World War II skull found in Ulestraten, The Netherlands
In March 2008, a skull was discovered in Ulestraten (The Netherlands). The human remains, along with live ammunition, were found in the woods by playing children. According to online sources, the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) confirmed that the skull dates back to World War II and likely belongs to a German soldier. The police suspect the remains were dug up by a collector.
Study Group Missing Soldier shares this suspicion and believes that remains were left near the original discovery site. This suspicion stems from the fact that a German artillery position (probably Heeresgruppe B, 6th Armee) was located at the site during World War II.
Disapproval
First of all, Study Group Missing Soldier strongly condemns the disposal of the human remains! It would have been better to report this during the initial discovery. Unprofessional recovery of the person could have resulted in the loss of important clues. The field grave is certainly irreparably damaged, and we suspect that items such as the identification tag, personal belongings, and standard personal equipment may have been removed.
Worse still, live ammunition was also left behind (three live hand grenades, according to most sources). This could have been disastrous for the children. A hand grenade, even after all these years, is still extremely dangerous.
This discovery has piqued our interest. The Study Group Missing Soldier would like to investigate the forest area further.
Research 2008
Sunday – September 28th, 2008;
An e-mail is sent to the general e-mail address of the Region Limburg-South Police. In this e-mail the following questions were asked to the police corps;
> Is metal detection research carried out on and in the direct vicinity of the site just after the discovery?
> Is it allowed for Study Group Missing Soldier to, in cooperation with the police, perform a “verification search” on site?
Monday September 29th, 2008;
An acknowledgment of the Region Limburg-South police with information that our request has been forwarded to Region Heuvelland.
Reply
Tuesday December 16th, 2008;
Until this date, no response. It’s almost three months later and perhaps our request ended up at the bottom of the “more urgent requests” pile. We decide to again draw attention to our requests by responding to the earlier received acknowledgement e-mail.
Wednesday December 17th, 2008;
07:15 – An acknowledgment from the Region Limburg-South police, with information that our request has been forwarded to Region Heuvelland again.
10:00 – The phone rings and a private number appears in the display. It’s a employee from Region Heuvelland Police with apologies for the fact that Study Group Missing Soldier wasn’t contacted after the first request. The gentleman is able to tell that the hand grenades are certainly from World War II, but the skull is definitely not! According to his information, the skull is from the War against Spain (80-year War (1568-1648)). That war is not our goal. With this message, Study Group Missing Soldier will no longer put effort in further investigating this skull.
16:00 – Again, the phone shows a private number on the display. Again it’s a employee from Region Heuvelland police, with the apologies that Study Group Missing Soldier wasn’t contacted after the first request. According to this man the grenades found are from World War II, but the skull is certainly not!. The skull was reconstructed by a hobbyist and was definitely not much older than 40 years. That must have been around 1970. A quick calculation provides a difference of at least 322 years with the four hours earlier told story about the Spain War! Again, we indicate that the 70’s are not our goal.
A number of questions begin to arise;
1) Who discards a 320-year-old skull together with World War II grenades in a plastic bag in a forest?
2) Why do internet publications report stories about a German World War II skull?
3) Who reconstructs a 40 years old skull?
4) Why is there at least 322 years difference between two stories of people, apparently working in the same department?
In short: Our research is still in full swing.
Research 2009
Friday January 30th, 2009;
Due to the fact that Region Heuvelland Police could give no clear answer about the exact era the skull was from, we decide to contact the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI). Of course we hope for a positive response from the NFI. After research on their Internet site, we can’t find any information about the skull from Ulestraten.
In the e-mail, we ask whether the NFI can give answers about the time period of the skull. We also mention that we had contacted the local police, and indicate that their answer was not entirely satisfactory. Also we provide some details of what our foundation does.
Project closed – Tuesday January 17th, 2009
We receive an e-mail from the Dutch Forensic Institute with the message that they do not provide any information on investigations. They advise us to contact the police or the ministry.
This is what Study Group Missing Soldier was afraid of. We understand that information regarding research content will not be shared. But; if you don’t try, you’ve got a “no” for sure….