Cremation

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cremation in Ubud (Indonesia)
Depiction of a Japanese cremation

The cremation is a form of burial , in which the body is incinerated. A cremation involves cremating the corpse and then entombing the ashes . In a narrower sense, the process of cremation can be meant, which is also known as cremation , cremation or cremation , formerly also known as corpse cremation . In archeology , the term cremation is mainly used.

In many countries cremation is carried out in crematoria . The remains are unmistakably placed in an ash capsule, which is usually placed in a burial urn. The burial of the urn with the ashes is known as urn burial . In all EU member states , cremation is legally equivalent to burial .

history

Cremation represents an element of spiritual culture and the superstructure that appeared in primitive societies around the world and at all times among groups of people at different stages of development. Since the publication of Ursula Schlenther's work Brandbestattung und Seelenglaube (1960) on the causes and spread of corpse cremation, a comprehensive presentation of the ethnographic and archaeological material of non-European peoples has been available, which is sparse for the time before the world religions. There is no binding of cremation to specific economic-cultural groups or climatic zones. It took place among hunters and gatherers , such as in Tasmania , in Patagonia and the Asian regions of Russia, as well as among peasant cultures and those that already show characteristics of a differentiated society. There seem to have been few groups in which cremation was the only type of burial (even temporarily), as in the oldest cultures in Patagonia and in the Hohekam culture in North America. Usually a few cremations are compared to a much larger number of body burials. Phenomena such as the urn field culture , which determined the grave rite in almost all of Europe for centuries, were not yet found in early non-European societies.

Prehistory and early history

Cremation of the body of a deceased is common in many cultures. The ashes were scattered or stored. The scattering took place on land or in a body of water, depending on the regional characteristics. Special urns were used to store the ashes, including larger vases or jugs. The corpse burn was already collected in the Neolithic and also deposited with additions in the cremation grave (corpse burn storage, emptying). It was first brought into the ground by the bearers of the Schönfeld culture in specially designed urns ( face urns ) on actual burial fields (urn fields).

The urn grave is a phenomenon of the Bronze Age in Central Europe , which coincides with the Urnfield culture between 1250 and 750 BC. Widespread. In the Young Bronze Age, small stone boxes sometimes protected the urns, as is shown by finds in Dohren in the Harburg district . In the Iron Age , cremation was the predominant form of burial in Europe; the ashes were cremated and buried in ceramic urns. As with the urn field in the Ruser Steinbusch, the urn graves were sometimes marked by setting stones . An exception in Europe were the Celts that their dead in the form of a burial clan as in barrows buried.

Antiquity

In ancient Greece , in addition to the widespread burial in individual rock caves , mausoleums and mounds of earth, the cremation of corpses was practiced, preferably by wealthy sections of the population. The fire of this ceremony was put out with wine and the ashes of the deceased were put in urns. These were sunk in a stone grave under a mound of earth. In ancient Greece there were significant regional differences in burial ceremonies. In Athens, cremations also took place in large numbers when epidemics led to a skyrocketing death rate. The Hellenic urns were tin capsules that rested in small boxes made of marble or lead sheet . The cremation enabled the easier return of fallen warriors to their hometowns.

In the Roman epoch , burial and cremation took place as funeral cultures with equal rights. Initially, wealthy Romans adopted cremation into their practice through Hellenistic influences. It had become the common method of burial since the 3rd century. The ashes of the deceased from the simple communities came in a small box room of Cinerariums or communal shaft graves ( Puticuli ). For the slaves and the poorest sections of the population, the unworthy cremation of their corpses was left on a wooden stake in front of a pit. The not completely burned dead bodies fell into the pit and were subsequently covered with earth. For reasons of hygiene, the Twelve Tables Act (450 BC) stipulated that the cremation sites should be located in front of the city. It also banned ceremonial ceremonies. In addition to their own burial site, the wealthy Roman families had an associated crematorium ( Castel franco ) or a second burial site ( Ustrinum ) for the cremation ceremony . The ashes of the dead were kept in a small sarcophagus about two feet long. The middle class used a communal, public crematorium.

“Between the first and fifth centuries, cremation and cremation were practiced in parallel in Rome and its provinces, with cremation being preferred during the early and middle imperial period in the upper class, while the lower social classes had to be satisfied with the less elaborate burial . "

- Reiner Sörries : The Roman right to grave. 2003

Jacob Grimm interpreted in his cultural-historical lecture On the Burning of Corpses , which he gave in 1849 at the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, the cremation of the Greeks and Romans compared to the older burial as "progress in intellectual education". But he also saw the later return to burial, especially in the course of the spread of Christianity, as an expression of the “ennobling” of humanity.

