Murder on Display
The Auschwitz Museum and memorial in Poland recently unveiled the first section of their newly redesigned exhibition. It features a clear urn of human ashes collected at the camp. And I have some thoughts.
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I know a thing or two about remains.
It is an unfortunate story, really, but at one point, I came across human remains of victims of the Holocaust that had been stored in the permanent collection of the museum I work at. How they got there is a story that only leads to more questions.
But they aren’t there anymore. They were given a proper Jewish funeral and burial.
When I first found those remains- those people- I went into some version of shock that is reserved for museum professionals only. I knew they shouldn’t be here, but I had no idea what to do with them.
I spiraled a little bit at first, I will admit. I knew there must be some sort of standard procedure for when this happens. And there is, it just isn’t talked about.
So I went digging. I called rabbis, I consulted with various experts. I packed the remains up in my car and took them to a local archaeologist who analyzed them. I will spare you most of the details, but they included the approximate temperature at which one of them, a child, had been burned.
In the end, the solution was rather simple. We treated them like they were any other deceased Jew. I performed the ritual pre-burial rites for the dead with a Rabbi. I read the Eulogy. We recited mourners’ kaddish. And we laid them to rest in the Jewish section of a local cemetery, where they shall remain.
A shred of dignity for those whose lives and peoplehood were utterly destroyed.
Is there any dignity in the display of ashes?
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When I first found the remains at our museum, I thought we were alone. I had read about another museum or two making such discoveries and doing essentially the same thing I did. But as the story of my discovery spread, I found out that many *many* other museums, big and small alike, have quietly buried their own Holocaust victims.
It is the right thing to do. Museum ethics clearly rule against the display of human remains in most cases.
So why then does the Auschwitz Museum and memorial, along with other memorial sites like Majdanek, break this rule?
I have seen these ashes before. The first time I saw them, I couldn’t quite believe it. I wish I could remember why it is they have chosen to display these nameless victims. Perhaps as evidence. A quick Google search on this topic revealed no answer.
There is also the hair, a room full of it. More evidence, more remains.
I understand why the Auschwitz Museum and Memorial would feel compelled to put this evidence on display. It is impossible to deny that much hair.
But what of the dignity of the victims? Reduced to a swirl of ash or a thick brown braid?
Is there a different set of rules for Auschwitz?
Part of me thinks there should be. People in Shoah business spend a lot of time tiptoeing around the horror. We don’t want to scare or alienate people. But the Holocaust was f*cking horrific. Are we serving anyone by refusing to say the quiet part out loud? Would the lessons of the Holocaust be better taught by a urn of ashes?
I’m not sure.
The remains that were once in my care were a lot more personal than ashes. More easily identifiable. Surely display of these particular remains would have been completely inappropriate.
Cremation is forbidden in Judaism because the body is supposed to be kept whole. The burning of Jewish bodies during the Holocaust was the ultimate and final act of dehumanization.
Putting them on display is a continuation of this final act. For these victims, the Holocaust never ended. They are still in Auschwitz, more exposed than if they were naked, on view for thousands to see. Jews don’t even have open casket funerals.
Of course, with most remains, it is impossible to determine for sure whether or not they belonged to Jewish people or the millions of others who were murdered by the Nazis. But Jews were the largest victim group, and especially at places like Auschwitz, where 1 million jews were murdered, the likelihood of them being Jewish is high.
No matter what their identities were, they deserve dignity. The majority of ashes at Auschwitz were dumped in nearby rivers and ponds.
These ashes give the Auschwitz museum and Memorial an opportunity to restore dignity to those who lost everything. I know firsthand what an honor that is.
So, Auschwitz, if you are reading this, let’s work together to finally end the Holocaust for these people. Let’s lay them to rest.
I agree, and would like to see these people have their holocaust experience end. I can only imagine the number of museum visitors gawking in horror. Perhaps displaying the empty urn and telling the story of how these people were given a proper burial would be best. Thank you for the burial you (and others in “the biz”) have been able to perform.
I'm in Sydney and the reporting is still full on following the recent tragedy. There's a small team of volunteers who have flown in to ensure that not even a single drop of blood is left behind and if they can't identify it, it will be buried in a brother's grave when the time is right. Respect for them is paramount.