The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art has buried and held a Jewish funeral for Holocaust remains it once kept.
Museum curator Sofia Thornbald said the now-buried remains were likely given to the museum before 2000, when it was more common to put human remains on display.
Thornbald declined to say how many people the remains belonged to. She also said the museum was not able to identify the people they buried.
"We were unable to do DNA testing or anything like that, but there were descendants of Holocaust survivors, and many of them lost family in the Holocaust, as well, who were in attendance at the funeral."
The Nazis murdered six million Jews and millions of minorities, LGBTQ people, disabled people, political rivals, criminals and prisoners of war in the 1930s and 1940s.
Thornbald also noted the remains were from the camps Auschwitz and Dachau. Auschwitz was the largest death camp in Nazi Germany, and Dachau was the first.
The funeral was held last Thursday at Rose Hill Cemetery and included addresses from local rabbis and an archaeologist.
Thornbald said holding a Jewish funeral and officially removing the remains from the museum follows best practices in this scenario.
"We also want the public to know that we’re going to continue to commemorate the Holocaust in as many ways as possible, mainly in honor of those who perished, but also in the hope that ‘never again’ becomes a reality someday," she said.
