Spanish Civil War - Mass grave - Estépar, Burgos

A mass grave is a

grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

containing multiple

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, although an exact definition is not unanimously agreed upon. Mass graves are usually created after many people die or are killed, and there is a desire to bury the corpses quickly for sanitation concerns. Although mass graves can be used during major conflicts such as war and

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

, in modern times they may be used after a

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accom ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

, or natural disaster. In

disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

s, mass graves are used for

infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable d ...

and

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

control. In such cases, there is often a breakdown of the social infrastructure that would enable proper identification and disposal of individual bodies.

History

Mass or communal burial was a common practice before the development of a dependable crematory chamber by Ludovico Brunetti in 1873. In ancient Rome waste and dead bodies of the

poor Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income< ...

were dumped into mass graves called '' puticuli.'' In Paris, the practice of mass burial, and in particular, the condition of the

Cimetière des Innocents The Holy Innocents' Cemetery (French: Cimetière des Saints-Innocents or Cimetière des Innocents) is a defunct cemetery in Paris that was used from the Middle Ages until the late 18th century. It was the oldest and largest cemetery in Paris and h ...

, led

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

to eliminate Parisian cemeteries. The remains were removed and placed in the Paris underground forming the early

Catacombs Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred ...

. ''Le Cimetière des Innocents'' alone had 6,000,000 dead to remove. Burial commenced outside the city limits in what is now

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...

War

Mongol Invasion of Kievan Rus'

A mass grave containing at least 300 bodies of victims of a

Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered Kievan Rus' in the 13th century, destroying numerous southern cities, including the largest cities, Kiev (50,000 inhabitants) and Chernihiv (30,000 inhabitants), with the only major cities escaping destr ...

in the year 1238, was discovered during an excavation in 2005, in Yaroslavl, Russia.

Thirty Years' War

The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

, in the 17th century, was Europe's deadliest religious conflict. In the Battle of Lützen, 47 soldiers perished and were buried in a mass grave.

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

and osteological analyses found that the soldiers ranged in age from 15–50 years. Most corpses had evidence of blunt force trauma to the head while seven men had stabbing injuries. Most of the soldiers died from gunshot wounds inflicted by pistols and cavalry carbines.

Napoleonic Wars

Several mass graves have been discovered that were the result of Napoleonic battles, mass graves were dug for expeditious disposal of deceased soldiers and horses. Often soldiers would plunder the substantial quantity of corpses prior to burial. Generally the mass graves were dug by soldiers or members of logistical corps. If these weren't available, the corpses would be left to rot or would be burned. Such examples have been found scattered throughout Europe.

Spanish Civil War

There are over 2,000 known mass graves throughout

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

from the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

wherein an estimated 500,000 people died between 1936 and 1939, and approximately 135,000 were killed after the war ended. Exhumations are ongoing. Some are conducted on the basis of information given in witnesses' and relatives' testimonies to the '' Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica'' (ARMH). These testimonies serve the purpose of helping

geophysicists Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

and

forensic scientists Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...

to locate graves in order to identify bodies and allow families to rebury their relatives. In the summer of 2008, information from these testimonies was used to unearth a 4 meter long square grave containing five skeletons near the town of San Juan del Monte. These five remains are believed to be of people that were kidnapped and killed after the July 18, 1936 military coup. Another mass grave from the

was found using

Ground Penetrating Radar Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a Geophysics, geophysical method that uses radar pulses to Geophysical imaging, image the subsurface. It is a non-intrusive method of surveying the sub-surface to investigate underground utilities such as concrete, ...

(GPR). Eyewitness accounts identified two potential locations for an unmarked grave in mountains of Lena in Northern Spain. Both sites were examined and an unmarked mass grave of approximately 1 meter by 5 meters was found.

