Living and cultivating a culture of remembrance

The Association for the Culture of Remembrance is dedicated to an area of our overall culture that is rich in tradition, in which individual mourning, recreation and the experience of nature in charming surroundings meld into a unique combination.

We respect the cultural traditions that are worth protecting, but we are open to all the needs of society.

Our working environment encompasses many facets, including cemetery-specific production chains and their social, economic and ecological side effects. We promote social projects and nature conservation in a range of networks.

The Association for the Culture of Remembrance sees itself as a cultural and economic interest group representing all stakeholders in the German cemetery system. Since its foundation, the Association has been engaged in a lively discussion about fields of action, which it then tackles with appropriate thoroughness:

• Providing information on urn burials outside cemeteries, funding legal representation in the 2014/15 urn forest cases to enable for sustainable outcomes
• Application to the German UNESCO Commission for the national entry “Intangible Cultural Asset” – discussed and decided in 2015 on the fringe of the Nuremberg trade fair Stone+tech
• Clarification of the release of climate-damaging CO2 during cremations in crematoria
• Questions on the hazards to employees in crematoria from radioactive exposure according to reports from nuclear medicine.
  More at: Radiation risk during cremation of cancer patients
• Questions on the risk to crematorium employees during pandemics in the context of the 2nd post-mortem examination
  More at: Recommendations for the management of deceased persons infected with SARS-CoV-2.
• Recommendations for the burial and care of high-maintenance grave sites
• Commitment to decent working conditions around the globe and the promotion of social projects

Critical institutions such as the Federal Environment Agency, the German Federal Environmental Foundation and, most recently, the Robert Koch Institute have already addressed the issues raised, and initial results are available. The Intangible Cultural Asset Initiative has also been successful.

The most important key to the implementation of the Association’s goals is effective press and public relations work. The Association for the Culture of Remembrance also and especially supports its members in the field of publicity.