Looters have dug up mass graves belonging to Jewish WWII holocaust victims in the hunt for treasure, MailOnline can reveal.

The museum at the Sobibór Nazi death camp in south-east Poland, where up to 300,000 Jews were executed, found the sites have been disturbed by suspected gold hunters within the last two years.

A museum source told MailOnline: 'There has been a big archaeological project going on, but when we started excavating we discovered that people had already been digging near to where the gas chamber had been in Camp Three.'

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Mass graves: Museum staff at Sobibór Nazi death camp found that mass graves of Holocaust victims' had been disturbed during an archaeological dig. Pictured, an excavated grave reveals skull with a bullet hole

Silver: Archaeologists excavating graves at Sobibór found personal items including set of silver-plated false teeth, believed to be from an adult male. Sobibór was set up in March when the Final Solution was agreed

'We found lots of pits which were nothing to do with us and clearly weren't professionally dug by scientists.

'We don't know who did it, but we suspect they were looking for gold or metal.'

'The idea that thieves have been here looking for such disturbing mementos is truly shocking.'

Official museum excavations have recovered a number of personal items belonging to the victims including a set of silver-plated dentures.

Sobibor was set up in March and April 1942 as soon as the Final Solution was agreed upon.

By the time it closed in October 1943 between 160,000 and 300,000 men, women and children had been murdered there.

Skull: Jews from across Europe were transported by rail to be gassed by the Nazis in Sobibor. Historians estimate up to 300,000 men, women and children were murdered there by the time it closed in October 1943

Shocking: American-Polish historian Jan Gross, author of controversial book 'Golden Harvest', claims Poles dug for valuables on the sites of Nazi death camps at the end of WWII

It is not the first time Holocaust victims' graves have been plundered in Poland.

American-Polish historian Jan Gross, author of controversial book 'Golden Harvest', claims Poles dug for valuables on the sites of Nazi death camps at the end of WWII.

The now infamous Treblinka gold rush saw hundreds of Poles and Russian soldiers raid mass graves in search for gold teeth in the skulls of those murdered by the Nazis.

Jews took money and valuables on their final journey hoping they would survive, which fuelled an economic boom around the camp as locals lined up to sell water to the desperate death camp inmates water as they arrived off the train.

Girls came from as far as Warsaw to prostitute themselves to the Nazi guards in exchange for gold, diamonds and other valuables stolen from the Jews before they were sent to the gas chamber.

The photo that inspired the tome is of a group of peasants and soldiers casually taking a break from digging, at their feet a pile of skulls and bones.

While the origins of the undated photo, which was first published by a Polish newspaper in 2008, are unclear, the gold rush phenomenon revealed by Gross and his wife Irena Grudzinska Gross is well documented.

In an essay for Tablet Magazine, Gross cites writer Rachela Auerbach who visited Treblinka in November 1945, as part of an official delegation organized by the Main Commission for the Investigation of Hitlerite Crimes and described how how plunderers with shovels were everywhere. She wrote, 'They dig, they search, pulling out bones and body parts. Maybe something could still be found...maybe a golden tooth?'

Plundered: Undated photo provided by historian Gross purportedly shows Polish villagers searching for gold and other treasures among human remains at Treblinka

Horror: Human remains at Treblinka where Gross claims Polish peasants dug up human remains after the war

Humiliated: Gross said, 'Non-Jews were subjected to a horrible degree of violence by the Nazi occupiers and there is a very prominent phenomenon of resistance on a unique scale.' Pictured , a Jewish man humiliated by a Nazi guard

Horrors: A wooden model of the Treblinka concentration camp was used in the trial of Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk who served as a camp guard nicknamed Ivan the Terrible at Treblinka

Murdered: By the time it was closed in 1943, 700,000 and 900,000 Jews and around 2,000 Romani people were killed in Treblinka's gas chambers. Here, detainees are forced to work

Exploited: Poles sold Treblinka death camp arrivals water arriving off the train. Girls prostituted themselves to Nazi guards in exchange for treasures stolen from the Jews before they were sent to the gas chambers

When I saw people near the train for the first time I thought that they came out with a noble intent to feed the hungry and bring water to the thirsty. But I was quickly told that this was regular commercial activity, selling water and food at very profitable prices. When there was no liquor (to bribe the guards), girls would come forward, put arms around their necks and cover them with kisses – anything in order to be able to come close to the wagons. Jerzy Królikowski, Treblinka witness

Gross cites the testimony of Warsaw native and engineer Jerzy Królikowski, who lived in the village of Treblinka while supervising construction of a railroad bridge nearby, who recalled how 'wrist watches were sold by the dozens, for pennies, and local peasants carried them in egg baskets offering them to whomever was interested.'

Poland suffered more than any other nation during World War Two after being invaded by both the Nazis and Soviets and heroic Polish deeds — like the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 against Nazi rule — are a foundation of the national identity, while the state has regularly bestowed honours on Christian Poles who risked their lives to hide Jews from the Nazis.

