Human remains were unearthed during earthworks on a slope on Wyszyńskiego Street in Białystok. Four days after the police arrived, the bones reappeared. The conservator of monuments claims that it was because of a storm, because the water washed away the ground. The Chief Rabbi of Poland is interested in the case, because they may be Jewish remains. The owner of the plot is to conduct archaeological research and secure the area.
“Terrible” – this is the comment one of the Internet users posted under a Facebook post by Maciej Zahorski from Białystok. There we see photos of human remains lying in the dug-up earth on the slope next to the sidewalk on Wyszyńskiego Street in Białystok.
There were remains in the ground (photo from July 12) Maciej Zahorski
Maciej Zahorski: What is a person worth after death?
– I took the photos on Friday, July 12. I was there on Wednesday, July 17, around 11 a.m. I also noticed the remains – Maciej Zahorski tells us.
At that time, the provincial conservation services and the police were notified about the case. Zahorski is surprised in a post from July 17 that the remains were not collected and the area fenced.
“Anyone can come in here… The question arises… what is a person worth after death,” he wrote on Facebook.
This is what it was like when he went there for the first time (photo from July 12) Maciej Zahorski
The owner of the plot was asked to secure the area
Adam Musiuk, the Podlaskie Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments, tells us that his employees were at the site on Friday and called the police.
– The latter secured the remains and transported them to the forensic medicine facility. A representative of the landowner also arrived and began earthworks there. He received a verbal request to secure the area, but we stopped the work – he claims.
He adds that he received further information about the bones lying on the slope on Wednesday at around 1 p.m.
The police were called (July 12) Maciej Zahorski
– There was a storm the day before. The water most likely washed away the ground and more remains became visible. Our archaeologists went to the site again and called the police. Securing the remains lasted until the evening. I last spoke to the police at around 7 p.m. Today I will send our archaeologists to the site again – says Musiuk.
There will be a decision in writing
Today, the owner of the land is to receive a written decision from the conservator regarding the need to secure the area and conduct archaeological research there.
– So it won't be a verbal request like on Friday. We had to have time to issue a decision – the conservator emphasizes.
In this area, a Jewish cemetery was established in 1830.
The place in question is associated by history buffs with the city's Jewish cholera cemetery established in 1830.
– The Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, will contact the conservator of monuments on this matter – says Lucy Lisowska, president of the Center for Civic Education Poland-Israel and representative of the Jewish Religious Community of Warsaw for Białystok and the Podlaskie Voivodeship.
However, he adds, there is no evidence that these are Jewish remains.
– Historical sources say that the cemetery boundaries did not reach the place in question. But it could have happened that in the times of the Polish People's Republic, when the current ZUS building was being built on the cemetery grounds, the remains were transported there along with the soil that was being dug up as part of the investment. At that time, no one took into account the fact that there were remains in the ground. The then chairman of our commune, Piotr Krzysztof Kadlči, intervened with the authorities, but to no avail – Lisowska points out.
There is also a version about burials from World War II.
Maciej Zahorski, quoted at the beginning, tells us that among people interested in the subject there is a story circulating that these are remains from the times of World War II.
– The dead were supposedly buried shallowly here. It is hard to say whether they were soldiers or civilians – he points out.
The conservator excludes the possibility that there was a cemetery in this place
Adam Musiuk, on the other hand, hopes that archaeological research will provide an answer to the question about the origin of the remains.
– Maps from the interwar period show that the Jewish cemetery did not reach the area in question. The maps show buildings in this place – he points out.
Main image source: Maciej Zahorski