to the ongoing archaeological work, they could see the unveiled remains of the Stalag VIII B (344) lazaret – a fragment of the foundations, floor, and drainage system of the former field hospital, as well as the remains of the tiled stove used to heat it, and many smaller artifacts.

Their visit to the excavations conducted in the place of the former lazaret was a personal and very emotional experience for them. During the visit they took photos, recorded short videos with smartphones, observed with curiosity the excavated relics, touched remains and artifacts, and asked archaeologists numerous questions about the discoveries they had made. What was important to them was not only the visit to the authentic post-camp site itself, but the opportunity to make a direct, sensual, and personal contact with material relics of the past – personal items of the PoWs such as a syringe needle or the head of a razor, which were found during the excavations. Some of the visitors were deeply moved – they embraced one another, cried, remained silent, or fell into reverie. They also recalled the histories they had been told by their relatives who were captives at Lamsdorf, such as Rosaline Lomas, the daughter of a soldier who worked in the camp hospital during the Second World War.

How important it was for them to be able to personally see the remains uncovered during the archaeological research in the lazaret, where their close relatives may have stayed, is also evidenced in their statements, as well as posts made on social media after the visit:

It was such a privilege to be able to visit this site and see the work in progress (Susan Parker, https://www.facebook.com/CMJWLambinowiceOpole, 2022).

We were so lucky to be able to visit this site. My Dad was a POW at Stalag VIII B and could have been in this hospital location after spending almost 2 years in a hospital in Paris (Don Parker, https://www.facebook.com/CMJWLambinowiceOpole, 2022).

The guests also appreciated the value of the archaeological research conducted at the site, not only in terms of the relics uncovered, but also in regard to its importance for cultivating the memory of PoWs, emphasizing it as an important act of remembering and commemorating the site (Fig. 17):

It was so great to meet this incredible and passionate team in Poland last week. A tremendous Honour to see this archeological dig in the first few days on-site. To be there with the sons and daughters of the Canadians imprisoned there… Well that was pretty extraordinary. We’ll be watching this team closely and rooting them on! Incredible work!! (Samantha Cowan, https://www.facebook.com/samacowan, 2022).

Thank you for these, for the acts of remembrance, and for the news about the lazaret documentary, which is of huge interest to me (not that they needed a drone to find its location, a poke around in the woods did it for me lol) (Jane Cassidy, https://www.facebook.com/groups/828123490592144, 2022).

Fig. 17
figure 17

 A visit of the descendants of PoWs detained at Stalag VIII B (344) Lamsdorf during the field research in 2022 (author D. Frymark, source: Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War)

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This is finally evidenced by the entries left by them in the guestbook which is laid out at the seat of the Museum in Łambinowice. For example, there is the entry by Samantha Cowan, saying that:

What a wonderful and incredibly important place. It is an honour to have met you all you are all beautiful people – Thank you for guarding the difficult memories of our Canadian POW families – with love, we will remember them!

PoWs’ descendants also declared that they would remember that visit for a long time. And while, on the one hand, they expressed their deep sense of sorrow for the fact that their PoW relatives could not be there with them at the very moment, at the same time they said how pleased were they at the possibility of sharing their memories with the next generation and friends, with the hope that they would take over and prolong them into the future.

In addition to the entries in the guestbook cited above, we also tracked the posts, comments, and photos posted online by other people appearing at the archaeological sites, including the aforementioned detectorists. It turned out that both of the explorers’ associations referred to volunteering for the project on their fan pages on Facebook, for example:

We would like to thank Dawid Kobiałka and the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War in Łambinowice for their trust and cooperation and all the participants for the time spent together (https://www.facebook.com/StowarzyszenieTriskelion/?locale=pl_PL, 2022).

It was a pleasure to participate in this event. Our warmest greetings to the team of archaeologists. Another weekend and more finds. We are continuing our work on the site of the former prisoner of war camp in Łambinowice. (https://www.facebook.com/people/Stowarzyszenie-Historyczne-Piast/100069669030817/, 2022)

The entries were illustrated with photographs which, importantly, showed the explorers not only in their own (rather cliquey, by the way) group, but also posing together with museum staff and archaeologists.

The ethnographic research will be continued in the forthcoming season. Nevertheless, already at this stage our observations and information gathered document the multiplicity and diversity of attitudes toward the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice. On the one hand, it is perceived as a site of difficult heritage connected with a painful past and, on the other hand – as an important element of everyday landscape and life of today’s people living in the area of Łambinowice. Our observations allow us to conclude that for them heritage is not so much a “thing” as “a cultural and social process, which engages with acts of remembering that work to create ways to understand and engage with the present” (Smith 2006:2).

The general observations are thus a valuable completion of the previously conducted surveys that aimed to assess the multiplicity of experiences and relationships connecting the local community of Łambinowice with the museum and post-camp sites and relics (see Czerner and Nieroba 2017). They complement and enrich them with the dynamic perspective of the contemporary, social functioning of the post-camp areas and its material remains in Łambinowice. They also indicate the great importance and significance of the archaeological research involving the community by providing an opportunity to practise science for the good of local communities and with their active participation.

It is also worth mentioning that a form of summarizing the project, important especially for its ethnographic part, will be an exhibition presenting the course of all stages of work and its various effects, including, of course, the material ones. We can already assume that this kind of social keystone of the project is an accurate idea. When asked if she would like to see an artifact she had excavated herself at the exhibition, one of the volunteers replied:

Yes, absolutely yes! […] I would like to go, for example, with my family and say: listen, I unearthed this little button. I would like to tell them that I contributed to it. That would probably be the most beautiful thing of all (Natalia, pers. comm. 2022).

Conclusion

“Science for Society, Society for Science at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice” is a new, multidisciplinary research project which aims at locating, mapping, and inventorying the material remains of various types of the camps formerly operating on the outskirts of Lamsdorf (Łambinowice) with the use of non-invasive and invasive archaeological methods and tools.

The history (and archaeology) of the PoW camps based in Lamsdorf touches upon, in fact, hundreds of thousands of people, from all over the world, forced to live and die behind barbed wire in Lamsdorf. Today’s areas of former PoW, displacement and forced labor camps are mostly located in a wooded area – and in their large part even in areas not subjected to regular forest management. At first glance, only the ruins of part of Stalag 318 / VIII F (344), which is under the official protection and management of the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War, are visible and subjected to conservation and active preservation. It is as if the remaining campgrounds were leveled and invisible – which is, in part, a disappointment to some visitors, who expect a landscape filled with material remnants of the camp infrastructure like can be seen, for example, while visiting Konzentrationslager Auschwitz. The use of archaeology to study the landscape of the camp in Lamsdorf allows us to better understand it and to a certain extent read it. In fact, it is abundant in material relics related to the history of PoWs.

The social aspect of the project work in the former Lamsdorf is also worth emphasizing – archaeological field research provides an opportunity for active participation of volunteers and people interested in the subject in archaeological endeavors. In this way, in our project we combine three key aspects of science (archaeology, history, ethnography) with society (people interested in participation in field work) in order to better understand, protect, manage, and use the landscape of exceptional value – the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice – for social and cultural purposes.