Black Diggers or Grave Robbers?

 

Latvia: German rifle grenades, a boot, drinking cup, mess kit lid, and gas mask recovered from a trench.

Photographer: Reinis Hofmanis for Bloomberg Businessweek

Black Diggers are people who visit WW2 battlefields and search for wartime relics using metal detectors. They can also be viewed as grave robbers since they plunder what are essentially war graves to find anything of value. Interest in wartime memorabilia is high and collectors seem prepared to spend significant sums on certain items. This has fueled a 'black market' for almost any WW2 relics.

Treasure hunting with metal detectors has been a popular hobby for many years. I can understand the excitement in finding a long lost Roman coin or even ring. However, in searching more recent conflicts such as WW2 there's always a possibility that a battlefield could contain human remains.

Since all soldiers carried identification in some form it may also be possible to identify them and arrange a subsequent burial. In such cases the authorities should be informed so they can perform a professional excavation to preserve evidence of identification. Artifacts found during that process can be properly catalogued and passed on to a museum who can preserve them.

I have seen many videos on Youtube (mostly Russian) which document finds made by diggers. Many relics are in remarkable condition having been preserved in clay. I find it fascinating to see such items being found. However, It's very disconcerting to see the items being handled roughly and cleaned in a very clumsy manner. For example perfectly preserved wooden or metal boxes are hastily forced open using a spade to reveal their contents. Such items should be carefully cleaned off-site. Some videos are supposedly from 'official' groups who are searching for human remains. From what I can see they are more interested in the relics they find. It seems pretty obvious that the discovery of personal items indicates the potential presence of human remains. In addition, some of the 'official' groups wear military style clothing and can even be seen 'playing' with some of the relics. This does not strike me as being professional or 'official' behaviour.

Whilst I do like to watch these videos, I also feel uncomfortable with how bones are dealt with. Surely there should be a professional excavation as soon as it becomes apparent there are human remains.

I understand that the Russian government has recently made it a crime to go digging for wartime relics. This sounds like a step in the right direction but I do wonder if some of these groups are digging under the auspices of 'official' war grave diggers. Do all these finds go to museums? I suspect many are kept in private collections and others are sold.

Apologies to those who have good intentions but I don't think this kind of work is for the amateur. Locating sites and passing information to the authorities would be sufficient. I've heard some say time is running out because the longer time passes the evidence deteriorates. Well, it's already been several decades so a few more would not make much difference if it meant the difference between identifying the individuals or losing the evidence forever. Better to take the time to do it properly than rush and risk losing vital evidence.

The other thing is that I'm almost shocked to see the amount and variety of live ordnance being casually handled including mortars, grenades and even anti-tank mines which are filmed being opened. Is it really that safe? It's all about risk and it only takes that bit of bad luck for a terminal outcome.

The Guardian newspaper 6 January 2016