The Jork cemetery. Photograph taken in 1962 during the storm floods
Because the cemetery next to St. Matthew’s church was no longer adequate for its needs, a new church cemetery was built at the beginning of the 20th century. The church had bought the site from the Giese family as early as 1901, renting it out as a fruit orchard until required.
The site was raised by 1.25 metres and drainage laid lengthwise and crosswise to it. When the site was extended in 1927, the church council had to pay the tidy sum of 9,000 Gold Marks. As luck would have it, the council had sold graves to Jork families the year before for the sum of 3,000 Gold Marks.
The purchasers were requested to pay the church their separate sums following the fruit harvest of 1927.
In the years that followed, the cemetery had to undergo constant extension, especially after World War II, when the number of Jork inhabitants doubled, due to refugees and displaced persons who also settled here. Because of shorter life expectations and higher infant mortality rates, more graves were required in one generation than ever before. Many Jork families at the time had one large grave with eight so-called “beds” or burial spaces. In recent years, many family graves have been relinquished, and more and more people decide to be buried in a communal grave for urns and coffins, in other words, in a grass-covered area.
People are reluctant to burden their relatives with grave maintenance for 30 years, or no longer have relatives nearby who can look after the graves. In this respect, cultural graveyard changes are reflected in society’s habits and growing mobility.
