----- Original Message ----- From: <Jlktrees@aol.com> To: <OHBELMON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 03, 1999 10:17 AM Subject: [OHBELMON-L] Re: Neglected cemeteries: other problems... > Perhaps this is a little far out, but I have visited in Germany many times > and also am impressed with their cemeteries. A little history first. When > you buy a plot in Germany you buy it only for a certain amount of years 10, > 15, 20, 30 or whatever. If you do not renew your lot fee they come and dig > you up and throw away the stone. All the plots are surrounded by a stone > curb. The curb, etc - all goes. Now for me I almost had a heart attack on > learning this. No wonder the people helping me find the cemetery couldn't > understand why I was so excited. There was one case for me where they had > used 4 sides of the tombstone and kept burying. Now remember they use pine > boxes and white shrouds - I don't think any embalming but forgot to ask. > > Next, all the cemeteries have water spigots, watering cans, hoes, rakes, etc > in strategic spots all over the cemetery for the patrons. Any day you visit > you will find men and woman (and I mean even when it is misting and cold) out > taking very good care of their plot. They weed them, water them, replace > flowers with new when they die. They are beautifully taken care of. It is > like an extension of their home gardens. > > The thing I really don't understand is that when I was there last fall I saw > more and more of the most beautiful and large black marble stones all fancily > cut with Gold lettering. All this for a few years. Oh well.. > > Reason for the turnover is obvious and that is lack of space. Now I was in > Ireland and the older cemeteries are there. In the cities it is now 6 deep > and probably happening in other countries. > > In Czechoslovakia I cam across what they called a bone church. Because of a > lack of specie, all the graves were dug up and all the bones deposited in the > grotto of the church. I won't go into more details, but interesting what > they did. There are two of these in Czech and one I know of in Italy. > Napoleon dug them up and they are in individual cubby holes in the catacombs > of Paris. > > No, I am not macabre but with this hobby of genealogy have found the customs > very interesting. My husband travels a lot on business and I go with when I > can - that is why I travel so much. Not that I don't love it. Hope this > is of interest to some of you. Julienne > >