LONDON archaeology volunteers are needed to help uncover victims of Romanian Communist secret services massacre. Drastic governmental budget cuts means the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania is in danger of having to cease its work.

LONDON archaeology volunteers are needed to help uncover victims of Romanian Communist secret services massacre. Drastic governmental budget cuts means the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania is in danger of having to cease its work in finding the victims of a murderous regime and is therefore calling for the help of international volunteers.

Founded by the historian Marius Oprea the institute's work largely consists of finding unmarked graves of people murdered by the Communist secret services in the 1960's. Over 10,000 Romanians were executed by the regime's Securitate during four decades of Communist rule. The victims were executed in isolated places and buried in shallow graves without proper Christian rites and without their family's knowledge.

The institute needs help at the end of March and start of April with the excavation of a common grave on Muntele Mare in the Apuseni Mountains in Romania . This is where a resistance camp consisting of five anti-communist fighters, including a pregnant woman, was stormed by the communist secret service forces in the 1960's. They were murdered and buried together. The project will be filmed for a documentary by the Czech Republic's National TV station.

Volunteers will help with the digging, cleaning of objects found, recording of proceedings and interviewing family members. The work will be physically and emotionally demanding, but is said to be highly rewarding as tragic personal stories are unearthed and a truth kept hidden for decades is uncovered.