Dead and Disregarded; Natal Alienation of Victims of the Holocaust at the University of Strasbourg

For years, the University of Strasbourg has been a subject of speculation among students, with whispers circulating about the unsettling possibility of the institution showcasing/ storing the remains of Holocaust victims. Initially, the university vehemently refuted these claims. However, in May of 2022, a comprehensive five-hundred-page report published by the University unveiled a disturbing history: between 1941 and 1945, medical school professors from the University of Strasbourg subjected over two hundred and fifty individuals from concentration camps to inhumane experiments.

Additionally, the report highlighted a tragic incident involving eighty-six Jewish individuals transported from Auschwitz, who were brutally murdered at a nearby camp. This was done as part of a macabre scheme to assemble a collection of skeletons. In response to these revelations, the report recommended that the university establish public spaces of remembrance. Furthermore, it suggested that the human remains should continue to be displayed, with the intention of educating students about the Holocaust's harrowing reality.

Although these recommendations might appear reasonable to those outside the Jewish Community, they collide with a fundamental Jewish principle. Within Judaism, there exists a prohibition against gazing upon the deceased. Permitting the act of opening a casket to allow people to observe the deceased transforms those offering solace into mere spectators, and reduces the departed to an object devoid of personhood.

This paper endeavors to contribute to the realm of scholarly discourse concerning culturally sensitive archival practices and their intricate connection to the presentation of human remains within archives and museums.