70 bodies of victims, killed by Nazis, found in mass graves under Austrian football pitch

The graves were identified from wartime photos, made from US bombers, showing open graves and bodies.

Police Col. Rudolf Gollia, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Affairs, said the ministry is planning to discuss exhumation with the owners of the site.

The mass graves are located in bomb craters underneath the army sports field. Officials said they contain about 70 bodies of victims murdered by the SS to eliminate witnesses to Nazi atrocities shortly before Soviet troops arrived. Some of the remains may be the bodies of US pilots shot down and imprisoned during the war.

According to a statement on the website of the Austrian army, up to 219 people were said to be massacred at the site, but many were moved by the officer, who were in charge of the facility during the war, as he was afraid that he would be found responsible for the slaughtering. The exhumation and reburials had not been completed, because of the approach of the Soviet Army.