2nd Sino Japanese War

Korean War

Approximately 100,000–200,000 civilians were killed at the start of the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

. These people were flagged by the government of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

for potentially collaborating with or sympathizing with

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

. They were arrested and subsequently executed without trial. The sites where the massacres occurred were forbidden to the public. The bodies were considered to be traitors and the act of associating with them was considered treasonous. Despite this, families retrieved bodies from the shallow forbidden mass graves at the massacre sites. In 1956, bereaved families and villagers exhumed over 100 decomposed and unidentifiable bodies, ensuring that the complete human skeleton was intact. Each exhumed body was buried in its own "nameless grave" in a cemetery on Jeju Island. There is a granite memorial within the cemetery which bears the cemetery's local name, "Graves of One Hundred Ancestors and One Descendant." This name functions to express the opposite of how the genealogy should be as typically many descendants derive from one ancestor.

1973 Chilean coup d'état

The Chilean military coup against President

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the firs ...

occurred on September 11, 1973. The military surrounded the town of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

and searched for people hiding in potential guerilla insurgent locations. Civilians were detained for long periods of time and some disappeared. Following the coup, bodies were abundant in the streets and in the

Mapocho River The River Mapocho ( es, Río Mapocho) ( Mapudungun: ''Mapu chuco'', "water that penetrates the land") is a river in Chile. It flows from its source in the Andes mountains onto the west and divides Chile's capital Santiago in two. Course The Mapo ...

. It is estimated that 3,200 people were executed or disappeared between 1973 and 1990 in Chile. Higher estimates are up to 4,500 people. These bodies were taken to morgues to be identified and claimed. Unidentified bodies were buried in marked mass graves. From this conflict, several hidden mass graves have been identified. In December 1978, 15 bodies were discovered in an abandoned limestone mine in

Lonquén Lonquén (Mapudungun for "on the low lands") is a town in Chile, located between the communities of Talagante and Isla de Maipo, within the Metropolitan Region of Santiago. History In pre-Columbian times, Lonquén was occupied by the cultures ...

. In October 1979, 19 bodies were exhumed after being secretly buried at the cemetery of Yumbel. Mass graves were also identified in Santiago's General Cemetery with multiple bodies being forced into a single coffin. This cemetery had an influx of over 300 bodies within a three-month time span. These mass graves were distinguished by a cross with the initials "NN." "NN" is indicative of the phrase "'' Nomen Nescio''" or "''no name''." Following extensive media coverage of these mass graves, the Chilean military decided to exhume the bodies from

, Yumbel, and Santiago's General Cemetery. The military airdropped the exhumed bodies over open water or remote mountain locations.

Turkish Invasion of Cyprus

Many mass graves of both

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and

Greek Cypriots Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 ...

were found in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

after Turkey invaded the island in 1974. On August 3, 14

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 ...

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatan ...

s were executed and buried in a mass grave. In

Eptakomi Eptakomi ( gr, Επτακώμη, tr, Yedikonuk) is a village in Cyprus, located on the Karpas Peninsula. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Nor ...

were found in a mass grave executed with their hands tied. On the other hand, during the Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre, 126

Turkish Cypriots Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,0 ...

including elderly people and children were murdered by

EOKA B EOKA-B () was a Greek Cypriot paramilitary organisation formed in 1971 by General Georgios Grivas ("Digenis"). It followed an ultra right-wing nationalistic ideology and had the ultimate goal of achieving the ''enosis'' (union) of Cyprus wi ...

and the inhabitants of the three villages were buried in mass graves with a

bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous trac ...

. The villagers of

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

and Santalaris, 84 to 89 people in total, were buried in the same grave. Mass graves were used to bury Turkish Cypriot victims of Tochni massacre too.

1976 Argentine coup d'état

On March 24, 1976 at 3:21 AM, the media told the people of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

that the country was now under the "operational control of the Junta of General Commanders of the Armed Forces." This event and years following it became known as the 1976 Argentine coup d'état. President

Isabel Perón Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas, 4 February 1931), also known as Isabelita, is an Argentine politician who served as President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the first female republican heads ...

had been taken captive two hours prior to the media announcement. The new dictatorship implemented travel bans, public gatherings, and a nighttime curfew. Additionally, the new dictatorship resulted in widespread violence, leading to executions and casualties. Abducted captives were disposed of in one of the five defense zones within Argentina where they were held. The bodies were typically buried in individual marked anonymous graves. Three mass graves are known to exist on Argentinian police and military premises although other bodies were disposed of through

cremation Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre ...

or by being airdropped over the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. Approximately 15,000 people are estimated to have been assassinated. Argentina's largest mass grave's exhumation began in March 1984 at the San Vicente Cemetery in Cordoba. The grave was 3.5 meters deep and 25 by 2.5 meters across. It contained approximately 400 bodies. Of the recovered and exhumed bodies, 123 were of young people violently killed during the 1976–1983

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

. The remaining bodies were identified as older and having died nonviolent deaths such as

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve da ...

