Remains of Over 1,000 Holocaust Victims Uncovered During Construction Work Reburied in Belarus

(JTA) — Volunteers in Belarus reburied the remains of more than 1,000 Holocaust victims whose bodies were discovered recently during construction work in the city of Brest.

The burial Tuesday was conducted by volunteers from the Zaka Jewish search-and-rescue organization and overseen by a local Chabad rabbi, the news website Jewish.ru reported. The remains were put into several coffins and interred in a Jewish ceremony.

The mass grave was found in February containing human remains belonging to adults and children, as well as clothes, shoes and other personal items.

The local contractor, Pribuzhsky Kwartia, suspended construction on the luxury housing project and called the authorities.

Mayor Alexander Rogachuk said the bones belonged to “victims of ghettos,” meaning Jews imprisoned there by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The Nazis killed 3 million civilians in Belarus, of whom 800,000 were Jewish.