Skip to main content

Ethical Issues and Project Design

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Holocaust Archaeologies

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a greater understanding amongst practitioners of the ethical issues involved in the investigation of mass graves from recent genocides and the handling of human remains in mass-death scenarios. It is vital that archaeologists working in the field of Holocaust archaeology use current guidance on ethical practice to guide their work. Whilst the sensitivities may differ between the Holocaust and other genocides/disasters, there is a need to research the local circumstances relating to the site being investigated and to consider at length groups and individuals likely to be affected by such work. This chapter builds on the observations made in the previous one with regard to the sensitivities that surround the Holocaust and will highlight strategies to ensure that these issues are accounted for in future investigations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland). (2011). Guidance on Disaster Victim Identification. http://www.acpo.police.uk/documents/uniformed/2011/20110324%20UOBA%20Guidance%20on%20Disaster%20Victim%20Identification_2011.pdf. Accessed 20 Dec 2013.

  • Arad, Y. (1987). Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard death camps. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ARC (Aktion Reinhard Camps). (2006). Sobibor Labour Camps. http://www.deathcamps.org/sobibor/labourcamps.html. Accessed 15 Feb 2013.

  • Atalay, S. (2012). Community-based archaeology: Research with, by, and for indigenous and local communities. Oakland: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC. (2013). Brocton WWI model battlefield excavation completed. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-24507819. Accessed 12 Oct 2013.

  • Beale, N., & Beale, G. (2012). The potential of open models for public archaeology. In Digital Futures: The Third Annual Digital Economy All Hands Conference. Aberdeen, 23–25 Oct 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bikker, J. (2013). DVI in the Post-Tsunami Era: Global Disasters and the Importance of Local Culture in Disaster Victim Identification. Paper presented at the Second Annual Forum of Disaster Victim Identification, Royal College of Pathologists, London, March 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bikker, J. (2014). Identification of missing persons and unidentified remains in disaster victim identification. In X. Mallett, T. Blythe, & R. Berry (Eds.), Advances in forensic human identification (pp. 37–58). Boca Raton: CRC Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, R.F. (2010). Writing as resistance: Four women confronting the Holocaust: Edith Stein, Simone Well, Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum. Pennsylvania: Penn State Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byford, J. (2007). When I say “The Holocaust,” I mean “Jasenovac” remembrance of the holocaust in contemporary Serbia. East European Jewish Affairs, 37(1), 51–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carman, J. (2005). Against cultural property: Archaeology, heritage and ownership. London: Duckworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centre of Archaeology. (2014a). Holocaust Landscapes Project. http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/archaeology/projects/holocaust-landscapes. Accessed 23 April 2014.

  • Congram, D., & Sterenberg, J. (2009). Grave Challenges in Iraq. In S. Blau & D.H. Ubelaker (Eds.), Handbook of forensic anthropology and archaeology. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Council of Europe. (1992). Valletta Convention. http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/143.html. Accessed 6 Sept 2007.

  • Cruickshank, C.G. (1975). The German Occupation of the Channel Islands. Stroud: Sutton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute of the City of Belgrade. (2012). Information on the Cultural Monument—Old Fairground—A “Gestapo Concentration Camp”. In If Not Now, When…? Proceedings of the International Conference, The Future of the Site of the Old Fairground Staro Sajmište in Belgrade, 10th to 12th May 2012. http://www.rs.boell.org/downloads/Reader_Sajmiste(3).pdf. Accessed 12 May 2012.

  • CZKD. (2012). Living Death Camp and Forensic Aesthetics: Where Subjugated Knowledge is—Sociality Occurs. http://www.czkd.org/czkd-arhiva/programi.php?id=560&lang=en. Accessed 5 April 2012.

  • Defence Archaeology Group. (2014). http://www.dmasuk.org/. Accessed 23 June 2014.

  • Forensic Architecture. (2014). Forensis: The architecture of public truth. Berlin: Sternberg Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • H.E.A.R.T. (2007). Labour Camps—Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/labour%20camps/arclabourcamps.Html. Accessed 16 Feb 2013.

