Investigations at the Heereskraftfahrpark (HKP) 562 Forced-Labor Camp in Vilnius, Lithuania

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Overall, a solidly prepared case study research paper. A well-composed body of non-invasive methods was used. Very interesting insights into the implemented study (particular area) and reasonable generalisation conclusions were presented.

The strength of the paper is the wide range of non-invasive methods, GPR, ERT, UAV, juxtaposed with archival (architectural designs) and descriptive (testimonies of historical witnesses) documentation.

A weakness is the graphical presentation of the research results. The large number of figures and maps is welcome, but these figures need refinement. Map figures are generally too small, overloaded with content and occur without proper context. Good maps should help reades in orienting and understanding presented phenomena. Unfortunatelly, bad maps can spoil your valuable effort. I think Prof. Cesnulevicius or someone from the Vilnius University Department of Cartography and Geomatics (http://kc.gf.vu.lt/) could provide consultation for the graphic-mapping side.

The reader should be told which data presented are historical and which are contemporary. Photographs of buildings or ERT scanning cross-sections are explained on maps appearing a few pages away - this makes it difficult for the reader to properly orient themselves and understand the content presented. Side-by-side images (photo & map, ERT sections & map) would solve the issue.

It would be recommended (although not obligatory) to add a subsection describing cartographic archives (maps and aerial photographs) showing the study area during the Second World War and to compare it with current situation. Relevant online repositories are indicated in the review commentary.

Detailed suggestions added as comments in PDF. I hope these would help to improve the clarity of the research presented.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your very useful and well thought out comments and suggestions.  Most have been incorporated into a new version of the text and figures.  Regarding the figures, figure 1 was reworked and the text was made much clearer.  The figure was intended to show the location of Vilnius within Lithuania, the boundaries of Vilnius, where the old city and ghettos were located, and the general layout of the ghettos.  We discussed adding Lat/long information and decided that the intent of the figure was to show these general relationships, and not precise locations that were locatable with coordinates. So, parts of the figure were reworked, but the coordinates were not added.  Regarding figure 2 and 3, they were indeed very tedious and contained too much information.  It was decided to eliminate these figures and add one new figure that contains the needed information about Ponary to link it to the text.  So, the new figure 2 shows the location of the six memorialized pits, the 12 ERT lines, the previously unknown burial pit, and the trajectory of the escape tunnel.  The previous figures that depicted the drone image and historical photo were reworked as well.  Information was extracted from the drone image and place on a 2021 Google Earth satellite image, and the historic photo was added to the new figure as well.  This is now figure 3.  Figure 4 now is a photo of the GPR data collection process and figure 5 is a photo of the ERT data collection process.  Figure 6 is the ERT profiles, but as suggested a vertical and horizontal scale were added.  Figure 8 depicts the drawing of the malinas, but the text on the figure was changed, as suggested, to use the word malina in lower case to be consistent with how it is used in the text of the article.  What is now figure 9 was reworked as well and the text is now larger and clearer. 

Regarding the comments and suggestions about the text part of the article, most of the suggestions were adopted from the review itself, or from the comments provided in the PDF.  As noted above, many of the figures were redrafted based on the suggestions provided.  In several cases, figures were combined.  In the text, it was made more clear what data were collected by the authors and what data came from historical sources.  A section was also added that dealt with the sources for the cartographic data and information. Efforts were made to also better link text with related figures and to do this in a way that the text and figure are in close proximity to each other.  Based on comments made in a PDF copy of the article, references were added more the geophysical techniques, equipment and software.  The comments from the PDF about figures are dealt with above.

Thank you for your comments.  They were very helpful to improve the article.

Reviewer 2 Report

The text is very interesting and well structured. The research methodology is correct.

1/ My comment concerns the use of the abbreviation HKP in the title without explanation. We find this explanation in keywords. Please enter the full name of this abbreviation at the beginning of the manuscript and then it can be used further.

2/ My second doubt concerns the word "malina", the word is lowercase in the text (line 189, 328) and uppercase in the figures. Please unify this entry.

Author Response

Thank you for your comments.  I made both suggested changes.

Thanks again!