Archaeological GPR Investigation of the Bersohn and Bauman Jewish Children’s Hospital in Warsaw, Poland : Locating Potential Holocaust Artifacts

Abstract

The Holocaust was a time where Jewish people and other minorities were subject to terror caused by the Nazis and local collaborators. In Western culture, Jewish people are often seen as helpless victims that were non-defiant during the Holocaust. The Warsaw Ghetto, located in the center of Warsaw, Poland, was the largest Ghetto during World War II and confined around 460,000 people. The Bersohn and Bauman Jewish Children’s Hospital, located in the Warsaw Ghetto, was built in 1878 and was a fully functional hospital until World War II when it became full of patients. The doctors at the hospital taught the Jewish people how to follow the best health practices because they were determined to keep these people alive. The goal of the project was to use GPR to discover if there was void space underneath the hospital where items could be buried or hidden. GPR was also used on the courtyard, which was the closest open land to the hospital, because the courtyard had strong potential for being a burial ground.