Zdjęcia lotnicze i materiał DNA w procesie identyfikacji skazanych na karę śmierci i rozstrzelanych w Polsce w latach 1944–1956 – zarys problematyki

Artykuł przedstawia zarys problematyki procesu identyfikacji skazanych na karę śmierci i rozstrzelanych w Polsce w latach 1944–1956. Opisuje zastosowane metody badawcze: analizę materiałów źródłowych, badanie georadarowe oraz badania porównawcze materiału DNA na przykładzie największych prac w Polsce, m.in. kwatery „Ł” Cmentarza Wojskowego przy ul. Powązkowskiej w Warszawie i Aresztu Śledczego w Białymstoku. Aerial photographs and DNA material in the process of identifying sentenced to death and shot in Poland in 1944–1956 – An outline of the issue An individual approach to the process of identifying fallen victims of armed conflicts in the 20th century enjoys widespread popularity in Western Europe (Germany, Holland), Central and Eastern Europe (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Anglo-Saxon countries (especially USA) and Russia. Each of them is characterized by different identity determination resulting from the circumstances surrounding the death of a murdered person. The development of technology makes it possible for us to use methods that were inaccessible ten years ago: DNA comparative studies that ultimately verify the identity of a victim. The studies have been used for over twenty years to restore the identity people who were murdered and lost in the aftermath of the armed conflict in former Yugoslavia, especially Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Poland, the identification of bone remains was carried out in certain individual cases, such as the skull of Ludwik Szymański, a Polish officer murdered in Katyn. Mass comparative studies of the DNA of the wanted people and their families were first used in Poland against anti-communist soldiers of the independence underground, who were sentenced to death in 1944–1956 by military district courts and shot in the prison in Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw.The article presents the research methods used in Poland, such as the analysis of source materials, geo-radar survey and comparative research of DNA material on the example of the largest works. The aim of the paper is to present sources materials that have contributed to locating and then estimating the size of burial fields. The author also describes other methods of identifying victims, critically presenting each of them.