Cemetery gardener horrified: Strangers steal flower arrangements from graves in Miesbach

Not even the cemetery is sacred to these perpetrators.

Once again, strangers stole flower arrangements from graves in the Miesbach forest cemetery.

Miesbach

- gardener Andrea Unützer (55) reports on the incidents - and appeals to the vigilance of the cemetery visitors.

Ms. Unützer, what does someone do with stolen grave decorations?

Andrea Unützer: Hardly

sell, the value is far too low.

Actually, only giving away makes sense.

Or you can put the flowers at home in your living room.

Both a very macabre idea.

How heartless do you have to be to do something like this?

Apparently a lot, because it's not an isolated case, is it?

Andrea Unützer:

Unfortunately not.

Most of the time it works like this: someone orders a bouquet or a flower arrangement from us.

We tie it and place it on the grave as agreed.

Then when people come to the cemetery all they find is the empty bowl or vase.

You can imagine how this would go down in an already emotional memorial service.

The perpetrators don't even shrink from a fresh grave?

Andrea Unützer:

Indeed not.

Recently we prepared a flower arrangement with 20 red roses for a funeral at the urn pavilion.

At 12 o'clock we were finished.

When the mourners arrived at 1.30 p.m., only the arrangement was left.

There was no trace of the roses.

Someone pulled them out so neatly that people thought we'd just forgotten the roses.

Also read: Relatives dismayed: Unknown steal urn shortly before the burial

And then you had to justify yourself ...

Andrea Unützer:

Exactly.

We are grateful for every order at the moment.

When something like that happens, it throws a very bad image of our work.

Even if we can't help it, we first have to make that credible to the relatives.

There is always an uneasy feeling on both sides, because you can't make up for something like that afterwards.

Simply terrible!

What can you do about it?

Set up cameras?

Andrea Unützer:

Unfortunately, I'm at a loss too.

At least now I sometimes take a photo of the finished grave so that we have something in hand.

There are of course no references to witnesses.

Who gets skeptical when someone walks through the cemetery with a bouquet of flowers?

Also interesting: tree burials at the Miesbach forest cemetery are now possible

So you'd have to catch the thieves in the act.

Andrea Unützer:

Even that will be difficult.

The perpetrators are pretty clever.

Once we had the case that the relatives left a bouquet of flowers and a few candles at the grave and then quickly went to fetch water.

When they came back the flowers were gone - and the candles were burning.

So that it looks to uninvolved observers as if you are a relative.

For me there is already a criminal energy behind it.

So it really needs a cemetery detective ...

Andrea Unützer:

I wouldn't want to go that far.

I would rather ask the cemetery visitors to keep their eyes open.

If something seems strange to someone, just speak to them.

I know that in the cemetery in particular you don't want to suspect anyone wrongly, but we obviously don't have a chance otherwise.

We don't need to appeal to the perpetrators' conscience.

They don't have one for me.

But you shouldn't feel safe either!

so called