This paper presents changes in the range and thickness of glaciers in Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No. 128 on King George Island in the period 1956–2015. The research indicates an intensification of the glacial retreat process over the last two decades, with the rate depending on the type of glacier front. In the period 2001–2015, the average recession rate of the ice cliffs of the Ecology Glacier and the northern part of the Baranowski Glacier was estimated to be approximately 15–25 m a⁻¹ and 10–20 m a⁻¹, respectively. Fronts of Sphinx Glacier and the southern part of the Baranowski Glacier, characterized by a gentle descent onto land, show a significantly lower rate of retreat (up to 5–10 m a⁻¹ 1). From 2001 to 2013, the glacier thickness in these areas decreased at an average rate of 1.7–2.5 m a⁻¹ for the Ecology Glacier and the northern part of the Baranowski Glacier and 0.8–2.5 m a⁻¹ for the southern part of the Baranowski Glacier and Sphinx Glacier. The presented deglaciation processes are related to changes of mass balance caused by the rapid temperature increase (1.0 °C since 1948). The work also contains considerations related to the important role of the longitudinal slope of the glacier surface in the connection of the glacier thickness changes and the front recession.

This article presents the results of multidisciplinary research undertaken in 2016–2019 at the German Nazi Treblinka I Forced Labour Camp. Housing 20,000 prisoners, Treblinka I was established in 1941 as a part of a network of objects such as forced labour camps, resettlement camps and prison camps that were established in the territory of occupied Poland from September 1939. This paper describes archaeological research conducted in particular on the execution site and burial site—the area where the “death pits” have been found—in the so-called Las Maliszewski (Maliszewa Forest). In this area (poorly documented) exhumation work was conducted only until 1947, so the location of these graves is only approximately known. The research was resumed at the beginning of the 21st century using, e.g., non-invasive methods and remote-sensing data. The leading aim of this article is to describe the comprehensive research strategy, with a particular stress on non-invasive geophysical surveys. The integrated archaeological research presented in this paper includes an analysis of archive materials (aerial photos, witness accounts, maps, plans, and sketches), contemporary data resources (orthophotomaps, airborne laser scanning-ALS data), field work (verification of potential objects, ground penetrating radar-GPR surveys, excavations), and the integration, analysis and interpretation of all these datasets using a GIS platform. The results of the presented study included the identification of the burial zone within the Maliszewa Forest area, including six previously unknown graves, creation of a new database, and expansion of the Historical-GIS-Treblinka. Obtained results indicate that the integration and analyses within the GIS environment of various types of remote-sensing data and geophysical measurements significantly contribute to archaeological research and increase the chances to discover previously unknown “graves” from the time when the labour camp Treblinka I functioned.

The “Riese” project was a huge construction project initiated by German Nazi authorities, which was located in the northeast of the Sowie Mountains (Ger. Eulengebirge) in southwestern Poland. Construction of the “Riese” complex took place in 1943–1945 but was left unfinished. Due to the lack of reliable sources, the exact intended function of the Riese complex is still unknown. The construction was carried out by prisoners, mostly Jews, from the main nearby concentration camps, KL Gross-Rosen and KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. Thanks to the discovery in the National Archives (NARA, USA) of a valuable series of German aerial photographs taken in February 1945, insight into the location of labour camps was obtained. These photographs, combined with LiDAR data from the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography (Warsaw, Poland), allowed for the effective identification and field inspection of the camps’ remains. The location and delimitation of the selected labour camps were confirmed by an analysis of the 1945 aerial photograph combined with LiDAR data. These results were supported by field inspection as well as archival testimonies of witnesses. The field inspection of the construction remains indicated intentionally faulty construction works, which deliberately reduced the durability of the buildings and made them easy to demolish. The authors believe that it is urgent to continue the research and share the results with both the scientific community and the local community. The authors also want to emphasize that this less-known aspect of Holocaust history is gradually disappearing in social and institutional memory and is losing to the commercial mythologization of the Riese object.

Geospatial technologies enable accurate and detailed documentation of cultural heritage sites. They allow for the creation of digital representations of these sites that can be shared with interested audiences. Given the above, this paper presents the possibility of using archival data to reconstruct the topography of two German labor camps, Dyhernfurth I and II, which operated during World War II. To perform this task, multi-source archival data was obtained and interpreted. These data came from various sources: archives, historical institutes, and museums. The results of the study were presented to the staff of the Gross-Rosen Museum, who anticipated the possibility of using the proposed tools in the management of other labor camps. The proposed methodology can be replicated at other locations and easily implemented by other martyrdom museums involved in the preservation of cultural heritage.

Aerial photographs taken over the past 80 years are often the only record of topography and events that have been destroyed or obliterated. However, the lack of camera certificates for many historical photographs, and their physical degradation, often makes it challenging to correct them geometrically. In this paper, we present the process of orthorectifying archival Luftwaffe aerial photographs of the area of the Treblinka extermination camp from May 1944, based on a computer vision-based process and preprocessing techniques. Low-cost and easily accessible software was used, which allowed for the generation of a fully metric orthophotomap in a repeatable and accurate way. This process can be repeated for archival aerial photographs from other dates (for the Treblinka camp) and other extermination camps (Belzec and Sobibor).