Late antiquity and the Middle Ages

With the spread of Christianity , the pagan cremation ritual developed in decline in the late antique epoch. Jacob Grimm stated: “Wherever Christianity penetrated, all the corpse burns went out before it.” However, the reasons for the change in the forms of burial have not been conclusively clarified. According to Stefan Fayans (1907), the change in burial culture in the first centuries after Christianity can be traced back to changing cultural conditions and progressive deforestation in European forests. According to Reiner Sörries, the shortage of wood in the Mediterranean is seen as the most likely cause of the decline in ancient cremation. A changed view of belief in the hereafter through emerging mystery religions could have had a profound influence.

With a decree of Charlemagne from the year 786, the cremation of the dead was forbidden and burial was made compulsory. The imperial capitularies of 786 and 810/813 required burials in church cemeteries. In the Middle Ages, death by fire served as a death penalty .

Start of cremation in Germany and Austria

In Europe, the first modern cremation took place in 1752 at Roßwald Castle in Austrian Silesia . The wife of Count Albert Joseph von Hoditz was cremated on a stake.

Section 814 of the Prussian General Land Law (1794) stands for awareness of the hygienic problems of handling corpses, in which the burial of corpses in inhabited areas was prohibited. Since the middle of the 19th century, the demand for cremation has increased for several reasons. The medical profession praised cremation as the more hygienic form of burial. The labor unions and the burgeoning social democracy saw a more cost-effective way of burial. The spreading non-religious associations such as the freethinkers specifically propagated cremation, also deliberately differentiating it from Christian burial culture, since the concept of the resurrection was rejected. Hygienic and economic aspects thus came to the fore and led to the fact that the burial system increasingly passed into the responsibility of the municipalities in the 19th century.

The first cremation in Germany took place in Dresden in 1874 after the engineer Friedrich Siemens developed a furnace for cremation at the instigation of Friedrich Küchenmeister . The cultural change continued and led to the foundation of various associations that campaigned for cremation. In Dresden, for example, there was the urn - the association for facultative corpse cremation, which in 1876 organized the first “European Congress of Friends of Cremation”.

Memorial plaque for the association Die Flamme in Steyr

In 1878, Thuringia's Prince Ernst II allowed the construction of the first German crematorium, which opened on December 10, 1878 in Gotha . The second crematorium was opened in Heidelberg in 1891 . In the same year the crematorium in Hamburg was already operational. However, it did not open until November 1892 after the cholera epidemic of 1892 claimed thousands of lives. In 1905 the Association of Freethinkers for Cremation was formed .

Since the end of the 19th century, the association Die Flamme has been campaigning for the construction of a crematorium in Austria . The first Austrian crematorium - the Simmering fire hall in Vienna - opened in 1922.

The cremations were regulated by law in Germany until the time of National Socialism by the law on cremation of 15 May 1934. The Cremation Act turned earth and cremations legally equivalent. Among other things, it stipulated a medical examination of the corpse before cremation and only allowed the urn to be buried in a designated cemetery. Several provisions of the 1934 law have been incorporated into the funeral laws and ordinances of the federal states currently in force .

Cremation in the GDR

In the GDR, cremation was consciously promoted by the state and developed into a concern for society as a whole.

Religions

Christianity

In Christianity , cremation was rejected for centuries. The reason is to be sought in the belief in the physical resurrection of the dead, to which Christianity professes itself in the creed . The Christian practice of burial was based on the burial of Jesus Christ . The introduction and spread of crematoriums in Europe varied depending on the country and region. Resistance to cremation was greater in Catholic countries than in non-Catholic countries.

The Holy Office under Pope Leo XIII. on December 15, 1886, banned Catholics from cremation and membership of cremation associations and called cremation a "barbaric custom". The decree stipulated that Catholics who had willingly ordered their cremation could not have a church funeral service and would not be buried in the churchyard . With the Codex Iuris Canonici of 1917 this was included in canon law. It was stated: "A believer who orders the cremation of his body is deprived of church burial as a punishment." On July 5, 1963, the Holy Office permitted cremation for Catholics. The announcement was made on October 24, 1964. Catholics are not allowed to cremate if it was chosen for reasons that contradict Christian doctrine and expressly deny belief in the resurrection. The Catholic Church preferably recommends burial in the earth.

