Jewish cemetery in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
The story of one photo. Spatial aspects on ground photos and aerial photographs
A picture is worth a thousand words ...
Objective of the study
Our task was to locate a mass grave in the Jewish cemetery in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski. The main material used in this task was a photographs taken in October 1945. It showed the Jews of Ostrowiec standing at the site of the mass grave from II WW.
Archival Queries
In order to interpret the area of the Jewish cemetery in Ostrowiec Swietkorzyski, archival searches were carried out to find and obtain photogrammetric and cartographic materials. The queries covered the Archives of the United States and the Main Office of Geodesy and Cartography (GUGiK) in Poland.
The following aerial photos were acquired: - May 31, 1944 (Luftwaffe), - January 19, 1945 (Luftwaffe), - February 3, 1945 (Luftwaffe), - April 19, 1964 (Polish Geodetic Survey).
From the left aerial photos from: 05.1944, 01.1944, 02.1945, 04.1964.
The process of interpretation of aerial photographs
In photos taken in 1945, buildings are visible in the background. To locate the mass grave in the first place, the layout of streets and buildings that no longer exist was reconstructed. In order to reproduce the largest part of the city, 2 photos were merged together (using the image matching technique).
Numbers indicate the buildings visible in 1945 and the road.
The visible buildings (numbers 1-3) and the road (number 4) were reconstructed on the basis of a 1945 aerial photo.
Comparative map: on the left buildings from 1945, on the right current buildings. Visible outline and course of the 1945 road (black lines). An orthophoto from 2022 was used as a base.
The paths that were in the cemetery were also reconstructed based on 1945 aerial photos. The 1945 photos show snow, so the trampled paths are clearly visible.
Comparative map: on the left buildings from 1945, on the right current buildings. Visible outline and course of the 1945 road (black lines). The pins have been marked with photos of buildings that are in the background of the main photo. An orthophoto from 1945 was used as a base.
To locate the grave over which people are standing in 1945, additional visibility lines were added to the photo.
Additional visibility lines added to photo from 1945.
The geoportal was supplemented with additional visibility lines.
Geoportal was supplemented with additional visibility lines. An orthophoto from 1945 was used as a base.
The next step was interpretation of a 1944 aerial photo. It was possible to identify a large anomaly visible on the ground. These are probably mass graves. The line of visibility allowed to determine the place , where the people from the photo were gathered.
Final Map. The pin marks the place where the photo was taken. An orthophoto from 1944 was used as a base.
Final Map. The pin marks the place where the photo was taken. An orthophoto from 2022 was used as a base.
