Talk:Mass grave

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Mallorypjohnson.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 03:34, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Soviet

The Soviet mass grave and memorial for the Siege of Leningrad has over 1 million Russians buried in St. Petersburg.

Iraqi Mass Graves

The unattributed discussion of Iraqi Mass Graves at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_grave#Iraq is taken, word for word, from a US State Department publication, available on line at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/27000.htm

It needs to be removed, or replaced with a more neutral assessment.

Rod Hagen 02:35, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Rod Hagan Hi Rod! I'm currently working on revising this article as I noticed there are several content gaps. I recently added a section, "War" and have begun to outline examples of mass graves stemming from wars. I would love to add a subsection under war for Iraq. Do you have any recommendations on good sources to use or suggestions on the best way to outline the Iraqi Mass graves without repeating all the information listed on Mass graves in Iraq? Thanks in advance for your help! maljohns (talk) 16:19, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

A suggestion to mak this better

I would like to peel of individual massagraves by country and link them via a category rather than have disputes in the mother article about mass graves. Thanks 17:49, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Kanatonian I believe you were the one who wrote the above comment. I got your username from the Talk page's edit history. I have recently made revisions to the article but have decided to break down the mass graves by cause. So far I have added "War" and "Crime" as two causes. I plan to add additional sections for famine, natural disaster, epidemic and religious conflicts if I can find enough information from credible sources. I would greatly appreciate it if you could look over what I've added and I am open to all suggestions. Thanks! maljohns (talk) 16:26, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Mass graves in the Soviet Union

Please correct - eg. wrong picture.Xx236 11:39, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

File:Spanish Civil War - Mass grave - Estépar, Burgos.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Spanish Civil War - Mass grave - Estépar, Burgos.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on December 11, 2016. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2016-12-11. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page.  — Chris Woodrich (talk) 01:10, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

Picture of the day

A mass grave of 26 Republican victims killed by Nationalists in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. This grave was excavated in Estépar, Burgos, in 2014.

Generally speaking, mass graves contain multiple bodies that may or may not be identified prior to burial. They may be seen after violent conflict or be dug for sanitation reasons after a major famine, epidemic, or natural disaster.Photograph: Mario Modesto Mata

Upcoming Edits

I am working on this article as well as Unmarked grave for a class I am taking at the University of Miami. Our class page can be found here. I am planning to improve this article by adding information under the categories of history, causes, excavation, and religious implications. Let me know if you have any input on what I have and suggestions for further improvement! I have copied my working bibliography below. Thanks! -maljohns (talk) 01:52, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

Bibliography

• Haglud, W.D.; Connor, M; Scott, D.D. (2001). "The Archaeology of Contemporary Mass Graves". Society for Historical Archaeology. 35: 57–69 – via JSTOR.
• Slob, Evert; Sato, Motoyuki; Olhoeft, Gary. "Surface and borehole ground-penetrating-radar developments". GEOPHYSICS. 75 (5): 75A103–75A120. doi:10.1190/1.3480619
• Sutton, Mary-Jean; Conyers, Lawrence B.; Day, With contributions by Alma; Flinders, Harriet; Luff, Florence; Madua, Susie; Jersey, Zoe De; Jersey, Stan De; Savo, Roy (2013-12-01). "Understanding Cultural History Using Ground-Penetrating Radar Mapping of Unmarked Graves in the Mapoon Mission Cemetery, Western Cape York, Queensland, Australia". International Journal of Historical Archaeology. 17 (4): 782–805. doi:10.1007/s10761-013-0242-1. ISSN 1092-7697
• C., Reif, Stefan (2014). Death in Jewish Life : Burial and Mourning Customs Among Jews of Europe and Nearby Communities. Lehnardt, Andreas., Bar-Levav, Avriel. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 12. ISBN 9783110338614. OCLC 890071134
• Popovsky, Mark (2010). Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Boston, MA. pp. 458–459. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-71802-6_348
• Rachel., Hachlili, (2005). Jewish funerary customs, practices and rites in the Second Temple period. Leiden: Brill. p. 235. ISBN 9781433706400. OCLC 191950065

COVID-19 in New York City & Hart Island

I suggest re-framing the information on mass graves in New York City during COVID-19. "Following the rise of cases and morgues being overwhelmed, New York City has temporarily allowed for mass graves on Hart Island for unclaimed bodies" implies a change in the city's burial practice that is inaccurate.

