The French did the same in their bloody revolution (1 Vendémiaire). Probably where Saloth Sar (aka Pol Pot) got the idea, as he was a student in France (along with Ieng Sary and other Khmer Rouge leaders).
A thoughtful essay on how we are erasing the past (and the zombie craze), which I highly recommend. Except here:
“The zombie plague is a side effect of the great transformation in culture that erupted in 1960s, which left us in thrall to one idea: freedom for self-discovery, -definition, -invention, and -reinvention—artistic, spiritual, or even sexual—is the highest societal good, and the dead hand of tradition the supreme societal evil. Except for a few pockets of resistance, America has for two generations striven to break with the past and shed responsibility for the future. The dominant American culture extirpates precisely those aspects of our lives that offer continuity beyond the brief span of our mortal existence.”
Link: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/digital/eternal-youth-and-living-death/