The Protestant churches were also in the late 19th and the early 20th century, the cremation mostly dismissive of, after which a tolerable (though not promoting) attitude prevailed.

Cremation is rejected in the Orthodox churches . Although it was legalized in Greece in 2006, there is no crematorium in Greece (as of May 2017) due to resistance from the Greek Orthodox Church. Bishop Anthimos of Thessaloniki said: “For two thousand years it has been taught in Church teaching that the dead should be buried, not cremated. Burning is contrary to our belief in the resurrection. [...] The Church cannot and does not want to compromise. We will make it clear to everyone: If they choose cremation, they will be condemned. ”The Orthodox churches therefore refuse to attend the funeral ceremony for cremated deceased. Despite the negative attitude of the Greek Orthodox Church, the number of cremations is increasing. The cremations take place in neighboring countries. Around 4,000 Greek citizens were cremated in Bulgaria in 2016.

Other religions

Cremation according to Hindu custom in Nepal . The corpse was wrapped in a reddish cloth.
  • In Judaism and Islam , the cremation of the dead body, i.e. cremation, is fundamentally forbidden.
  • For the Baha'i religion, its founder Baha'u'llah forbade cremation in his Kitab-i-Aqdas in 1873 .
  • The Hinduism has no uniform rituals. In most cases, the deceased is brought to the grave by the son and placed on the cleaned floor. The cremation takes place in the open air on a pyre .
  • Open cremation is common for Buddhists , the dead end up in transcendent air instead of in the earth .
  • In Japan , cremations are carried out at lower temperatures than in Europe. The tradition began in 700 with the burning of the monk Dōshō , followed by that of the Jitō - tennō in 703 and the Mommu -tennō in 707, and became common in the Nara period . Bone components in the ashes are passed on through the relatives, who form a chain, using chopsticks before they are placed in the urn.

The course of a modern cremation

An open-air cremation, as for Hindus and Buddhists, is not permitted in Central Europe.

preparation

In Germany , cremation requires a separate permit. In particular, there must be no doubts about the identity of the deceased and the cause of death, since a subsequent examination of the corpse ( exhumation ) after the cremation is no longer possible. Therefore, before the cremation, a second examination of the corpse is carried out by a medical officer or forensic doctor in the cold room of the crematorium, usually within two days. In Germany, coffins are mandatory, which is why they must be coffin before cremation. A human body consists of over 70 percent water and additional fuel is required for combustion. The body is therefore burned together with the coffin in the crematorium. In some systems, however, a respectful introduction in simpler containers is possible.

A firebrick used in a cremation

For cremation not be screwed coffins made of wood used. Fittings made of other materials are removed before cremation. The wood of the cremation coffin is a source of energy and another is the clothing for the dead. This should not be made of plastics. The coffin, coffin fittings and clothing for the dead are selected so that the emissions during the incineration meet the regulations.

Depending on the existing regulations, pacemakers and medical aids must be removed from the body before the cremation ; batteries could damage the furnace due to the risk of explosion when exposed to heat. If radiation therapy was used shortly before the death of the deceased , a waiting period may have to be observed to allow the radioactive contamination of the corpse to subside (in Germany according to the Radiation Protection Ordinance ).

The ovens in (most) crematoria are not designed to hold more than one coffin at a time. At cremations in Germany, a firebrick is placed on the coffin or the corpse before cremation . The same unique number is stamped on the stone as on the lid of the urn, on which there are further information. This also ensures that the ashes are assigned to the urn.

combustion

Burning a dead person

The cremation itself takes place in a muffle furnace lined with firebricks , which was preheated to around 900 ° C. The coffin is usually retracted automatically in order to avoid excessive temperature loss. The coffin ignites by itself due to the heat given off by the heat-storing fireclay lining of the furnace. On the other hand, the incineration of the coffin provides the necessary amount of energy to keep the incineration going. The combustion is only supported by supplying hot air. This phase lasts about 45 minutes and ends with the ashes from the incineration of the coffin and clothing being blown off. The temperature is then increased to 1,200 ° C - for example by switching on gas burners - in order to incinerate remaining components. The furnace systems have safety devices that guarantee an environmentally friendly, resource-saving and safe combustion for the employee. During the cremation, the organs and soft tissue are burned . Essentially, only mineral bone components and teeth (around five percent of body weight) and non-combustible implants remain .

