[Cz-L] FYI: Jewish remains found in Ukraine mass grave

Sent: Sunday, 10 September 2006 3:56 AM
=A0Subject: Jewish remains found in Ukraine mass grave
=A0
Jewish remains found in Ukraine mass grave

Delegation uncovers remains of hundreds of Jews
in mass grave in Ukraine who were murdered in World War II

Dudi Nissim
Published: 09.08.06, 11:27

Hundreds of Jewish skeletons were uncovered about
a week ago in a mass grave in a Ukraine forest next to the city of Lvov.

Several weeks ago, a secret mission called
"Kaddish for Ukraine's Jews" began looking for
the mass graves of Ukrainian Jews who were
massacred during the Second World War.

In an operation initiated by the Jewish Congress
and the Holocaust Museum in Paris and Washington,=20
the delegation uncovered an enormous mass grave=20
in a forest in Ukraine containing remains of=20
hundreds of Jews murdered in the time of the=20
Holocaust. The remains were uncovered in one of=20
the 500 sites the delegation members are planning on excavating.

The operation initiators contacted priests and=20
elderly residents in Ukraine and asked for=20
assistance in locating potential sites where=20
thousands of Jews may have been murdered and buried in mass graves.

About three weeks ago, the delegation members=20
began examining areas around Lvov located in=20
western Ukraine. Before the Second World War,=20
about 110,000 Jews lived in Lvov, and with=20
Germany=92s invasion of the Soviet Union in June of=20
1941, this city and the surrounding area was one=20
of the first ones that were invaded.

Among the members of the delegation were a=20
pathologist, several archeologists, local rabbis=20
and eight Zaka Rescue and Recovery members,=20
including organization Chairman Yehuda Meshi Zahav and his son Shimon.

=93One of the sites that the elderly told us about=20
was in a small village next to Lvov, where there=20
is a forest next to a Jewish cemetery,=94 said the=20
members of Zaka. =93We used metal detectors to=20
locate the exact area by detecting the bullets.=94

1,800 Jews estimated in mass grave

=93The metal detectors went off exactly in that=20
area. They began digging, and two meters down,=20
the remains began to surface. Hundreds of skulls=20
and bare skeletons were counted in the grave=20
site. The years in which the bullets were=20
manufactured were engraved on the bullets=20
recovered from the remains =96 1941, 1939 =96 as well=20
as the country in which they were manufactured =96 Germany.

Meshi Zahav said that most of the skeletons were=20
children. =93We know that as opposed to Gypsies,=20
the Nazis also killed the Jewish families along with their children," he
said.

The delegation members estimated that in this=20
mass grave alone some 1,800 Jews were buried.=20
They said that after the grave was uncovered,=20
Ukrainian authorities agreed to recognize the=20
area as a Jewish burial site, and a religious=20
burial ceremony was organized with the participation of a rabbi from
Lvov.

The delegation members are planning on returning=20
to the area in about two weeks and erect a=20
monument in memory of the victims. After the=20
holidays, the delegation will return to Ukraine=20
in order to uncover other burial sites of Jews killed by the Nazis.

One of the lead initiators of the project is the=20
French historian Patrick Dubois. He recruited the=20
help of the Holocaust Museum in Paris in funding the project.

The museum=92s director, Jacques Fredj, said =93It is=20
a real breakthrough. Now our mission is to find=20
out the names of those people so that they will not be left with no
identity.=94

Journalist Noa Klieger reported that throughout=20
the years other mass graves were found in the=20
enormous forests of Ukraine. And with today=92s new=20
technology, it will be able to locate other sites=20
such as the one found next to Lvov.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3301306,00.html

Malvina Malinek
Australia

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Received on 2006-09-17 08:07:59