In September 2003 Arieh Klein was asked to develop a solution for covering the mass graves at the Belzec Death Camp in south-eastern Poland. Approx. 500,000 - 600,000 people were murdered in this camp between February - November, 1942; almost all Jews, together with some ten to twenty thousand Gypsies and a few Polish non-Jews who had helped to hide Jews from the Nazis. The victims were buried in mass graves on the site of the camp. 
The American Jewish Committee and the Polish government funded the building of a Memorial at the site of the Death Camp in 2003-04. However, during the building of the memorial, it became apparent that there was a problem in covering the mass graves. The Nazis had returned to the camp after closing it in November 1942, they had removed the bodies of the victims from the mass graves, burnt the bodies and then crushed the bones in a large bone crushing machine they brought to the site. The ash and crushed bones were then re-buried in the mass graves.
The camp itself is located at the edge of the Polish village of Belzec, and the site slopes from north-east to south-west at an angle from between 5-10 degrees. The Nazis had planted trees over the whole site in 1943, in an effort to disguise the location of the camp. In 2004 all the trees were removed, and a concrete walkway was constructed around the edge of the camp area. Also, a museum was built in the southern corner of the site. At this point, the project management team realised there was a problem with drainage across the site, and also ash and human bone fragments were found to be working their way up out of the mass graves, and moving across the site. Arieh Klein was asked to develop a solution that would prevent the bone fragments and the ash from moving over the site, but without causing drainage problems that might lead to flooding in the museum. 
The location and approximate size of the mass graves, which covered up to 50% of the area of the camp, were known from an archaeological survey that was conducted by the University of Torun in 1997-99. Arieh's solution involved covering the graves, together with an area of 10 m. around each grave, with strong woven geotextile - Stabilenka, with an ultimate tensile strength of 120 kN/m in each direction. The woven geotextile prevented the movement of human bones and ashes across the site, and helped to minimise settlement within the graves. The archaeological survey included drilling at 5 * 5 m. intervals across the site, and a layer of human "wax-fat" was found at the bottom of some of the mass graves. This layer of 'wax-fat' contained water and liquid, and was liable to consolidation over time. The strong woven geotextile helped to minimise settlements in the mass graves, from the cover layers above the geotextile.
The geotextile was then covered with 10 cm. of sand, and a layer of blast furnace slag was placed over the whole site. The intention of the artistic design team was that nothing would grow on the site of the camp, as a memorial to the victims buried here. The mass graves were marked with slag of a different, blue-grey coloured slag. 
Arieh visited the site initially in late September 2003 to meet the design team and finalise the details of the geotextile cover, and the Stabilenka was laid in late November and early December of that year. Whilst the consulting design process was proceeding, a drainage consultant was brought, as it was realised that the geotextile would only allow a portion of the rainfall to pass through into the ground, and that run-off over the top of the geotextile might cause problems to the museum. The drainage consultant proposed a herring-bone layout of perforated drainage pipes laid across the site, and draining towards the south-western section of the site, beyond the concrete walkway. The memorial was successfully opened in June 2004. |