The cremation process requires around 20 liters of heating oil or a corresponding amount of energy from another source ( fuel gas or electrical heating). The burn lasts a little over 90 minutes on average. Oak coffins burn more slowly than fir, spruce or pine coffins. A heavier corpse contains more water and therefore burns more slowly. Together with the cooling of the combustion chamber, the total time can increase to three hours.

The exhaust gases from the cremation furnace are cleaned. In modern systems, a cooler for the flue gases is followed by a cyclone with a lime-coal mixture and a fine dust filter for fine solid particles. This is followed by a catalytic converter in order to comply with the emission values ​​before the cleaned exhaust gas escapes into the ambient air through the 10 meter high chimney . In Germany, the ordinance on cremation facilities and VDI guideline 3891 are decisive. Carrying out the cremation in accordance with regulations can be challenging in individual cases. For example, the cremation of extremely obese corpses results in very high temperatures which, if not careful, could result in higher environmental pollution or even damage to the facility.

Many crematoria allow relatives to be present at the cremation upon request. Regardless of the bereavement, some crematoriums offer the opportunity to visit the crematorium.

Grinding and filling of the ashes

An ash capsule with the ashes contained in it, the lid on the left
A decorative or over urn with the strings that are used to lower the urn into the ground

After the oven has cooled to around 600 ° C, the bone remains are swept into an ash pan with a steel broom, whereby iron parts such as coffin clips are magnetically sorted out. Gold and titanium implants are also discarded. There are even larger bone fragments in the ashes. In a bone mill, this mixture is ground to a fine powder with the help of heavy steel balls.

The ground material and the ceramic marking board that was enclosed with the coffin when it was burned are placed in an ash capsule and this is closed. The name of the crematorium, the name of the deceased and the date of birth, death and cremation as well as the identification number are stamped on the outside of the capsule lid. The ash capsule is often placed in a representative or decorative urn , which gives the simply designed ash capsule a dignified, pious appearance.

The ash capsule is handed over to the undertaker in Germany or transported as a package to the place of burial. In some federal states, the ash capsule may also be given to relatives - only for transport to the burial site. In Switzerland, relatives can pick up the urn and, for example, set it up at home or scatter the ashes. In the Netherlands and many other countries, the ashtray is given to relatives.

Property and proceeds

The body of the dead is not property in the sense of civil law. The precious and hard metal implants not incinerated during the cremation of the corpse are legally treated as part of the body.

It is estimated that (precious) metals to the value of 70 euros are incurred per cremation. Remaining recyclable materials will be returned at the request of the heirs. There are no clear guidelines as to what is buried or how and for whose benefit something is given to recyclers. Many operators of crematoria donate the precious metals and other valuable items to charitable organizations. In the Netherlands and the UK, charitable funds were created for the proceeds. If the testator has made a disposition over the metal remains for his own cremation, this instruction is binding. Otherwise, the operator of the crematorium usually discusses this point with the bereaved. The agreement with the bereaved is documented in writing.

There are sometimes court decisions about the communal enrichment of the communes operating the crematoria or their employees, although these leave the question open of how the valuable remains are to be dealt with in general. The former general secretary of the Federal Association of German Undertakers (BDB), Rolf Lichtner, was of the opinion that it was "quite common for crematoria to sell metals such as dental gold for commercial purposes after cremation". However, the BDB ethically condemns this handling: “Basically everything belongs in the urn.” According to the OLG Bamberg, there is even criminal protection for disturbing the peace of the dead . However, this only relates to an unauthorized removal of the metals from the ashes of the dead. The state burial laws, which are authoritative for the practice of handling the cremation remains, do not prohibit the removal of metals. In Lower Saxony, for example, this is even explicitly allowed according to the funeral law there.

The attitude “everything belongs in the urn” is no longer up-to-date in the modern funeral world. Many crematoriums completely separate the metal parts from the ash residues if the bereaved relatives agree that the metal remains can be removed and recycled. According to a legal opinion by the Aeternitas association from 2018, the principle that, from an environmental point of view, only decaying materials should be buried in the funeral laws of the German federal states is increasingly prevailing. This development is particularly understandable in view of the increasing number of natural burials in forests. In Switzerland, river and meadow burials are also allowed. For obvious reasons, it is not desirable if some metal remains are deposited in an openly visible manner in ash-strewn meadows or in rivers.