  • Home Office. (2004). Guidance on Dealing with Fatalities in Emergencies. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61191/fatalities.pdf. Accessed 12 June 2012.

  • Hunter, J., & Cox, M. (2005). Forensic archaeology: Advances in theory and practice. London: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, J., Simpson, B., & Sturdy Colls, C. (2013). Forensic approaches to buried remains. London: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • IFA (Institute for Archaeologists). (2012). Standard and Guidance for historic environment desk-based assessment. http://www.archaeologists.net/sites/default/files/node-files/DBA2012.pdf. Accessed 10 April 2013.

  • INFORCE. (2012). http://www.inforce.org.uk. Accessed 15 Jan 2014.

  • International Brigades Project. (2014). https://sites.google.com/site/internationalbrigadesproject/. Accessed 15 Jan 2014.

  • Jackson, S., Lennox, R., Neal, C., Roskams, S., Hearle, J. & Brown, L. (2014). Engaging communities in the ‘big society’: What impact is the localism agenda having on community archaeology? The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice, 5(1), 74–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, J. (2004). From the profane to the sacred: Ritual and mourning at sites of terror and violence. Journal for the scientific study of religion, 43(3), 311–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jovanović, D. (2012). Roma in the Jewish Camp Zemun 1941–1942/ Romi u Jevrejskom Logoru Zemun 1941–1942, in If Not Now, When…? Proceedings of the International Conference, The Future of the Site of the Old Fairground Staro Sajmište in Belgrade, 10th to 12th of May 2012 (pp. 23–39). http://www.rs.boell.org/downloads/Reader_Sajmiste(3).pdf. Accessed 28 Sept 2013.

  • Leszczynski, Z. (2005). Statement of Zygmunt Leszczynski from Hansk. ARC. 2006. http://www.deathcamps.org/sobibor/labourcamps.html. Accessed 15 Feb 2013.

  • Levy, D. (2006). The Holocaust and memory in the Global Age. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewy, G. (1999). The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, B. J., & Shackel, P. A. (2014). Archaeology, heritage, and civic engagement: Working toward the public good. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mass Fatality Planning, & Religious Considerations Act. (2012). http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr6566/text. Accessed 20 Dec 2013.

  • Mazurek, W., & Haimi, Y. (2013). Under Sobibor: Archaeology, History and Evidence. Paper presented at the Competing Memories Conference, 1 November 2013, Westerbork, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mcdavid, C. (2010). Public archaeology, activism and racism: Rethinking the heritage product. In M. J. Stottman (Ed.), Archaeologists as Activists: Can archaeologists change the world? Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, O. W., Sribanditmongkol, P., Perera, C., Sulasmi, Y., Van Alphen, D. & Sondorp, E. (2006). Mass fatality management following the South Asian tsunami disaster: case studies in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. PLoS Medicine, 3(6), 195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moshenska, G. (2008). Ethics and ethical critique in the archaeology of modern conflict. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 41(2), 159–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moshenska, G. (2009). Contested pasts and community archaeologies: Public engagement in the archaeology of modern conflict. In N. Forbes, R. Page, & G. Pérez (Ed.), Europe’s deadly century. Perspectives on 20th century conflict heritage (pp. 73–79). Swindon: English Heritage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moshenska, G., & Dhanjal, S. (2011). Community archaeology: Themes, methods and practices. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nader, K., Dubrow, N., & Stamm, B.H. (2013). Honoring differences: Cultural Issues in the treatment of trauma and loss. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nieradko, A. (2014). Legal Issues. Paper presented at the IHRA Killing Sites—Research and Remembrance Conference, 22nd January 2014, Krakow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowy Tydzień. (2011). Ku pamięci pomordowanych w obozie pracy. http://www.nowytydzien.pl/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1404:ku-pami%C4%99ci-pomordowanych-w-obozie-pracy&Itemid=44. Accessed 16 Feb 2013.

