As the first historical study of East Germany's sepulchral culture, this
book explores the complex cultural responses to death since the Second
World War. Topics include the interrelated areas of the organization and
municipalization of the undertaking industry; the steps taken towards a
socialist cemetery culture such as issues of design, spatial layout, and
commemorative practices; the propagation of cremation as a means of
disposal; the wide-spread introduction of anonymous communal areas for
the internment of urns; and the emergence of socialist and secular
funeral rituals. The author analyses the manifold changes to the system
of the disposal of the dead in East Germany--a society that not only had
to negotiate the upheaval of military defeat but also urbanization,
secularization, a communist regime, and a planned economy. Stressing a
comparative approach, the book reveals surprising similarities to the
development of Western countries but also highlights the intricate local
variations within the GDR and sheds more light on the East German state
and its society.