The Friedensau Cemetery

At the end of Ahornstraße, at the end of the road, so to speak, our cemetery lies nestled at the edge of the forest. It is a little special—as far as I know, it is the only “Adventist” cemetery, that is, a church cemetery run by our Church. As the Friedensau institutions, we are also responsible for the administration and design of the final resting place of what has become quite a large number of well-known and lesser-known people.

Ted Wilson, president of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church until this summer, told me that our cemetery was his favorite place in Friedensau. Not only because our team of gardeners takes special care of it, but because he imagines what it will be like when people are resurrected here at Jesus' return: personalities who were important to the community in Friedensau, in Germany, and even throughout the world, and who will then meet each other. What will it be like when Friedensau's first student and East African missionary August Langholf meets Margarethe Undritz, who at the age of 78 left Friedensau to join the newly founded preacher's school in Zaoksky near Moscow to help build up the theology department as a lecturer?

In recent years, I myself have said goodbye to several Friedensau residents who were important to me. Hans (Johann) Gerhardt, who was the principal when I was called to Friedensau; Erwin and Ruth Kilian, who had a big heart for Friedensau; and Manfred Böttcher, who visited me regularly in my office until shortly before his death and prayed with me for Friedensau and all its residents.

I regularly jog past the cemetery. I often stop for a moment and think of people I miss—whether they are buried here or elsewhere. The purpose of a cemetery is to give us a dignified space in which to remember. For this reason, we do not have truly “anonymous” burials, for example. We always bury people in the presence of those who are saying goodbye—even if it has happened that only our pastor was present. Every name remains, at least in our records.

We are currently revising our cemetery regulations and fees. Maintaining a cemetery also costs work and money – and when weighing up what is important, it is easy to put the costs of maintenance and upkeep on the back burner – the dead often have no voice.

It is all the more wonderful when relatives donate to the preservation of the small cemetery chapel, as happened some time ago. With this donation, we were able to renovate the windows, door, and joints, and now once again have a dignified space for saying goodbye. Next, we want to erect a memorial plaque with the names of distinguished Friedensau residents, who will thus remain in our memory even after the expiry of their resting place. Names of people we look forward to seeing again when we are resurrected, which we all hope for.

Thank you for all your prayers, your support, every euro

We are grateful for financial support from Friedensau. Even small and regular donations to the Friedensau Adventist University Foundation are helpful. Thank you very much.

Tobias H. Koch, Chancellor

For payments by bank transfer, please use the following account details:

Friedensauer Hochschul-Stiftung
SozialBank
IBAN: DE86 3702 0500 0001 4854 00
BIC: BFSWDE33XXX