Ireland: Orphanage’s Mass Grave

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/world/europe/ireland-orphanages-mass-grave.html

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A researcher says that 796 children may have been buried in a mass grave beside a former orphanage for the children of unmarried women. The researcher, Catherine Corless, says her discovery of death records for the Catholic nun-run home in Tuam, County Galway, suggests that a former septic tank is the final resting place for most, if not all, of the children. Church leaders in Galway said they would support marking the spot with a plaque listing all 796. County Galway records showed that the children, mostly babies and toddlers, died — often of disease — in the orphanage, which operated from 1926 to 1961. Ireland had one of the worst infant mortality rates in Europe, with tuberculosis rife. Church-run orphanages often buried their dead in unmarked graves, reflecting how unmarried mothers were ostracized. Tuam locals found the tank in 1975 and believed the remains were mostly those of famine victims.