Nazi victims buried in Vienna

Jewish and Christian leaders blessed the remains

By Bethany Bell BBC correspondent in Vienna

The remains of victims of the Nazi period in Austria whose bodies were used for medical research have finally been buried in the capital, Vienna.

The body parts had been stored at the University of Vienna and were only found after an investigation launched in the 1990s.

The victims' bodies were used for medical research

Viennese academics and Jewish and Christian leaders watched as the remains of the victims were laid to rest at the city's central cemetery.

Between 1938 and 1945, over 1,300 bodies of people executed under the Nazi justice system were signed over to the University of Vienna and its Institute of Anatomy.

Textbook use

The bodies were used for medical research, and possibly also provided the basis for anatomical illustrations in the classic medical textbook - Pernkopf's Anatomy.

The Atlas of Topographic and Applied Human Anatomy textbook was written by the then-rector of the University of Vienna, Edward Pernkopf, who was a member of the Nazi party.

Many of the victims were killed for the crime of resistance against the Nazi regime.

Eight of them have been identified as Jewish.

The burial comes after an investigation was launched in the 1990s, following suspicions about the background of Pernkopf's book.