Polish city to pull Jewish gravestones from WW2 lake

This beautiful lake in the Polish city of Poznan has a dark history.

A story of Nazi forced labour and the use of Jewish gravestones in its construction.

The lakebed and banks of Rusalka Lake were reinforced with fragments of gravestones and markers from Jewish cemeteries during its construction.

It was completed in 1943

Now activists hope the government will restore dignity to those that died from forced labour and the gravestones taken from their resting places by creating a memorial to the city's Jewish citizens killed during World War Two.

One activist who has been campaigning for the gravestones' recovery, said the labourers, who were mostly Jews often died of exhaustion during the lake's construction.

(SOUNDBITE) (Polish) ACTIVIST INVOLVED IN RECOVERY OF GRAVESTONES, MACIEJ KRAJEWSKI, SAYING:

"From the beginning, the Germans designed Lake Rusalka with the use of tombstones to strengthen the lakebed and banks. Every morning, groups of Jews gathered in the sub-camps were rushed to this exhausting and murderous work. Some of them died on the spot, some returned to the camps, and so on, every day. One can only imagine how cruel it was for them, not only to have to do this murderous work, but also to line the lake with tombstones and matzevot from their sacred place, which is the cemetery."

Recovery efforts are set to begin in December.

They will start by using sonar to ascertain the number of gravestones in the lake.

The next step will be to work out how the gravestones can be recovered without disturbing the lake's ecosystem.

The plan is to work with the local Jewish community to create a memorial, possibly at the lake itself.