Cemeteries are one of my favorite places and German cemeteries top the list. Such care is taken by the families for each resting spot. Today after our German lesson we visited this peaceful cemetery called Parkfriedhof near Frau Enger’s home. She wanted to take us to the place where her husband, Joachim is buried. He died in 2015.
I loved learning more about the cemeteries here. A walk in a cemetery is like a walk in a garden created by hundreds of gardeners. In Germany, a burial plot is purchased for 20-25 years, depending on the density of the soil. Most are 20 year contracts which are renewable. Usually if a family moves away or doesn’t care of the plot, they aren’t renewed.
Cemeteries have watering taps with watering cans throughout the cemetery for your use. The walkways and paths are well-kept.
When it’s time to renew the 20-year contract, the family gets a notice like the green slip below, attached to the headstone.
Here we are at Joachim’s grave.
Here are a couple of memorials for children. Frau Enger knew and loved little Emma. She was a church member.
There was a section of the cemetery for Muslims with wooden markers, not stones . Frau Enger explained that they are not allowed to be buried in most cemeteries here because they only wrap the bodies in a cloth. I don’t think embalming is practiced here for anyone. Burials are held quickly after deaths.
Here is a heartbreaking story about a poor young girl who was murdered here almost 20 years ago. Frau Enger told us about her when we were at the cemetery. Her grave was given up 2 years ago after 20 years. For 20 years, Sis Enger watched over her grave and cared for it, honoring the girl no one knew. Frau Enger has a tender heart.
Unresolved Mysteries
The Girl from the Main: tortured for years, murdered and dumped into a river in 2001, identity still unknown
Listed here before. I only noticed after I finished the article, it’s been 5 years, and I think the case still deserves attention.
In the early afternoon of July 31st 2001, passers-by in Frankfurt, Germany found a bundle drifting in the river Main. It contained the unclothed body of a teenaged girl. To this day, her identity is unknown.
What is known is that her life must have been horrifying for a long time before her death. While the cause of death was blunt trauma that caused the ribs to puncture the lung and spleen, that was far from the only injury discovered in the autopsy. Both arms had been fractured and healed without proper medical care. There were multiple large scars on the victim’s legs and torso, as well as small burn scars (most likely caused by cigarettes) all over her body. The time of death was about 3 days before the body was found, and it had been drifting in the water for 12 to 14 hours.
The girl’s age was estimated to be 15 or 16, although she was very slim and may have looked younger. DNA and hair mineral analysis revealed that she was born and grew up in Pakistan, Afghanistan, or northern India, but had lived in Germany for about 2 years before her death. An origin from Pakistan or Afghanistan seems more likely since the bedsheets the body was wrapped in were bound with two cloth belts typical for that region, known as “nalas”.
This has led to speculation (so far not substantiated by anything) that the girl may have been brought to Germany either for an arranged marriage, or as a servant.
Police investigation in the case was quite intense and long, involving the Pakistani, Afghani, and Indian communities in Germany, investigating all known female immigrants of matching age from these countries to the Frankfurt region, and even putting up search posters in these countries. Additionally, over 100 ships that had passed that river section during the time the body was in the water were searched. Nothing came of it.
The Girl from the Main found her last resting place in a cemetary in northern Frankfurt, under a gravestone paid for by police officers involved in the investigation.
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 