Sobibor - Holocaust Propaganda And Reality - Unity of Nobility ...

112 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR
tigated by coring. In each hectare 400 basic drillings were made;
additional drillings enabling a more detailed localization of the
remnants of anthropogenic structures were made in places of soil
disruptions. At this stage the structures were divided into grave pits
(usually easy to distinguish) and interferences in the natural stratigraphic
structure, which were traces of unknown elements of other
transformations of the terrain resulting from human activity. Their
interpretation will only be possible if excavations take place.
In hectare XVII 90 additional drillings were carried out, 76 in
hectare XVIII, 18 in XXIV, and 21 in XXV; thus altogether there
were 1,805 drillings made on 4 hectares.”
5.2. Mass Graves
5.2.1. Mass Graves in Testimony, Verdicts, and
Historiography
The most important accounts of the mass graves at Sobibór derive
from the former SS men Kurt Bolender and Hubert Gomerski. Jules
Schelvis has summarized their statements as follows: 305
“Until the end of 1942, the bodies were taken to a Lager 3 pit,
measuring about 60 by 20 metres and about 6 to 7 metres deep, the
walls sloping down to protect it from collapsing. Along one side a
wooden structure jutted over the edge, so that the loaded carts could
be tipped over and the bodies dumped into the pit. The bodies had to
be laid out by the Arbeitshäftlinge [inmate workers] in a prescribed
fashion to use all the available space, and were then covered with
chloride of lime. By June 1942 it had become clear to the camp leadership
that the grave was filling up fast, so a second grave was dug
about 80 metres away from the first.”
Schelvis then goes on to quote Bolender’s testimony of December 8,
1963: 306
“The first grave had been covered with a layer of sand. As this
grave was completely full, the other bodies had to be taken else-
305
306
Summary of a statement made by Kurt Bolender in Munich on 5 June 1961 (ZStL
252/59-11-1322), and a statement made by Hubert Gomerski in Hagen on 2 December
1966 (StA.Do-XII 65-705); J. Schelvis, op. cit. (note 71), p. 110.
Statement by K. Bolender in Hagen on 8 December 1963 (StA.Do-band 35-116), quoted
in J. Schelvis, op. cit. (note 71), pp. 110f.