Grave sponsorship

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The grave sponsorship is the sponsorship in favor of a grave site that is in many cases significant in terms of monument preservation or sepulkral history. Grave sponsorship serves to care for and preserve grave monuments worthy of protection and is a specific form of civic engagement . It assumes that the godparents and the cemetery administration have an advanced understanding of the importance of the regionally anchored culture of remembrance and the role of cemeteries far beyond their character as green spaces .

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Sponsorship grave W. Pütz - The old inscription was placed on the back of the grave.
Sponsorship grave W. Pütz (front side) - The new lettering takes place after the death of the grave sponsor.

The city curator Hiltrud Kier founded the institute for grave sponsorship at Cologne's Melaten cemetery in 1981. A sponsor selects a listed grave complex whose right of use has expired, and then maintains and maintains it. In return, the sponsor has the right to burial in this grave site. User fees are only incurred after a new funeral. The name of the person previously buried is sometimes engraved on the back of the new tombstone; his bones remain in the old grave and are buried in a separate part of the grave. This sponsorship system ensures the restoration and preservation of many historical tombs.

As a rule, cemeteries with historically significant tomb sites are looking for suitable persons or associations who are willing to take care of one or more tomb sites for which there is no longer any right of use. This voluntary activity can be limited in time for a specific purpose, such as a restoration , or for a longer period of time. Some cemetery statutes contain statements on how a grave sponsorship is to be regulated.

For individuals , this commitment may be eligible if they meet the of them went into sponsorship burial at a later date for the funeral of their family members or yourself in claim want to take. This possibility of use can be regulated differently depending on the cemetery, for example as an option . Another intention is to sponsor graves for educational purposes, for example to bring history to life for schoolchildren by caring for war graves or resting places for prominent people . This form is fairly common in the United States.

Sponsorship Agreement

The basis of grave sponsorship or the "sustainable use of grave sites" (e.g. for own burials with a right of use for 20 years) is a written agreement with the respective cemetery administration. Possible changes to the grave site depend on its location, the state of preservation and the monument status. They are the result of joint agreements between the sponsors and the cemetery administration and other framework conditions. As a result, important aspects are laid down in the goals of the sponsorship agreement.

Some cemeteries organize the selection option by means of a catalog of tombs or others mark available tombs with a symbol. Grave sponsorships are practiced in many countries and are associated with different motives among those involved.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grave sponsorship in the cemetery statute of the city of Dresden (PDF; 153 kB) § 17 Special grave sites

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