Instructions from the deceased

The deceased must be buried according to the instructions left by him. These can contain the place of cremation and burial. Such instructions are final insofar as they are ethical.

Under private law, the heir of the deceased, as the porter of the burial and the client for the cremation, can make further requirements for the operator of the crematorium. For example, in the agreement on the cremation service, he can set a contractual condition that fills in a missing provision. If the operator carries out the cremation, he is bound by it. However, the crematorium does not have to agree to this condition and can then reject the cremation. Anyone who will carry out the cremation in such a case may require an administrative decision by the municipality in which the body is kept.

Burial of the ashes

There are numerous forms of burial for the ashes of the deceased. Despite some discussions in Germany, there is a legal obligation to bury the ashes in a cemetery ( cemetery compulsory ).

Community facility for burial of urns in the ground
Urn wall in the cemetery in Hünstelden ears
Columbarium in the cemetery in Ebingen (Baden-Württemberg)

graveyard

The most common form of urn burial is the urn grave. As the last resting place of the urn, it can also be buried in the earth grave, in a niche in an urn wall or given in another form.

In many countries it is possible to place urns in columbaria . These are urn walls or steles in cemeteries and in special halls, including rededicated church buildings, where the urns are kept for at least the statutory rest period.

Funeral forest

On the other hand, burial of the ashes in the root area of ​​trees in a funeral forest is possible in Germany and Austria as well as in Switzerland .

Scatter the ashes

The scattering of ashes in forest, meadow or stream is in Germany because of the duty of burial of the urn in a cemetery or a comparable non-pious dedicated terrain possible in principle. After the change in burial laws in the German federal states of Bremen and North Rhine-Westphalia , anonymous burial in the form of scattering the ashes in a field of a cemetery is permitted. In Bremen, the cemetery requirement was generally abolished on January 1, 2015. In North Rhine-Westphalia it is allowed to scatter ashes outside of cemeteries, however, according to the Ministry of Health, the place of burial must remain "permanently accessible to the public" at least at certain times.

In Switzerland there is no compulsory cemetery, so the ashes can simply be scattered in the forest or a river. Private storage in the house or garden is possible. There are almost no restrictions on handling cremation ashes and the urn of a person.

The possibility of air funeral is in France, Czech Republic and Switzerland. The ashes are scattered over forest or meadow areas from an aircraft (usually a hot air balloon).

Burial in your own garden

In Austria, the urn can be buried in your own garden with a separate permit. In France, burial in one's own garden has not been allowed since the end of 2008.

Sea and river burials

In the case of a burial at sea , a sea ​​urn that dissolves in the water is sunk into the sea from on board a ship. A river burial takes place in a similar form.

Diamond burial

In principle, the cremation can be carried out in such a way that a diamond is crystallized from remaining traces of amorphous carbon (soot) of the body ash in a separate process with the addition of further inorganic materials , which serves as a souvenir for the bereaved. Even with a " diamond burial", almost the entire ashes of the deceased are buried, for example in an earth grave or in an urn wall. The diamond itself is not buried. It only weighs around 80 to 200 milligrams.

Space burial

The space burial is a rather symbolic act . This rare and expensive form of honor was bestowed on the astronomer and impact researcher Eugene Shoemaker . In 1998 the Lunar Prospector probe brought a few grams of its ashes to the moon.

Cremation Statistics

Germany

In Germany, the number of cremations has risen steadily. At the beginning of the 1990s, cremation accounted for a third nationwide. In 1993, 55 percent of the deceased were cremated in the area of ​​the former GDR, in the old federal states the proportion was around half of them. In 1997 the proportion nationwide was 38 percent. For 2016, the Federal Association of German Undertakers gave a ratio of 64 percent cremations to 36 percent burials. According to a survey by the RAL Gütegemeinschaft Feuerbestattungsanlagen eV, the share of cremations in 2016 was 69 percent. According to estimates by the Federal Association of German Undertakers and the “Aeternitas” association, the proportion for 2018 is around two thirds of the deceased. A survey by the Gütegemeinschaft Feuerbestattungsanlagen eV found a nationwide share of cremation of 73 percent for 2018. According to this survey, more than 90 percent of the deceased are cremated in various eastern German states.

The share of cremations in Munich was 37% in 1990 and 58% in 2009. In Berlin, the proportions rose from 1965 to 1990 in the western part from 45.1% to 65.1% and in the eastern part from 53.3% to 72.6%.