Vietnam War

Many mass graves were discovered during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. In the fall of 1969, the body count unearthed from these mass graves was around 2,800. The victims buried in these mass graves included government officials, innocent civilians, women and children. They were tortured, executed and in some cases, buried alive. In Quang Ngai, a mass grave of 10 soldiers was discovered on December 28, 2011. These soldiers were buried alongside their belongings including wallets, backpacks, guns, ammunition, mirrors, and combs. Other larger mass graves of Vietnamese soldiers are believed to exist, with hundreds of soldiers in each grave.

Second Libyan Civil War

The

Second Libyan Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Second Libyan Civil War , partof = the Arab Winter, Libyan Crisis, Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, War on terror, and Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict , image ...

that began in 2014 is a proxy war between the UN-recognized

Government of National Accord The Government of National Accord ( ar, حكومة الوفاق الوطني) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. T ...

(GNA) of Fayez al-Sarraj and the

Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libyan Armed Forces, Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Fiel ...

(LNA) of the militia leader Khalifa Haftar. In 2020, the GNA ousted the forces of Haftar, who is backed by the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, and captured

Tarhuna Tarhuna (; ar, ترهونة), also Tarhoona or Tarhunah, is a Libyan town to the southeast of Tripoli, in the Murqub District. The city derives its name from that of its pre-Roman-era inhabitants, a Berber tribe. The city was known as al-Bo ...

. The GNA discovered mass graves in the Harouda farm of the town that was under the control of the Kaniyat militiamen, who allied with Haftar in 2019. For a decade, the Kaniyat militia brutalized and killed more than a thousand civilians, where around 650 were murdered in 14 months under the UAE-backed Haftar forces. Thousands of holes were dug by government workers, where 120 bodies recovered. The unearthed remains were used by the families to identify the missing members and only 59 bodies were claimed. Survivors reported that the Kaniyat militia aligned with the UAE-backed Haftar tortured or electrocuted them. Many also reported being beaten by the militia.

Mass killings

Rwandan Genocide

View over Nyabarongo River - Where Tutsi Victims Were Thrown in 1994 - Outside Kigali - Rwanda

The

Rwandan Genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

began after the unsolved death of the Rwandan president, Juvénal Habyarimana, on April 6, 1994. Extremist members of the

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the pr ...

government formed an interim wartime government. They called for an extermination of the

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic gr ...

population, Hutu political opponents and Hutu whom resisted the violence. The genocide lasted 100 days and resulted in an estimated 800,000 killings. Rwandan people sought refuge in gathering places such as churches and stadiums. An estimated 4,000–6,000 people gathered in Kibuye Catholic Church. Around April 17, 1994, the church was surrounded by armed

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

and gendarmes. Those inside were attacked with a variety of weapons including

grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade g ...

s, guns, and

machete Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca uses a machete to carve wood. ...

s. Survivors of the attack were sought after and killed in the following days. Burial of these bodies took place in at least four mass graves. The first mass grave resulting from this attack was discovered behind the church where several bodies were left unburied and scattered. In December 1995,

surveyed the area and flagged any potential human remains. In January 1996, forensic anthropologists located and exhumed 53 skeletal assemblages. A second mass grave was found under a tree marked with wire, indicating a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...

. Below the tree was a trench filled with multiple bodies. The third and fourth mass graves were found using a probe to test for deteriorating remains. The third grave was marked by the local population, similar to the second grave. The fourth grave was identified by a priest. Throughout the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

, bodies were buried in mass graves, left exposed, or disposed of through rivers. At least 40,000 bodies have been discovered in

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

which connects to Akagera River.

