Turning point in Schwerin's culture of mourning: First communal burial for star children!

Turning point in Schwerin's culture of mourning: First communal burial for star children!

A significant change in funeral culture is underway in the Schwerin region, which is intended to offer parents who have had to go through a tragedy a valuable moment of farewell. Katharina Kasch from Sternenkinder Schwerin and Anita Stech from Polarstern Parchim have been campaigning for several years to provide dignified support for parents who lose babies before birth or shortly afterwards. This initiative has had a profound impact on grief recovery and is now recognized as a real turning point in regional grief culture.

On November 22nd at 11 a.m., the first community funeral for star children will take place in the mourning hall at the old cemetery in Schwerin, in which parents can actively participate. So far they have not been able to attend the funeral, which has left a painful gap in the mourning process for many. Every year, around 1,300 children are born in Schwerin, but every third pregnancy is affected by miscarriage or early death, which further reinforces the importance of this event. The organizers plan to shorten the times between funerals in order to offer the affected families this opportunity on a regular basis.

Important support for the project

Donations are essential to meet the financial burden of this initiative. Antje Schmidt, a funeral speaker, appears free of charge, while the flower shop “Vergiss mein nicht” and the “Haus der Funeral” in Parchim also provide support without charging any fees. This shows the strong community spirit behind this project. Separate burials for star children who weigh less than 1000 grams and were born silently in the last 12 months will take place in the Old Cemetery. While in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania there is only a requirement to bury these children if they weigh more than 1000 grams, there is no such weight limit in other federal states such as North Rhine-Westphalia.

Award for the effort

For her commitment, Anita Stech and her association Polarstern were honored at the “machen!2025” ideas competition in Berlin. The “Light of Hope and Signpost” project received a special award, which underlines the importance and innovative character of this form of burial. It shows a deep understanding of the grieving process and the need to shape it in a new way. Such initiatives are not only important locally, but also contribute to a rethinking in society about common ideas and practices of mourning and burial.

A look beyond borders shows that funeral culture can take on very different forms. From prehistoric air burials in eastern Iran to modern forms of sea burial in Germany. A prime example is cremation, which has historically become a cost-saving alternative in many cultures, including our own. Understanding and dealing with grief can take different forms in different cultures, which illustrates the scope of the topic.

It remains to be hoped that the upcoming community funeral in Schwerin can not only provide consolation to the affected parents, but can also serve as a model for similar projects throughout Germany. This is about enabling an elegant and respectful approach to one of the most difficult phases of life - and that needs more visibility and support.