(source: Róbert Ölvecky)
The skeletal remains of a soldier from the Second World War along with trenches were found by archaeologists in Senica, Trnava Region, during a dig at the building site.
The research at the end of last year was led by Róbert Ölvecky from the Pamarch archaeological society. "The soldier's body was buried in a shallow grave in a former field between the neighbourhoods of Sotina and Kunov," Matúš Sládok from the Regional Monuments Office told the TASR newswire.
According to the position of the body belonging to a 35-year-old man, who lay on his back, the find is interpreted as the quick burial of an already stiffened corpse by local people. The skull and right hand were damaged by an excavator, the pelvis area was damaged earlier, probably during ploughing.
Buttons from the uniform - shirt, blouse and trousers - as well as a hook and leather remnants from the straps, suggest that this could be a member of the Third Reich's armed forces. However, Sládok said that it did not necessarily have to be a German.
"Soldiers from other European nations also served in the German army, including Slovaks," he stated.
The blade of an ordinary knife was found among the personal items. Other common equipment, such as a helmet, a field bottle, a shovel, a weapon, as well as hygiene items, were useful for his comrades-in-arms or the people who buried him, which is why they were not found in the grave pit.
The discovery of a WWII grave is not uncommon in the Trnava Region, according to Sládok. The first one was accidentally found in 2015 in the village of Buková. A soldier killed by a grenade explosion was buried in it.
In addition, archaeologists also examined the remains of unburied soldiers. In 2005, in Dechtice, during the research of a trench, they found bones belonging to an unknown number of soldiers. In 2009, in Hlohovec, they found a trench destroyed with a mortar shell, containing the remains of at least three soldiers. In all cases, the remains belonged to soldiers of the Third Reich.