Khmer Rouge Genocide

Mass grave mapping teams have located 125

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 197 ...

prison facilities and corresponding gravesites to date in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

while researching the Killing Fields. These mass graves are believed by villagers to possess tutelary spirits and signify the dead bodies becoming one with the earth.

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

rituals, which were taboo at the time, were performed in the 1980s which transformed the anonymous bodies into "spirits of the departed." In the 1990s, religious ceremonies were re-established and the Festival of the Dead was celebrated annually.

Holocaust

The Mittelbau camps held about 60,000 prisoners of

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

between August 1943 and March 1945. Conservative estimates assume that at least 20,000 inmates perished at the

Mittelbau-Dora Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour ...

concentration camp. In early April 1945, an unknown number of prisoners perished in

death marches A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...

following the evacuation of prisoners from Mittelbau camps to

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentr ...

in northern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. In April 1945, U.S. soldiers liberated the

concentration camp. Only a few prisoners were still in the camp and the U.S. soldiers found the remains of approximately 1,300 prisoners in the Boelcke barracks. The names of these prisoners are unknown. Mass graves of the dead prisoners from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp were dug by German civilians under orders from U.S. soldiers.

Soviet mass killings

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J15385, Katyn, Öffnung der Massengräber, Gräber polnischer Generale

Communist regime massacres in Yugoslavia

* Bleiburg repatriations * Communist purges against Hungarians and Germans in Serbia in 1944-45 * Barbara Pit massacre *

Mass graves in Slovenia Mass graves in Slovenia were created in Slovenia as the result of extrajudicial killings during and after the Second World War. These clandestine mass graves are also known as "concealed mass graves" ( sl, prikrita grobišča) or "silenced mass g ...

Srebrenica massacre

Victims of the

Srebrenica massacre The Srebrenica massacre ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Masakr u Srebrenici, Масакр у Сребреници), also known as the Srebrenica genocide ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Genocid u Srebrenici, Геноцид у Сребрен ...

were murdered by the

Army of Republika Srpska The Army of Republika Srpska ( sr, Војска Републике Српске/Vojska Republike Srpske; ВРС/VRS), commonly referred to in English as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of Republika Srpska (RS), the self-proclaimed Serb ...

and buried in mass graves. Serb forces used mass graves throughout the Bosnian War and thousands of victims remain unidentified as of 2017.

Famine

The Great Famine

Ireland's Great Famine lasted from 1845 to 1849, a period wherein about one million people died. Because of the excessive number of deaths and extreme

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse < ...

, many families were unable to provide a

wake Wake or The Wake may refer to: Culture *Wake (ceremony), a ritual which takes place during some funeral ceremonies *Wakes week, an English holiday tradition * Parish Wake, another name of the Welsh ', the fairs held on the local parish's patron s ...

or proper burial for loved ones and used mass graves instead. Archaeological excavations have taken place on Irish mass burial sites. One excavation revealed a mass grave of nearly 1,000 individuals. The skeletons within the grave were layered on top of each other in multiple sub-rectangular pits positioned less than a meter apart.

Epidemics and pandemics

Bubonic plague

The

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium ('' Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as ...

outbreak existed in three pandemic waves and is known as the Black Death. In the 1300s alone, an estimated 20–30 million people were killed in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and approximately 12 million people were killed in China. These deaths were at least 30 percent of the European population at that time. The last major outbreak of the

occurred in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

from 1665–1666 and is known as

The Great Plague The Great Plague of London, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. It happened within the centuries-long Second Pandemic, a period of intermittent bubonic plague epidemics that origi ...

. In March 2013, a

plague pit A plague pit is the informal term used to refer to mass graves in which victims of the Black Death were buried. The term is most often used to describe pits located in Great Britain, but can be applied to any place where bubonic plague victims wer ...

of 25 skeletons was found in a 5.5 meter-wide shaft during the construction of a new railroad in London. The skeletons were neatly lined up in two rows and were about 8 feet underground. Samples from 12 corpses were taken and forensic analysis confirmed traces of DNA from ''

Yersinia pestis ''Yersinia pestis'' (''Y. pestis''; formerly '' Pasteurella pestis'') is a gram-negative, non-motile, coccobacillus bacterium without spores that is related to both '' Yersinia pseudotuberculosis'' and '' Yersinia enterocolitica''. It is a facu ...

