Making a helmet talk!

[DTVPKING]

Awesome job Jean! Shame that most of the individuals here from mass graves cannot be identified and separated because of the mixed bones. We always try to do our best but time and budget is a problem and working fast is a must. I would like to see all mass graves exhumed and researched like you did on this one.

Greetings from VDK Gruppe Balkan

[squidney86]

I am very glad I clicked on this link. What an incredible amount of deserving research. Very well done!

Sydney

[Jean-Loup]

Res non verba!

Posted by DTVPKING: "We always try to do our best but time and budget is a problem and working fast is a must. I would like to see all mass graves exhumed and researched like you did on this one."


This isnt meant to you personaly, but I know the VDK well, and I know that correct research and correct exhumations is not on their list of priorities. Perhaps they should spend a bit less time and money on their propaganda magazine "Stimme und Weg" and a bit more time doing their excavation work properly.
I can understand that in 1958 they didnt take time to seperate bones and could miss an ID tag. But today they dont work any better, as is proven by this exhumation done in recent years in Normandy, where neither time nor budget was a problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDHIrOqUtYI&t=3s . They remove the bones from the ground before even getting a clear picture of what they are doing, and probably dont even have a metal detector.
The problem is simply taking an interest in your work and trying to do it properly, something I have never seen the VDK do when it comes to excavations.
Untrained volunteers and children work better then that, you can see examples in this video, even when bones are comingled these guys manage to clearly see each individual skelleton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZjSf-i-4o&t=7s

On a more positive note, I would be interested to hear more about the VDK activities in ex-Yougoslavia. The last I heard there were dozens of known mass grave sites in Croatia ( http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/zeitg...-a-617260.html ), but the VDK was saying this did not concern them as they were not German troops but supposedly Ustashi. This conclusion was drawn before even investigating in the field mind you. Better to print out a few more Stimme und Weg's then to try to get something done...

JL

[DTVPKING]

Not that i dont understand you; i completly agree with this statement.

I will send you a PM with the details not to post these topics publicly.

[C. Roelens]

One of the best threads I've read in a very long time... thank you.

Chuck

[ivbaust]

Stumbled yesterday by accident on your other "La Roquette Thread" and was deeply impressed after reading it. And now this one! WOW, great research and fantastic job! Merci beaucoup, Jean-Loup, for sharing all your findings with us

[Jean-Loup]

The events described in this thread were happening 75 years ago today.

JL

[fader107]

I remember this thread.

Just read the whole thing again. Wonderful work.

[helmuthunter]

Just amazing / incredible. Fantastic research.