Mapping of Polar Areas Based on High-Resolution Satellite Images: The Example of the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station

To produce orthophotomaps or digital elevation models, the most commonly used method is photogrammetric measurement. However, the use of aerial images is not easy in polar regions for logistical reasons. In these areas, remote sensing data acquired from satellite systems is much more useful. This paper presents the basic technical requirements of different products which can be obtain (in particular orthoimages and digital elevation model (DEM)) using Very-High-Resolution Satellite (VHRS) images. The study area was situated in the vicinity of the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station on the Western Shore of Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Western Antarctic. Image processing was applied on two triplets of images acquired by the Pléiades 1A and 1B in March 2013. The results of the generation of orthoimages from the Pléiades systems without control points showed that the proposed method can achieve Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of 3-9 m. The presented Pléiades images are useful for thematic remote sensing analysis and processing of measurements. Using satellite images to produce remote sensing products for polar regions is highly beneficial and reliable and compares well with more expensive airborne photographs or field surveys

Memories of Recent Past. Objectives and Results of Non-invasive Archaeological Research Project at KL Plaszow Memorial Site

Debate about the possibilities of using interdisciplinary methods in investigations of labor and concentration camps of world war two is well embedded. In this cases, the archaeology is a mixture of sub-disciplines like Combat Archaeology, War Archaeology and Interment Archaeology as well as a Public Archaeology. Field researches, especially non-invasives ones are common practices. In recent years numerous archeological research project has taken place. Some of them were prepared for the investment activities and design of memorials and new museums. The main purpose of documentation, surveys, and excavation of this kind of sites is a preservation of architectural relicts and landscape, but also a supplementing the historical knowledge by authentic archaeological sources. In this paper, authors decided to present the results of archaeological research project prepared in 2016 by The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków (MHK) and the investigations of Rabbinical Commission for Jewish Cemeteries in the area of labor and concentration camp Plaszow. The archeological documentation and investigations were combined with extensive research and study of memorial sites in Poland and Europe, which served as the basis for the scenario of the exhibition and commemoration of KL Plaszow as a future memorial site’s institutio

Memories of Recent Past. Objectives and Results of Non-invasive Archaeological Research Project at KL Plaszow Memorial Site

Debate about the possibilities of using interdisciplinary methods in investigations of labor and concentration camps of world war two is well embedded. In this cases, the archaeology is a mixture of sub-disciplines like Combat Archaeology, War Archaeology and Interment Archaeology as well as a Public Archaeology. Field researches, especially non-invasives ones are common practices. In recent years numerous archeological research project has taken place. Some of them were prepared for the investment activities and design of memorials and new museums. The main purpose of documentation, surveys, and excavation of this kind of sites is a preservation of architectural relicts and landscape, but also a supplementing the historical knowledge by authentic archaeological sources. In this paper, authors decided to present the results of archaeological research project prepared in 2016 by The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków (MHK) and the investigations of Rabbinical Commission for Jewish Cemeteries in the area of labor and concentration camp Plaszow. The archeological documentation and investigations were combined with extensive research and study of memorial sites in Poland and Europe, which served as the basis for the scenario of the exhibition and commemoration of KL Plaszow as a future memorial site’s institutio

Use of Geoinformatics for the Digitization and Visualization of Sensitive Space in the Urban Landscape: A Case Study of the Gross-Rosen Sub-Camps Systems

Geospatial technologies enable accurate and detailed documentation of cultural heritage sites. They allow for the creation of digital representations of these sites that can be shared with interested audiences. Given the above, this paper presents the possibility of using archival data to reconstruct the topography of two German labor camps, Dyhernfurth I and II, which operated during World War II. To perform this task, multi-source archival data was obtained and interpreted. These data came from various sources: archives, historical institutes, and museums. The results of the study were presented to the staff of the Gross-Rosen Museum, who anticipated the possibility of using the proposed tools in the management of other labor camps. The proposed methodology can be replicated at other locations and easily implemented by other martyrdom museums involved in the preservation of cultural heritage

Forgotten Nazi Forced Labour Camps: Arbeitslager Riese (Lower Silesia, SE Poland) and the Use of Archival Aerial Photography and Contemporary LiDAR and Ground Truth Data to Identify and Delineate Camp Areas

The “Riese” project was a huge construction project initiated by German Nazi authorities, which was located in the northeast of the Sowie Mountains (Ger. Eulengebirge) in southwestern Poland. Construction of the “Riese” complex took place in 1943–1945 but was left unfinished. Due to the lack of reliable sources, the exact intended function of the Riese complex is still unknown. The construction was carried out by prisoners, mostly Jews, from the main nearby concentration camps, KL Gross-Rosen and KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. Thanks to the discovery in the National Archives (NARA, USA) of a valuable series of German aerial photographs taken in February 1945, insight into the location of labour camps was obtained. These photographs, combined with LiDAR data from the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography (Warsaw, Poland), allowed for the effective identification and field inspection of the camps’ remains. The location and delimitation of the selected labour camps were confirmed by an analysis of the 1945 aerial photograph combined with LiDAR data. These results were supported by field inspection as well as archival testimonies of witnesses. The field inspection of the construction remains indicated intentionally faulty construction works, which deliberately reduced the durability of the buildings and made them easy to demolish. The authors believe that it is urgent to continue the research and share the results with both the scientific community and the local community. The authors also want to emphasize that this less-known aspect of Holocaust history is gradually disappearing in social and institutional memory and is losing to the commercial mythologization of the Riese object

Obóz Pracy Treblinka I. Metodyka integracji danych wieloźródłowych.

