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Corpses and Mass Graves as Sites of Investigation (1939–1960)

Taline Garibian

The Second World War marked a new development in the management of dead bodies. Forensic practices were not only common among military stakeholders, but also among humanitarian organizations which were involved in the handling of bodies. Genocide and other crimes committed by Nazi Germany and its allies prompted the establishment of civilian or military investigation teams, trained in forensic pathology, in several countries (Dreyfus, 2015). In addition, initiatives to locate and identify the victims of the war were active for several decades after the conflict. Therefore, the management of the dead was a persistent concern (Dziuban, 2016). It is also important to keep in mind that the great presence of corpses has influenced medical research in return, by providing a significant quantity of material for autopsies, fostering the development of methods of identification and prompting health protection measures. While historical scholarship has tended to focus on the development and application of international law, little attention has been paid to the development and use of forensic methods and the fates of the corpses of the victims, even though the massacre of Katyn and the international commission of inquiry it prompted attracted some attention. 

This area of research will specifically focus on the region of Lyon, where a substantial archival collection exists. It will consider the handling of corpses from the beginning of the war to the 60s[1]. This material, which has not yet been exploited by historians, makes it possible to comprehend the diverse stakeholders involved in corpse management and the growing importance of medical techniques. Three important burial sites will provide the basis for the study of these issues: the mass graves of Bron and la Doua, along with the necropolis of Chasselay. In addition, other scattered works of identification and exhumation undertaken by the army, the French Red Cross and civilians or religious actors in the Lyon region will complement the analyses. The variety of actors – military, civilian or humanitarian organizations – involved in a single territory will also provide evidence with which to compare practices and understand the dynamics at work.[2] Concentrating on a single territory will also open up avenues for the assessment of the political and memorial implications of the management of bodies. 

More specifically, this line of research intends to answer the following questions: what policies have been put in place in France by civil, military or humanitarian organizations? What scientific technics were being used? And how did advances in medicine helped or modified the handling of corpses? What issues (health, political, or memorial) are at stake in the treatment of corpses and how do these policies contribute to the pacification of societies and the construction of a memorial narrative about the conflict? The way in which corpses and human remains materialize the memory of the Second World War violence will be investigated. This will facilitate the consideration of forensic science and medicine not only in terms of knowledge advancement, but also as social practices and discourses, and will help in understanding the prehistory of what has been described as a ‘forensic turn’. 


[1] While choosing a starting date was rather evident, the ending date of this sub-period is more questionable. The focus will always be on the management of bodies by their contemporaries, sometimes long after death. But in most cases before the 1960s.

[2] A recent conference that I co-organized with Jean-Marc Dreyfus and Benoît Pouget on exhumations in France showed that research on this issue was still very patchy and incomplete and that a comprehensive work needed to be done.