The Nazis erected four single purpose extermination camps in the country - Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec and Chelmno.

Mr Gross said: 'Plundering Jewish property was an important element of the circulation of goods, an element of economic life, and thus a social fact, not an incidental behaviour of demoralised individuals.'

Opened in July 1942, before it was closed down just over a year later in October 1943 it is estimated that between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were killed in its gas chambers, and around 2,000 Romani people.

Of all the Nazi death camps set up in German occupied Poland, only Auschwitz killed more Jews than Treblinka.

According to Mr Gross, the Poles in the photograph were searching for gold or other treasures that Nazi executioners might have overlooked.

Remembrance: Heroic Polish deeds — like the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 against Nazi rule — are a foundation of the national identity, while the State has bestowed honours on Christian Poles who risked their lives to hide Jews from the Nazis. Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski (R) and German President Christian Wulff walk through the gates of Auschwitz as they mark the 66th anniversary of the liberation

Sadistic: As one of the most feared commanders at the Treblinka Death Camp, SS Officer Kurt Hubert Franz, survivors testified he would personally kill someone every day and commanded his dog to bite the testicals of prisoners

But Mr Gross said he wanted to 'tell the war as it happened'.

'Non-Jews were subjected to a horrible degree of violence by the Nazi occupiers and there is a very prominent phenomenon of resistance on a unique scale,' he said.

'But alongside the heroism there was also malfeasance, and one finds that these stories run in parallel. There was a significant degree of collusion and persecution of Jews when it proves a material advantage.'

Mr Gross is currently facing prosecution by the Polish State after an article he wrote for Die Welt newspaper in Germany last month said that Poles killed 'more Jews than Germans during the war.'

The latest discoveries in Sobibor have once again opened old wounds.

Poland-based organisation, Matzeva, which works to preserve Jewish heritage in Poland, has found Jewish tombstones being used as paving slabs, a cowshed and even an outside toilet.

In the village of Pilica in central east Poland, researchers found slabs of stone, some clearly marked with Hebrew writing and some dating back to the 18th century, which had been taken from the local Jewish cemetery at the end of World War II.

Lena Klaudel from Matzeva told MailOnline: 'These tombstones were stolen.

Violated: Poland-based charity, Matzeva, which preserves Jewish heritage in Poland, has found Jewish tombstones being used as paving slabs and to build a cowshed and an outside toilet (pictured) in the country

Discovery: In the Polish village of Pilica researchers found slabs of stone, clearly marked with Hebrew writing and some dating back to the 18th century, taken from the local Jewish cemetery at the end of World War II

Shocking: Researchers found local farmer Tadeusz (pictured) had built a cowshed from Jewish tombstones taken from the local cemetery. They claim he agreed to sell the shed for 20,000 Polish Zloty (£5,000 GBP)

'The house with its outside toilet was owned by a couple who built it after the war.

'After they died they left it to their children, but they have no interest in the place and it has been left to fall into ruin.'

Just 35 miles away, researchers found a local farmer had built an entire cowshed out of tombstones taken from the local Jewish cemetery.

Jonny Daniels from partner organisation From The Depths said: 'He stole them from the local jewish cemetery, and has apparently become a local 'celebrity' for doing so.

'We have been told he even charges money or a bottle of vodka to come and see them.

'On the times we have been there to try and talk to him about removing them and returning them to where they rightfully belong he has been adamant to sell the shed to us, he wants 20,000 PLN (about £5,000).

The groups have also documented a house where the former owners had used over 70 tombstones from Jewish graves to make paving stones after the owner reported the find.

'His parents bought the home from a guy who had stolen the tombstones to build the pavement.

Disrespect: Former owners of a house in Wabrzezno used over 70 tombstones from Jewish graves to make paving stones. Researchers were alerted by new owner, a fire chief

Theft: The law regarding Jewish cemeteries was 'complicated' and ownership and legal responsibility depends on a number of factors making it difficult to recover stolen tombstones.



'In Warsaw, the largest Jewish cemetery, Brudno, used to have 400,000 graves. Now there is less than 3,000.'

Some of those gravestones were found in the Vistula river in August this year by a man walking his dog.

It is believed they were taken from the cemetery at the end of WWII to help reinforce the river banks.

Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, Monika Krawczyk, told MailOnline that the law regarding Jewish cemeteries was 'complicated' and ownership and legal responsibility depended on a number of factors.

In an email she explained that although some cemeteries belonged to Jewish communities in Poland after being handed over by the government, others remained in the hands of local authorities.

She added: 'Matzevot [tombstones] which were removed - the Jewish community cannot claim them in legal terms.

'The Polish authorities made sure that the law of 1997 provided that there is no succession of the pre-war Jewish communities and communities of today.

'This prohibits any organised actions in this level (sic).

'The only thing we do is to appeal for return (sic) of the matzevot or their fragments to the cemeteries based on moral standards. We do not buy them, nor look for them.

'But we announce, especially once we manage to restore a cemetery, that it is good opportunity sic) now to return them,' she said.