‘Getting Closer to the Place’: Stakeholder Experiences and Impact During Archaeological Research at Sobibór

The Sobibór Archaeology Project represents an important, long-term case study for understanding the complex ‘interests’ and relationships that may emerge during fieldwork at sites of atrocity. A complex demographic of stakeholders played parts in Sobibór over three decades, with a diverse range of motivations and expectations. Ethically sensitive forms of engagement with different stakeholders are needed in archaeological research, especially at the sites connected to the Holocaust and Nazi persecution. Based on a series of interviews with national and local government, heads of museums, archaeologists, heritage professionals, architects, a representative of the Rabbinical Commission for Jewish Cemeteries in Poland, and paid local workers involved in the research between 2007 and 2020, the paper evaluates the ways in which the research impacted different stakeholders over time, and how these stakeholders influenced the archaeological research in return.