  • Oktobarski Salon. (2013). No one belongs here more than you. http://oktobarskisalon.org/2013/10/54-oktobarski-salon-niko-ne-pripada-tu-vise-nego-ti?lang=en. Accessed 1 Oct 2013.

  • Paperno, I. (2001). Exhuming the bodies of Soviet terror. Representations, 45, 89–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, C. (2005). After the Tsunami: Legal implications of mass burials of unidentified victims in Sri Lanka. PLoS Medicine, 2(6), 185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, C., & Briggs, C. (2008). Guidelines for the effective conduct of mass burials following mass disasters: post-Asian Tsunami disaster experience in retrospect. Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology, 4(1), 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyburn, K. (2011). Engaged archaeology: Whose Community? Which Public? In K. Okamura & A. Matsuda (Eds.), New perspectives in global public archaeology. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, P. (2008). Community Archaeology: From the grassroots. Current Archaeology, 216, 21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, P. (2005). The British Channel Islands under German occupation, 1940–1945. Jersey: Jersey Heritage Trust.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schudrich, M. (2014). Legal Issues. Paper presented at the IHRA Killing Sites—Research and Remembrance Conference, 22nd Jan 2014, Krakow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schute, I. (2013). Comparison of artefacts from Camp Westerbork and Sobibor Establishing Research Potential (campaign autumn 2013). http://sobibor.info.pl/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Report-by-I.Schute-autumn-2013.pdf. Accessed 3 Jan 2014.

  • Smith, L. & Waterton, E. (2013). Heritage, communities and archaeology. London: A & C Black.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, C. (2008). Archaeology and the forensic investigation of recent mass graves: Ethical issues for a new practice of archaeology. Archaeologies, 4(3), 414–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sturdy Colls, C. (2012). Holocaust archaeology: Archaeological approaches to landscapes of Nazi genocide and persecution. Journal of Conflict Archaeology, 7(2), 70–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sturdy Colls, C. (2013). An Archaeological Assessment of the Area of the Former Judenlager and Anhaltlager at Staro Sajmište, Belgrade, Serbia. Fieldwork Report. Centre of Archaeology, Staffordshire University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sturdy Colls, C., & Colls, K. (2014). Reconstructing a painful past: A non-invasive approach to reconstructing lager Norderney in Alderney, the Channel Islands. In E. Ch’ng, V. Gaffney, & H. Chapman (Eds.), Visual heritage in the Digital Age. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varghese, S. B. (2010). Cultural, ethical, and spiritual implications of natural disasters from the survivors’ perspective. Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America, 22(4), 515–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Violi, P. (2013). Can Trauma Sites Lie? From Traces to Traumatic Heritage. Paper presented at the Competing Memories Conference, 29th Oct 2013, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wainright, A. (2009). Orford Ness—A landscape in conflict? In N. Forbes, R. Page, & G. Pérez (Eds.), Europe’s deadly century. Perspectives on 20th century conflict heritage. Swindon: English Heritage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walls, S. (2009). The Role of Excavation in Community Archaeology in the Southwest: The Experiences of the Professional. Paper presented at the Community Archaeology in South West England conference. 21st Feb 2009. http://www.britarch.ac.uk/caf/wikka.php?wakka=CommunityArchaeologyinSWEngland&show_comments=1. Accessed 15 April 2014.

  • Wijnen, J. A. T., & Schute, I. (2010). Archaeologisch onderzoek in een ‘schuldig landschap’: Concentratiekamp Amersfoort. RAAP Report 2197. Weesp: RAAP Archaeologisch Adviesbureau BV.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, E. D., & Crews, J. D. (2003). From dust to dust: ethical and practical issues involved in the location, exhumation, and identification of bodies from mass graves. Croatian Medical Journal, 44(3), 251–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yad Vashem. (2014). Archaeological Excavations at Sobibór. http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/institute/sobibor_excavations.asp. Accessed 17 April 2014.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caroline Sturdy Colls .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Sturdy Colls, C. (2015). Ethical Issues and Project Design. In: Holocaust Archaeologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10641-0_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics