GERMANY: Mourners may get some relief over loss of loved ones from digital tombstones

Record ID: 643991

  • Title: GERMANY: Mourners may get some relief over loss of loved ones from digital tombstones
  • Date: 3rd November 2008
  • Summary: (L1) GREVEN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 31, 2008) (REUTERS) CARPENTER CARSTEN GLASER WORKING ON WOODEN COVER FOR DIGITAL TOMBSTONE (SOUNDBITE) (German) CARSTEN GLASER, CARPENTER, SAYING: "I liked the idea and started thinking about how it could be turned into reality in Germany since we have tougher cemetery regulations (than in the Netherlands where the product originates). So we first had to look for ways to make it happen." GLASER WORKING ON WOODEN COVER (SOUNDBITE) (German) CARSTEN GLASER, CARPENTER, SAYING: "Just like with any other new product, it takes its time. However, tombstones are different: after all, we're not selling coffee machines. We are offering something which requires a demand. People won't just buy it because they think it's a good product. The feedback is very positive. Sure, tastes differ and some are saying 'I don't need that.' But that holds for a lot of other things too. Generally, people look at it objectively and the approve of it." GLASER MOUNTING WOODEN LEAF ONTO MONITOR GLASER'S FACE REFLECTED IN MONITOR
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA40NROBJPAGRVA3F00JB7GFJVG
  • Story Text: Mourners in Germany grieving the death of a loved one may now find some relief with the help of a digital tombstone showing pictures of the deceased person.
    Carpenter Carsten Glaser from Greven near Muenster, in the country's northeast, recently told Reuters Television how he was approached by the Dutch inventor of the digital tombstone.

    "I liked the idea and started thinking about how it could be turned into reality in Germany since we have tougher cemetery regulations than in the Netherlands," Glaser said.
    The battery operated monitor can be used for slide shows or a static picture of the deceased person, relatives, the person's pet or just about anything else which was dear to the person buried.
    Glaser said that so far, he sold four digital tombstones and is currently working on two new ones.
    A wooden cover shaped like an appletree leaf will decorate his next product of which he admits not everyone will be fond of.

    "Just like with any other new product, it takes its time to become a success," Glaser said of the 5,000 euro (6,389 U.S. dollars) digital tombstone.

    "Tombstones are different: After all, we're not selling coffee machines," Glaser said, adding "the feedback is very positive."
    One of his clients is Michael Koenigsfeld whose aunt is buried at Cologne's Westhoven cemetery, the place where Koenigsfeld works as a gardener.

    "I was looking for a wooden tombstone on the Internet and then came across this digital one. I thought it was a great idea: something modern and new which I'm always open to," he said.
    Because of his work at the cemetery, