I came across this interesting 2011 report regarding the looting of the KL Stutthof camp environs by detectorists-diggers and the surveys conducted under the remit of the KL Stutthof Archaeological Resources Protection and Preservation Program:
"Surveys have shown that major ground alterations had taken place since 1945. The entire area is a large sandy dune, the amount of which in some places exceeds 30 feet, covered by pine trees. This area was, for the last two decades, penetrated by relic hunters. The pedestrian survey in the northern part of the camp has confirmed that mass looting had taken place. Some of the ditches dug by looters were already overgrown by vegetation but a large amount of them are still open. The investigation exposed 19 trenches excavated by diggers, approximately 2 meters in diameter and 0.75 meters deep. Considerable amount of archaeological data has been lost. Illegal exploratory excavation disturbed stratum and context. It has been noted that some artifacts, which were not valuable to looters, were discarded near the excavations and left to rust and decay on the ground."
The KL Stutthof Archaeological Resources Protection and Preservation Program was formed to reconstruct the past in the absence of written records and prevent archaeological site destruction caused by activities associated with natural forces, deliberate vandalism or looting, and through inadvertent and unintentional damage caused by site visitation. The archaeological resources are nonrenewable and fragile. More often these resources are being destroyed by so called detectorists or explorers who out of inadvertence, inquisitiveness or greed persist in vandalizing the part of our history for egotistic purposes. Looting of artifacts from WWII historical sites has become particularly destructive. As for example relic hunting has brutally impacted the archaeological context of historical material in the New Camp of KL Stutthof. Loss of archaeological data through vandalism, or theft is a crime against our cultural legacy.
Download link: http://www.stutthof.pl/projekty/report.pdf
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