Until now, they were thought to be Polish victims of the communist regime of the 1950s – but now, through DNA analysis, scientists have been able to assign ten skeletons found on the premises of the Sobibór extermination camp to Holocaust victims: Genetic comparisons confirm a Jewish ancestry.
The mass murder of the approximately six million European Jews is connected with centers of horror – Sobibór is one of them. According to estimates, up to 250,000 people were gassed in the extermination camp in eastern Poland from 1942 to 1943 on behalf of the Nazi regime in downright industrial processing. From October 1943, the camp was no longer used, but razed to the ground. A farm was then established and trees grew on what was once the scene of the crime of humanity. However, traces of the destruction structures have been preserved underground, according to excavations on the site: In 2013, archaeologists came across remnants of the wall that can be assigned to the former gas chambers.
Skeleton finds of unclear origin
They also discovered ten almost intact skeletons on the site. This appeared surprising, as it had previously been assumed that all Holocaust victims in Sobibór had been cremated before the camp was dissolved. Examination of the skeletons revealed that they were men. Gunshot marks were found in five – four of which were headshots, as are typical for executions. On the basis of various sources of evidence, it was previously suspected that the skeletons were not victims of the extermination camp, but the remains of those executed at a later time: They could have been opponents of the communist regime of the 1950s who were on the former site of the camp had been buried.
However, a more detailed investigation should now provide more clarity about the identity of the dead, which in addition to the assessment of additional findings included a forensic analysis using modern DNA technologies. For this purpose, samples were taken from the human remains, which were then analyzed independently of each other at the Pomeranian Medical University in Stettin and at the Institute for Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck.
The investigations included the sequence analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is inherited from the mother. In Innsbruck, Y-chromosomal DNA markers inherited by the father were also examined. The genetic information could then be compared with information from databases containing genetic information on different population groups. This made it possible to draw conclusions about the origins of the ten dead.
Genome with Ashkenazi characteristics
“The genetic examinations now provided clear indications that the victims were of Jewish origin,” says Walther Parson from the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the Medical University in Innsbruck. “Both the maternal and paternal lineages are found more frequently in people living today with Ashkenazi affiliations,” explains the forensic scientist. The northern, central and eastern European Jews are referred to as Ashkenazim.
As the team reports, cartridge cases were also discovered near the victims, the features of which matched the interpretation of the overall picture. “Of the findings collected in this study, DNA was clearly the most powerful means of helping to clarify the origin of the people,” says first author Marta Diepenbroek from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. What exactly happened to the ten men remains unclear, but at least the results now clearly show that the dead were not Polish partisans, but Holocaust victims of the extermination camp.
As the Medical University of Innsbruck finally reports, against the background of the study results, the human remains were buried in the presence of a rabbi and according to the Jewish rite at the place of their discovery.
Source: Medical University of Innsbruck, specialist article: Genome Biology, doi: 10.1186 / s13059-021-02420-0