200 Bodies Found in Nazi-era Mass Grave in Austria

The unassuming grounds of an Austrian hospital hold a gruesome past.

A construction project in the town of Hall discovered more than 200 bodies buried nearby.

The find has led to speculation that at least some of the dead could be victims of a Nazi euthanasia campaign.

Authorities said Tuesday they plan on exhuming the bodies, and trying to identify them over a two-year period.

Historian Oliver Seifert.

[Oliver Seifert, Historian]:            
„Yes, this phase of ‚wild euthanasia‘ between 1942 and 1945 has really been examined in just a cursory way. This is definitely a first step and a good opportunity to look into what was happening here and how to view it. It is known that people were actively killed in other institutions in Austria, in Steinhof near Vienna, or Niedernhart near Linz, for example.“

Seifert cautions, however, it is possible some of those buried were hospital patients who died of other causes.

Records indicate at least 360 patients were sent to their deaths as part of a Nazi extermination program which ended in 1941.

Foto: NTDTV