<p>Testimonies and information obtained from the former prisoners were up till now mainly used in the research conducted in Labor Camp Treblinka I and in the Extermination Camp Treblinka II. English archeologists from the Staffordshire University have noted significant achievements. They conducted a research between 2007 and 2015 in the area of the Labor Camp Treblinka I and in the Extermination Camp Treblinka II. The research was conducted within a bigger project that also included camps on the Alderney Island and on the territories of the former Yugoslavia. However there is still lack of the comprehensive scientific research on the camps’ topography that would also include the nearest surroundings and would consider the fullest possible analysis of both testimonies and the spatial data (current and historical). It’s been 70 years since the camps were liberated. New measuring techniques and a wider access to the archival data opened a new chapter in the research on the history of Treblinka camps. The Uprising in Extermination Camp Treblinka II that began on August 2, 1943 only partially influenced its liquidation. The Camp’s liquidation stared at the end of August, and demolition works lasted till November. Germans were very meticulous in removing all the traces of the perfectly operating “death machine”. Buildings and gas chambers were demolished and a farm was established at the former camp area. The Labour Camp operated till July 23, 1944 and was also later demolished. Its liquidation did not go according to the same scenario as in the case of a Extermination Camp. Till this day some buildings’ foundations remain. However, there are no plans for both camps and we can learn how they operated only from the testimonies. Within the project: “Methodology for integrating and harmonizing multi-source data for the research on functioning of the Treblinka I Labour Camp and Treblinka II Extermination Camp”, the authors of this monograph made first attempts to fully review available data and information on Treblinka camps. The research was conducted with an innovative method using the technology of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that allows the connection of the witnesses’ testimonies with the available and newly obtained geographic data. This method resulted in additional information that deepened the knowledge about the events that took place around Treblinka, not only during the period when the camps operated. The research continued in 2017 due to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage funds available within the project “Supporting the Care Over Places of Remembrance and Permanent Commemoration in the Country”. This study includes research that has not been published yet and that was conducted between 2015 and 2017 at the area of the Labor Camp Treblinka and its surroundings. Solutions suggested in this study may become guidelines for conducting similar studies at the areas of other labour, transit, POW and concentration camps. One of the goals of the research was to systematize and describe the source materials and documentation describing the examined objects from the point of view of the camps’ topography and which are available in the archives and museums. Documents available in the Archives of the New Files (unknown financial documents regarding Labour Camp were discovered) and The Institute of National Remembers were analyzed. The second goal of the research was to prepare complete archival queries of aerial photographs, cartographic materials and text documents that are not yet known to the subject literature. Within this research, an access to the aerial photographs from the period 1940-1958 and topographical maps was obtained. The aerial photographs and maps that were discovered were not, to the full extent, known and used in the research on Treblinka camps neither in publications. An innovative solution was the development of a descriptive data linking methodology (from the testimonies) with spatial data in the aspect of historical research. The method and use of IT tools in the Geographic Information Systems allowed establishing next stages of the field research. Not only archival data (such as aerial maps or topographical maps) were used in the research. In order to conduct the research and generate derivative products (eg. shaded maps) a data from the laser scanning were used at every stage of the research. For the first time a satellite picture from the WorldView2 System was used for the research on Labour and Extermination Camps in Treblinka. The picture was used to interpret and visualize data. Current and archival data and witnesses’ testimonies were given a spatial dimension; results of the spatial analysis were used to select 8 research areas. Selected areas were subject to the on-site, detailed inspection. Archeological research was performed at the selected areas with potential mass graves. Those places were selected on the basis of the spatial analysis of the data gathered in the Spatial Database System for Treblinka camps. Three execution holes were localized during invasive research. The discovered graves were marked with crosses. The internal road and garbage dump localized at the area of the former Labour Camp were also researched using invasive methods. In case of the road it was expected for the human remains from the pyres of the Extermination Camp to be found. The excavation yielded negative results. Few metal artifacts were discovered at the garbage dump area, such as metal fragments of shoes and clothing, buttons, buckles, shell casings, coins, and glass containers, as well as unidentified metal objects. Those artifacts will add to the collection of the Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom in Treblinka. Human bones were also found at the described area. The last significant achievement of the research was a discovery of a railroad track fragment from the siding located at the gravel plant. This discovery was possible due to the composition of the results of analysis of archival aerial photographs and satellite photographs from the WorldView2 System. The railroad track is over 7 meters long and will be displayed in the viewpoint on a gravel plant. The research added to the knowledge of the history of both camps and indicated new research paths aiming to clarify the issues, which have not yet been addressed. Gaining access to digital archives and technically advanced “products” obtained on the basis of the engeenerial data analysis gives reason to assume that new technology will help deepen the historical knowledge not only related to Treblinka.</p

The assessment of muscle strength symmetry in kayakers and canoeists

Study aim: To determine and compare the muscle strength profile and muscle strength symmetry of kayakers and canoeists