One of the reasons for the increased share of cremations is the lower fee rates in cemeteries, which are offset by the costs of cremation. An urn grave also requires less effort in tending to the grave, often none at all. In addition, burial and the associated decomposition of the corpse in the ground can also be rejected for aesthetic and hygienic reasons. Sociologists see social trends such as individualization, pluralization and secularization as well as increasing mobility as causes for the increasing popularity of cremation and the resulting burial options.

From Germany, crematoriums are increasingly being used in neighboring countries, especially in the Czech Republic, because of lower prices. This “funeral tourism” is controversial because burial types are possible abroad that are prohibited in Germany. In the event of cremation in the Netherlands, for example, the ash capsule can be given directly to relatives.

Country comparison

Cremation rates in 1998 according to information from "The Cremation Society of Great Britain"
Number of crematoria (no year) according to crematorium.eu
and 3 different current sources for DACH
Country Percentage ownership % Cremations Deaths Crematoria
(1998)
Crematoria
(n.d.)
Crematoria
(March 16, 2017)
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom 74.42 00439.145 000614.910 238 251
DenmarkDenmark Denmark 71.11 00041,594 000058,490 32 32
SwedenSweden Sweden 67.84 00063.273 000093.271 72 68
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 55 (1997) 00034,561 000062,839 27 27 25th
NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands 48.24 00066,322 000137,482 54 72
GermanyGermany Germany 39.06 00332.914 000852.382 113 144 159
BelgiumBelgium Belgium 30.97 00032,389 000104,583 10 11
FinlandFinland Finland 24.02 00011,834 000049,262 20th 21st
AustriaAustria Austria 18.09 00014,139 000078,339 10 10 16
SpainSpain Spain 10.91 00035,995 000330,000 54 109
FranceFrance France 04.90 00080,534 000540.497 74 119
IrelandIreland Ireland 04.56 00001,460 000032,000 1 3
ItalyItaly Italy 04.09 00023,613 000576.911 33 52
LuxembourgLuxembourg Luxembourg 1
Czech RepublicCzech Republic Czech Republic 27
EstoniaEstonia Estonia 2
HungaryHungary Hungary 12
SloveniaSlovenia Slovenia 2
SlovakiaSlovakia Slovakia 3
LatviaLatvia Latvia 1
PortugalPortugal Portugal 4th
LithuaniaLithuania Lithuania 1
PolandPoland Poland 9
GreeceGreece Greece 1
Cyprus RepublicRepublic of Cyprus Cyprus 0
MaltaMalta Malta 0
JapanJapan Japan 1600
United StatesUnited States United States 1877

literature

  • Horst Deinert , Wolfgang Jegust (Ed.): Death and funeral law. Collection of federal and state regulations. FVB Fachverlag des Deutschen Bestattungsgewerbes, Düsseldorf 2005, ISBN 3-936057-18-4 and ISBN 3-89817-476-X .
  • Norbert Fischer : From the Gottesacker to the Crematorium: a social history of the cemeteries in Germany since the 18th century. Böhlau, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-412-11195-3 .
  • Norbert Fischer: Between mourning and technology: cremation, crematorium, flamarium. A cultural story. Nora, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-935445-95-4 .
  • Jürgen Gaedke, Joachim Diefenbach: Handbook of cemetery and burial law with a detailed collection of sources of the applicable state and church law. Heymann, Cologne / Berlin / Munich 2004 9 , ISBN 3-452-25310-4 .
  • Edith Hoffmann : The beginnings of the fire rite - attempt at an interpretation. In: Friedrich Schlette, Dieter Kaufmann (ed.): Religion and cult in prehistoric and early historical times. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, p. 99 ff.
  • Horst Günter Lange: Cremation and its influence on cemetery planning illustrated using the example of the Hamburg cemetery in Ohlsdorf. In: Die Gartenkunst  8 (1/1996), pp. 108–118.
  • Fritz Schumacher : The cremation. Architecture manual. Part 4: Design, lay out and furnish the buildings. Half volume 8: Churches, monuments and burial grounds. Book 3b. Gebhardt, Leipzig 1939.
  • Tade M. Spranger, Frank Pasic, Michael Kriebel (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Feuerbestattungswesens . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Stuttgart / Munich, 2014, ISBN 978 3-415-05135-5 .
  • Henning Winter: The architecture of the crematoria in the German Empire 1878–1918. Röll, Dettelbach 2001, ISBN 3-89754-185-8 .
  • Max-Rainer Uhrig : On the trail of the phoenix. On the cultural history of cremation. Ergon, Würzburg, 2017, ISBN 978-3-95650-268-2 .
  • Cremation: coffin and ashes . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28 , 1964 ( online ).
  • Carl Reclam : The Cremation . In: The Gazebo . Issue 19, 1874, pp. 308-313 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
  • Cremation . In: Otto Lueger (Ed.): Lexicon of the entire technology and its auxiliary sciences. Vol. 6, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart / Leipzig 1908, pp. 120–127.

