The Local Germany

It's your funeral - burial culture changes

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:00:00 +0100

The accidental theft of 12 bodies in a van exposed the now routine shipping of corpses around the country, and even abroad, for cheap cremation. Philippa Wentzel found changes afoot in Germany's burial culture.

Grave error: woman finds skull at mum's headstone

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:57:00 +0200

A grieving woman who went to tend her mother’s grave in Cologne got the shock of her life when she found a skull, complete with a set of teeth, in the mud by the headstone.

Pet death services cater to grieving owners

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:33:00 +0100

A growing industry is catering to Germans devastated by their pets’ deaths. Businesses can arrange everything from burial services to cremation – and even turn the ashes of Fluffy and Fido into diamond jewellery.

Academy for undertakers offers 'recession-proof' job training

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:01:00 +0100

German trainee undertakers are being put through their paces at Europe's only "funeral school" in Münnerstadt - anything but a dying business in the fast-ageing continent.

Crematorium probe exposes harvesting corpses for gold teeth

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:24:00 +0200

An investigation of crematorium employees in Hamburg accused of harvesting gold teeth and jewellery from customer corpses has uncovered a sensitive topic that the majority of German morticians refuse to address publicly, a funeral industry newspaper reported on Friday.

Discounting death

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:45:00 +0100

Discount supermarkets and economy airlines have long done a roaring trade in Germany, but an increasing number of Germans are taking their thriftiness to the grave. The Local’s Kristen Allen reports on the trend toward bargain burials and anonymous funerals.