People always die. But not enough, writes Henning Sußebach on November 3 in the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. He comes to the conclusion that many people prefer to scatter their ashes rather than buy a grave. Sußebach formulates a problem that the stonemasonry trade also has to deal with: even cemeteries can die. They need dead bodies to live. But there are fewer and fewer of them in traditional cemeteries. They have competition. People in a “multi-option society” no longer want to conform to the schematic checkerboard pattern of cemeteries. Today, cemeteries are just one option among a wide range of burial possibilities.
The consequences are clear: no cemetery, no grave, no stone. The stonemasonry trade is challenged. Grave markers can help to keep cemeteries alive. However, these signs must have a meaning, a message, a value for the bereaved. “Blood of Indian children sticks to German gravestones” or “Gravestones made by child labor stand in German cemeteries”. Reports like these bring the signs on the grave into the spotlight. “Child labor for gravestones allowed again” was written in the daily newspaper “Nürnberger Nachrichten” on 16 October: In a ruling, the Federal Administrative Court had overturned Nuremberg’s cemetery regulations. The city wanted to ensure that no gravestones sculpted by children were allowed to be placed in the city’s cemeteries. A stonemason sued. And he won! But what? Who should check the conditions under which the stones are made, the judges asked. A certification with binding standards is needed. It is not legally objectionable.
However, many of the certificates on social or ecological standards are hardly worth the glue they are stuck to a product. It is now up to each craftsman to decide which grave markers he offers and which STEINs he works with. Once again, the headstone product is being talked about instead of being talked about. That is annoying.
Willy Hafner’s subject from STEIN in December 2013.
Picture: Aeternitas e.V.