Web links

Commons : Cremations  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Cremation  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. What is a cremation? bestattungen.de. Quote: "Cremation means the cremation and the subsequent burial of the ashes of the deceased."
  2. Duden online: Cremation . The meaning is given on the one hand a form of burial , on the other hand "cremation", ie the process of cremation.
  3. See Duden online: cremation , cremation , cremation of corpses
  4. Duden online: Cremation , see note on word usage.
  5. a b c Dagmar Hemmer, Andreas Höferl, Bela Hollos: Privatization and Liberalization of Public Services in the EU-15: Funeral Services (PDF), Vienna 2003, p. 4.
  6. Stefan Fayans: Bestattungsanlagen (= manual of architecture. 4th part, 8th half volume, volume 3). Stuttgart 1907, pp. 9-11.
  7. Stefan Fayans: Bestattungsanlagen (= manual of architecture. 4th part, 8th half volume, volume 3). Stuttgart 1907, pp. 11-12.
  8. Reiner Sörries: Grave roads and necropolises based on the Roman model. The cemetery system in the Germanic provinces of the Imperium Romanum. In: Central Institute and Museum for Sepulchral Culture Kassel (ed.): Room for the dead. Braunschweig 2003, ISBN 3-87815-174-8 , p. 12.
  9. Jacob Grimm: About the burning of the corpses. A lecture given by Jacob Grimm at the Academie der Wissenschaften on November 29, 1849. Printed in the printing house of the Academy of Sciences, Berlin 1850, p. 4 f. : "[...] this seems to have been buried before, in the burning there was a progress in intellectual popular education, which was finally deviated from again when humanity was able to enter even more general stages of its ennoblement."
  10. Jacob Grimm: About the burning of the corpses. A lecture given by Jacob Grimm at the Academie der Wissenschaften on November 29, 1849. Printed in the printing house of the Academy of Sciences, Berlin 1850, p. 9.
  11. Stefan Fayans: Bestattungsanlagen (= manual of architecture. 4th part, 8th half volume, volume 3). Stuttgart 1907, p. 16.
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  13. Dagmar Hemmer, Andreas Höferl, Bela Hollos: Privatization and Liberalization of Public Services in the EU-15: Funeral Services (PDF), Vienna 2003, p. 5.
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  15. Barbara Stock: The history of modern cremation began in Dresden. In: Dresdner Latest News . November 26, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2018 .
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  18. ^ Norbert Fischer: Cremation and Crematorium , section The Examples Heidelberg and Hamburg (1891/92)
  19. May 15, 1934: The law on cremation comes into force wdr.de, May 15, 2004
  20. ^ CIC 1917, can Canon 1203, § 2
  21. Permission for cremation
  22. ^ Johann Werfring: The cremation in Vienna. In: Wiener Zeitung. October 28, 2002, p. 7 , accessed December 10, 2011 .
  23. Catholic Adult Catechism. Volume II, 5.3 Death and Burial .
  24. CIC 1983, can. 1176 § 3.
  25. ↑ kathisch.de : Rules for cremation
  26. ^ A b Greece: Peace without Ashes deutschlandfunk.de, May 2, 2017.
  27. ^ Giorgos Christides: Fight for cremation in Greece: "Insulting the dead" spiegel.de, November 22, 2014.
  28. In the Koran (5:31) the following sentence can be found: "Then Allah sent a raven to scratch the ground to show him how to hide the body of his brother."
  29. The sacred beach of Varkala - Cremation in India. In: Ohlsdorf - magazine for mourning culture. August 2006.
  30. Cremation: procedure and special features
  31. ^ Cremation process , feuerbestattungen.de.
  32. VDI guideline 3891, section coffin, coffin fittings and clothing for the dead , see table of contents (PDF)
  33. ^ Peter Wilhelm : Clothing in the crematorium bestatterweblog.de, September 7, 2012.
  34. Peter Wilhelm: Are the pacemakers removed before the dead are cremated? bestatterweblog.de, August 2, 2012.
  35. VDI guideline 3891, information on radioactive substances. See version from May 2001 ( krematoriumwien.at (PDF)), p. 8.
  36. Respect is the top priority in the Osnabruck crematorium . In: Osnabrücker Zeitung , June 25, 2015.
