I'm a simple emigrant, and a quiet neighborhood doesn't always suit me

I once entrusted a friend to choose a parking spot for a trip. She picked the perfect one: spacious, clean, close to the center. You wake up in the morning, go out with tea, and there’s nobody around, only an old lady selling flowers. While you wonder why she’s selling them here, you take a few more steps, and the puzzle falls into place: on the other side of the wall is a cemetery. In Germany, as in many places in Europe, cemeteries are not meant to evoke fear or panic. Very often it’s some pleasant park or square, where until you see the tombstones you can’t even realize you’re strolling among graves. The Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg is generally considered the largest park cemetery in the world; its area is about 391 hectares, roughly the size of a large city district. People can easily stroll around there, enjoy their morning coffee, sit on a bench. But don’t think this is the merit solely of local authorities, of course not. Germany wouldn’t be Germany if it didn’t have rules in 40 paragraphs about how each burial should look and be maintained. Here it’s called a garden, so everyone must conform to the style: clean the plot, trim the plants, not put up a fence, use certain materials. You can’t even erect a full-height monument to an authority with his beloved Mercedes. Another surprising moment — the term. In many places a plot can only be rented for 20–30 years. It costs a little, on average, a couple thousand euros. If after this period there is no one left to tend the grave, and no one renews the lease, the remains are moved to a common area, and the place is used again. Moreover, the contract can be terminated even earlier for not complying with those care rules, for example. Many German cemeteries are recognized as cultural heritage sites. For example, Melaten in Cologne is made after the likeness of the French Père-Lachaise. On my last trip to Paris, I also walked there; it’s quite interesting, but once dusk starts to fall it’s still uncomfortable. The medieval Johannisfriedhof in Nuremberg is the most beautiful cemetery in Germany; it has so many roses planted that some botanical gardens might envy it. And at the old Saint Matthew’s Cemetery in Berlin there is simply a lot of cultural and historical heritage, and graves of famous people, for example the Brothers Grimm and the participants in the attack on the Führer led by Stauffenberg. In fact, the entire German Friedhofskultur has been recognized as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO since 2020. Well yes, that year there was plenty of opportunity to appreciate it. And yet I’m not a fan of daily strolls through cemeteries, though on tours of them I would find it interesting. And what about you? Would you go to such a park with a sandwich? #history #Ordnung