Archaeology, Geo-Science, and the Holocaust: Finding Rhodes and Vilna

2017 | History & Politics

In summer 2016 acclaimed archaeologist Richard Freund and his team made news worldwide when they discovered an escape tunnel from the Ponar concentration camp. This Holocaust site where more than 100,000 people perished is usually remembered for the terrible devastation that happened there. In the midst of this devastation, the discovery of an escape tunnel reminds us of the determination and tenacity of the people in the camp, and the hope they continued to carry. Archaeology, Geo-Science, and the Holocaust tells the story of this escape from the Ponar camp-from survivor records to the search for evidence to confirm the story. Most of the Jews at Ponar came from the nearby city of Vilna, which Napoleon called "the Jerusalem of the North" for the rich Jewish culture that flourished there. This book introduces readers to life in this "other Jerusalem," tells of the awful destruction of the Holocaust, and describes the dramatic escape and what the remaining archaeological evidence tells us about this other Jerusalem and those who lived there.

Archaeology, Geo-Science, and the Holocaust focuses on the people who built the other Jerusalem, why they came, how they built a successful city, and how they persevered in the face of brutality. Freund tells a powerful story of hope and what we can learn from the archaeological evidence left behind.

Richard A. Freund (Author)