  37. ^ Revolution in the realm of the dead. In: NZZ Folio . June 2014.
  38. a b How the corpse gets into the urn fudder.de, October 20, 2008.
  39. VDI guideline 3891, see table of contents (PDF)
  40. Fire department at the coffin . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 2012 ( online ).
  41. The cremation ergodirekt.de, quote: "Most crematoria [...] allow the presence of relatives during the cremation." - Examples: Crematorium Stuttgart , crematorium Kiel .
  42. FAQ - frequently asked questions bestattung-brehm.de, answer to question 5: "The possibility to be present at the cremation of relatives is not given in all crematoria."
  43. Examples: Guided tour through the crematorium , Cologne crematorium ; Ethics / religious instruction and guided tours in the crematorium , Meißen crematorium
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  45. DHL Urnenversand website of DHL; accessed September 5, 2018.
  46. Country overview on urn transport by relatives (PDF) aeternitas.de, as of 2017; accessed September 5, 2018.
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  48. How relatives circumvent the obligation to have a burial in NRW In: Rheinische Post. Online, December 5, 2017.
  49. VDI nachrichten, January 18, 2013: Low emissions on the last trip. P. 3.
  50. a b Does the gold tooth belong in the urn? aeternitas.de, press release from May 16, 2018.
  51. Municipal enrichment in dental gold.
  52. ^ NJW 2008, 1543
  53. Section 12, Paragraph 3, Sentence 4 of the BestattG: "Metal parts released during incineration may be removed from the ashes."
  54. Eckhard Stengel: Bremen's liberal funeral law: Beyond death. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung . November 24, 2014, accessed on June 18, 2018 (report on the final adoption of the legislative change).
  55. Original text of Law No. 2008-1350 (French).
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  58. ^ Austrian Society for Policy Advice and Policy Development (Ed.): Privatization and Liberalization of Public Services in the EU-15: Funeral Services (source of the data: surveys of the German Association of Cities) . Vienna 2003.
  59. ^ Press release from the Federal Association of German Undertakers, July 3, 2017.
  60. The ratio of coffin and urn burials in Germany from 2012 to 2016 according to surveys by the RAL-Gütegemeinschaft Feuerbestattungsanlagen e. V. (PDF).
  61. https://jeversches-wochenblatt.de/Nachrichten/artikel/bestatter-ein-beruf-mit-vielen-facetten-bestatter-ein-beruf-mit-vielen-facetten-2 Jeversches Wochenblatt: Bestatter - a job with many facets , October 21, 2019
  62. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/leben/gesellschaft-freudenstadt-letzt-ruhestaette-feuerbestattungen-belieben-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-191031-99-522696 Süddeutsche Zeitung: Last resting place: cremations popular , October 30, 2019
  63. http://www.feuerbestattungsanlagen-ral.de/GFB-umfrageverbindungen_2019.pdf Survey results of the Gütegemeinschaft Feuerbestattungsanlagen eV
  64. Munich cemeteries: More and more graves remain empty tz-online.de, February 14, 2011.
  65. Effects of the division of the city on the cemetery system (PDF; 3.8 MB).
  66. https://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/kommunen-unter-druck-zu-streng-zu-gross-zu-teuer-wird-der-klassische-friedhof-bald-zu-grabe-getzung_id_11286012.html Focus.de: "Too strict, too big, too expensive: the cemetery itself is threatened with death", October 29, 2019
  67. Thorsten Benkel / Matthias Meitzler: Symbols and farewell gestures . Social elements of the funeral culture. Hamburg 20136, ISBN 978-3830061779 , p. 219.
  68. Michael Bee: Farewell with a bang (PDF) Berliner Morgenpost November 20, 2011. Award-winning article on cremation and funeral tourism to the Czech Republic.
  69. Overview of crematoria in Germany Entwicklungs1.aeternitas.de, accessed on March 16, 2017.
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  71. Swiss Cremation Association: List of members , accessed on March 16, 2017.
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