Hart Island has been New York City's public burial ground (potter's field) since the 1860s. Only the unclaimed COVID-19 dead (John and Jane Does, or those without loved ones to claim the body) are buried there (as of April 19, 2020, with no known plans to change this). This is not a change in policy, and it's not temporary——the unclaimed dead are always buried on Hart Island. And while there has been an increase in the number of burials, and the city has decreased the time it will wait before burying bodies on Hart, it's not an increase in the basic style of burial: in plain coffins in trenches.

The use of "mass graves" for Hart Island may be misleading, despite its use by the mainstream media, since "mass grave" connotes a lack of individual coffin or way to retrieve the body later. New York City at least claims to mark and record each coffin buried in the trenches, which can be retrieved later by families free of charge. "Trench burial" would be perhaps a more accurate descriptor. (I would make these changes myself but I am a little overwhelmed by the UI.) See good reports by the New York Times and New Yorker to verify this — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gabriellemeroe (talk • contribs)

Mass Grave Kamloops Canada

A mass grave was found in May 2021 on the grounds of a Residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Canada. The bodies of 215 children, some as young as 3 were found. The school had only recorded the deaths of 51 children. Residential schools, were run by mainly the Canadian Government, and the Catholic Church. First Nation Children were forcefully, by law, taken from their families; with the intent to remove the “Indian” from the children. The schools were mainly run by The Canadian Government and the Catholic Church. The last school was closed in 1996. The Truth and Reconciliation report found that a cultural genocide had occurred. The Canadian Prime Minister has acknowledged it as such. Calls to the Catholic Church have been met with silence. There is a loud call for both the Government and the Catholic Church to begin investigations at the sites of the rest of the schools, to identify burial sites, identify the children and return them to their families. The survivors of the residential schools, have documented systematic sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, torture. There were an estimated 150,000 children who attended these schools. Prior to the discovery of the mass grave the deaths stood at just over 4,000. There are still 1000s of children who never returned home, and are still missing. JayJay104 (talk) 13:25, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

it appears CaffeinAddict removed Your contribution because they had determined that the mass grave found at Kamloops was not a mass killing per the Wiki article on mass killing, this may be correct, however, this mass grave would then be, under the definition of Wiki article, a mass murder the same would then apply to other mass killings under the same named section, for example, the Holocaust i have added the mass grave found at Kamloops, albeit shortened please feel free to add to it Soaringnflying (talk) 22:18, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Actually, the Canadian mass graves may amount to systematic genocide of the First Nations: Hundreds More Unmarked Graves Found at Former Residential School in Canada

An Indigenous group said the remains of as many as 751 people, mainly children, had been found in unmarked graves on the site of a former boarding school in Saskatchewan.

Possibly...I think one could most certainly make a case against the Canadian government for systematic cultural genocide ('twas afterall the stated purpose of the boarding schools); whether these children were purposefully murdered, I'm more doubtful of. I've also heard of accounts of unmarked mass graves of children discovered on grounds of former Catholic Church-run boarding schools in other countries too, such as Ireland. I think the Catholic Church's practices of how their boarding schools were run constituted, at best, gross incompetence and reckless negligence/abuse. 2600:1702:4960:1DE0:6033:FF4F:6CE5:7BA8 (talk) 23:18, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

Ignore the 2600 IP. He's been going around making unhelpful posts on talkpages. GoodDay (talk) 19:52, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

References

Mass graves from Mongolian invasions

I want to add a section about mass graves with victims from the Mongolian invasions, from the 13th century, but want to first confirm why this articles only mentions events in the past 200 years? My edits on this topic will have academic citations. Arty32 (talk) 02:58, 11 July 2021 (UTC)

Breaking news re Israel/Palestine?

Hi, thought it best to double check, would the mass graves section on Israel/Palestine not count as breaking news per Breaking news sources? (1) feels relevant, the specific claim that it's as a result of tanks running over civillians is pretty extraodinary, and it feels like it'd be a good idea to wait a little bit until someone other than one of the two states confirms that specific claim. The UN source speaks in terms of maybes and "there have been reports" as well. Evaaaahhhh (talk) 21:54, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Why

I think this article would be improved by an explanation of why people have strong emotional responses to the idea of a mass grave. We are satisfied when family members are buried together; we are horrified when the same number of strangers are buried together. I suspect that it has to do with other factors (e.g., is the burial meant to cover up a war crime or to prevent disease?) and with respect (e.g., is this what the family would have wanted?). WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:19, 9 June 2024 (UTC)