''.

Spanish flu

In several territories, the amount of death caused by the 1918

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

pandemic was beyond the capacities of funeral industry, requiring the use of mass graves. Several mass graves of Spanish flu victims were created in Australia,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

COVID-19

Reports of mass graves having been dug for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

victims have been made about

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

, using satellite pictures of sites near

Qom Qom (also spelled as "Ghom", "Ghum", or "Qum") ( fa, قم ) is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. Qom is the capital of Qom Province. It is located to the south of Tehran. At the 2016 census, its popul ...

as evidence. In

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, mass graves have been prepared in Hart Island for an afflux of dead; however, other reports said mass graves would be unlikely in the United States.

University of Huddersfield , mottoeng = Thus not for you alone , established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £2.47 million (2015) , chancellor = George W. Buckley , vice_chancell ...

experts said mass graves might be considered if local services end up overwhelmed. Following the rise of deaths and morgues being overwhelmed, New York City has temporarily allowed for mass graves on Hart Island for unclaimed bodies. In

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, the city of Manaus, in the state of Amazonas, used mass graves after a large spike in deaths attributed to the pandemic.

Natural disaster

Brunner Mine disaster

The

Brunner Mine disaster The Brunner Mine disaster happened at 9:30 am on Thursday 26 March 1896 ( NZMT; UTC+11:30), when an explosion deep in the Brunner Mine, in the West Coast region of New Zealand, killed all 65 miners below ground. The Brunner Mine disaster i ...

occurred at 9:30 a.m. on March 26, 1896. An underground explosion caused the death of 65 miners, making it

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

's deadliest mining disaster. Of the 53 victims buried in Stillwater cemetery, 33 victims were in one mass grave.

2010 Haitian earthquake

Following the

2010 Haiti earthquake A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's ca ...

, thousands of bodies were left in the streets on

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defin ...

, exposed to the sun and beginning to

decompose Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is ...

and smell. The government of Haiti collected the bodies on the street, along with rubble through use of dump trucks and other heavy machinery. The bodies and rubble were then transported to empty rectangular holes, 20 feet deep, 20 feet wide and 100 feet long. No efforts were taken to identify the dead that were transported and buried. Within Haitian culture, burial rituals hold great significance and the sacred ceremonies can cost more than their own homes. There is a

Haitian Vodou Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is ...

belief that the dead continue to live and are connected to their ancestors through these rituals. The burial of unidentified corpses in mass graves rather than familial plots severs this spiritual link between the living and dead.

2013 Typhoon Haiyan

As the casualties of the

Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the ...

were in the thousands, unidentified or unknown corpses were buried in several mass graves in Leyte (especially in

Tacloban City Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban ( war, Syudad han Tacloban; fil, Lungsod ng Tacloban), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. The city is autonomous from the province of Leyte, al ...

where the most deaths happened), Samar and other areas, while identified corpses were given to their families for burial.

Health concerns

The debate surrounding mass graves amongst

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

s includes whether or not, in a natural disaster, to leave corpses for traditional individual burials, or to bury corpses in mass graves. For example, if an epidemic occurs during winter, flies are less likely to infest corpses, reducing the risk of outbreaks of

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complication ...

diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin ...

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

, or

tetanus Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by '' Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usuall ...

, which decreases the urgency to use mass graves. A research published in 2004 indicates that the health risks from dead bodies after natural disasters are relatively limited.

References

External links

*
Mass Graves of the Indonesian Massacres of 1965–66

Video on the exhumation of a mass grave of World War II German soldiers in Villeneuve-Loubet, southern France, in 2006

Article about the effects of mass graves after the 2003 Iran earthquake.

General article about mass graves

Exhumation of WWII era mass graves of German and Soviet soldiers in Stalingrad
{{Authority control * Emergency management Cemeteries