Searching for Nazi Mass Execution Trenches at Fort IX (Kaunas, Lithuania)

Ground penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys conducted at Fort IX in Kaunas, Lithuania have uncovered substantial evidence of the existence of mass execution trenches used by the Nazi regime between 1941 and 1944. Between 1941 and 1944 as many as 45,000 people were systematically murdered by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen during the implementation of the “Final Solution”. In the search for these mass execution trenches a GPR survey of the Fort was conducted using both 225 MHz and 450 MHz antennae to complete two grids. Results from the GPR survey show dipping in the stratigraphy of the GPR profiles at 0.5 to 1.3 meters in depth. These were found in multiple locations throughout the grids in intervals between 5 – 8 meters. Along with dipping reflections in the stratigraphy of the profiles, areas of possible different soil composition were also located in the same areas using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). These areas that differed in soil composition formed unnatural rectangular patterns in the subsurface indicating the presence of the execution trenches. These discoveries combined with past Soviet archaeological investigations of the fort from the 1960's have resulted in further evidence of the existence and location of Nazi mass execution trenches at Fort IX.