Municipal cemetery, Görlitz

The first burial was that of the Lord Mayor Gottlob Demiani, whose grave still exists today on the historic cemetery wall. After several extensions (1858, 1880, 1913, 1945) and a partial dedication (1983), the cemetery today covers an area of about 28 ha.Traditionally, burials were carried out as earth burials until the beginning of the 20th century. Particularly ostentatious family graves were laid out along the outer walls and main paths. With the "Law on Cremation", in 1911, cremation rapidly gained in importance and today accounts for about 90 % of burials. In 1968, the possibility of anonymous urn burials was created for the first time with the so-called "Rose Bed". Later, this developed into the communal grave with naming, primarily incorporating the historic cemetery wall. Today, many well-designed facilities bear witness to the acceptance of this form of burial by the bereaved. Family graves still exist alongside row graves, and tree burials are possible in a forest-like grave field.

Many graves with elaborate decorative elements on stones and grids still bear witness to the wealth of earlier Görlitz citizens. Graves of the lord mayors are preserved, as are the graves of famous people from business, art and culture, such as Johann Christoph Lüders. Probably the best known among them is Minna Herzlieb, a muse of Goethe. The great poet dedicated sonnets to her and made her immortal as Ottilie in the "Elective Affinities".

A large number of historically valuable graves as well as graves of people important to the history of the city make up the special charm of the municipal cemetery. A compilation of the most important gravesites can be found in the leaflet "Städtischer Friedhof 1847-1997". Since public funds are not sufficient to renovate the graves, fundraising campaigns are launched to save important individual graves.