Nazi Camp-Site Archaeology in Brandenburg State, Germany

The Brandenburg State Archaeology Museum has been conserving and analyzing relics of Nazi history for 25 years, and, as a result of this work, archaeology is now an integral part of Nazi-camp research (Kersting, Theune et al. 2016; Theune 2018). Many camp sites have been investigated, including concentration camps and their sub-camps, forced-labor camps, and prisoner-of-war camps (Kersting 2020, 2022). While most objects of 20th-century industrial culture can be quickly assigned a function, functions do change; such a shift is a characteristic of Nazi-camp finds and reflects their context of bondage and deprivation. The identification of the functions of material remains enables their association with different spheres of life in the camp so that both perpetrator and victim groups are documented archaeologically. Moreover, these finds serve as tangible evidence to refute any relativization of the crimes.