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Thousands of Unknown Nazi Persecution Sites Discovered by Researchers

Tens of thousands of unknown Nazi persecution sites have been discovered by researchers working on an encyclopedia of Holocaust sites for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

According to a report by the Times of Israel, researchers were tasked with creating a record of labor camps, military brothels, ghettos, POW camps and concentration camps. The volume, “Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945,” is due out in 2025.

At first, officials at the Holocaust museum believed that researchers would discover 5,000 such sites. But since 2001, when the research began, more than 42,500 such locations have discovered — and they keep being found.

For the site to appear in the book, researchers had to corroborate its existence with multiple witness accounts and also official documents.

“You could not turn a corner in Germany [during the war]… without finding someone there against their will,” said Geoffrey Megargee, the project leader, who spoke ahead of Friday’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Contact Naomi Zeveloff at zeveloff@forward.com

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