UW-Eau Claire research team featured in National Geographic and BBC documentaries

But this is a first: Dr. Harry Jol, professor of geography, and a team of research students are featured in a National Geographic documentary that highlights the team’s use of ground-penetrating radar to locate mass graves of the Holocaust at sites across Eastern Europe.

Streaming on the National Geographic channel since mid-September, “The Hidden Holocaust” features several scenes and interviews depicting Jol’s ongoing research project called The Holocaust Mapping Program, work he and students have been conducting for more than seven years in places like Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, along with other locations in the former Soviet Union.

Jol’s ongoing research has been funded through the International Fellows Program at UW-Eau Claire, the L.E. Phillips Family Foundation and University Foundation donor Jeff Liddicoat. Jol's work also has been supported by numerous in-country partners, such as the Jews in Latvia Museum and the Uniting Foundation of Latvia.

“This National Geographic documentary is actually drawn from a different documentary by the BBC, called ‘How the Holocaust Began,’” Jol explains.

This earlier film includes the team working in additional sites and with a strong focus on the tragic story from Alytus, Lithuania, where a suspected 8,000 people were executed in mass burial pits in the woods outside the town.

“None of the sites we work on are ever excavated, but the radar imagery allows for estimates of death tolls,” Jol says. “The story that eventually unfolded is truly unimaginable.”

The specific footage featuring the UW-Eau Claire team in the National Geographic and BBC films was shot in 2022, and the American research team that summer included:

• Dr. Harry Jol, professor of geography at UW-Eau Claire.
• Joe Beck, graduate of UW-Eau Claire with a degree in comprehensive environmental geography.
• Delia Ihinger, graduate of UW-Eau Claire with a degree in geography.
• Taylor Phillips, graduate of UW-Eau Claire with a degree in geospatial analysis and technology.
• Tristan Wirkus, graduate of UW-Eau Claire with a degree in geospatial analysis and technology.
• Michael Barrow, graduate of UW-Eau Claire with a degree in environmental geography.
• Isabel Radtke, graduate of UW-Eau Claire with a degree in special education and inclusive practices.
• Bri Jol, graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College with a degree in biology/environmental studies.
• Dr. Phil Reeder, dean of environmental science at Duquesne University.
• Caroline Hayes, mathematics major with minors in computer science, leadership and Judeo-Christian studies at Christopher Newport University.
• Mikaela Martinez Dettinger, graduate of Christopher Newport University with a degree in political science and philosophy with a concentration in religious studies, and graduate student in Jewish studies at Indiana University.

The impact on undergraduates from research experiences like Jol's ongoing projects is impossible to overstate — these are simply life-changing experiences on an academic, pre-professional and personal level. Dr. Erica Benson, executive director of UW-Eau Claire's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, has witnessed the growth of these students directly in the grant reviewing process.

"The work in Central and Eastern Europe that Dr. Jol engages UWEC undergraduates in not only has deep historical significance but also is incredibly meaningful for all involved," Benson says.

"For several years, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs has provided support to students working with Dr. Jol, both during the summer while they are in the field and during the academic year when they are analyzing and writing up their findings. Three things stand out about the students that work with Dr. Jol: the amount of work they put into writing their grant proposals, the amount of time and effort they devote to their projects and the variety of majors the students have. It's rewarding to be able to support this work."

Impact on former student researchers

For former student researcher Tristan Wirkus, seeing the research and the discoveries make their way to such an accessible platform as National Geographic is exciting and gratifying.

“This and other documentaries are taking the hard facts we learned through the research and launching it out into the world,” Wirkus says. “While it may be unpleasant to learn the details, people must recognize that the Holocaust wasn't just in the concentration camps as part of the ‘Final Solution.’ Knowing how it really started in these hidden pockets of Europe is invaluable in a world where tensions can rise and history must never repeat itself.” 

Wirkus graduated in May 2025 and now works for the land records division of Sawyer County in Hayward.

Another former researcher on the 2022 summer team is Delia Ihinger, a May 2024 graduate now working for the city of Blaine, Minnesota, in their geographic information system department. She, too, is very glad to see this important history disseminated by National Geographic and the BBC, outlets with a much more popular reach than academia and traditional research publications.

“That's why this project, and others like it, are so important. These stories deserve to be found and told, these people deserve the respect that they did not get in their deaths,” Ihinger says.

“It’s gratifying to know that our work is able to reach more people through this documentary release and that the project continues into the future. Being part of this project was not what you would call a ‘normal’ college experience, but I'm so glad I got to be part of something so big, something that truly matters. It really was a huge part of my college career.”

Jol and a team of students will return next year to Eastern Europe, where sadly, there are more Holocaust discoveries to be made.

Top photo caption: Isabel Radtke taking 3D visualization of a field site, while Michael Barrow and Caroline Hayes collect ground-penetrating radar data on a mass burial site in Kaunas, Lithuania.

The 2022 student team created a blog of their work and experiences, which can be found in StoryMaps 2022 - Eastern Europe Holocaust Research.

All of Jol’s research history and dissemination of findings can be found on his professional website.