THE remains of six Auschwitz death camp victims were finally laid to rest yesterday in the UK’s first Holocaust funeral.

Around 50 Holocaust survivors were among 1,000 mourners who heard Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis warn of rising anti-Semitism.

He said the ceremony was a reminder “to confront all forms of discrimination”. And he added: “If anti-Semitism goes by unchecked, then hate speech can easily be translated into hate crime.

“When anti-Semitism is allowed to thrive, some people can reach the lowest end of human conduct.” The remains, bone fragments and ash belong to five unknown adults and a child.

They were donated anonymously to the Imperial War Museum in 1997 and re-emerged in a stocktake last year.

After a 40-minute service at the United Synagogue New Cemetery in Bushey, Herts, a small coffin holding all six victims was buried with earth from Israel.

Survivor Agnes Grunwald-Spier said: “These people represent all those millions who have no grave.”