 |
Polish historian Andrzej Kunert.
|
|
|
WARSAW (AFP)---Historians are set to publish an online list of some of the estimated six million Polish citizens who died at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War II, a project coordinator said Tuesday.
"The list will be posted in coming days at www.stratyosobowe.pl, and will initially contain 1.9 million names. There will also be an appeal to Internet users to provide us with extra details," Polish historian Andrzej Kunert told AFP.
Around six million Poles are believed to have died during the 1939-1945 Nazi occupation of their country. The figure includes some three million Jewish Poles, who made up half of the overall victims of the Holocaust.
The Internet list, which is the result of three years of painstaking research and comparison of different databases, ranges from Holocaust victims, Poles who died in combat in the resistance at home and fighting the Nazis under Allied command, to civilian victims of German reprisals.
The next step, Kunert said, is to expand the list to at least 3.5 million names, notably via more research in Germany's archives.
But the 10-year project could end up listing still more names, he said.
The Internet project is financed by Poland's culture ministry and the Institute of National Remembrance, set up in 1998 to investigate historical crimes.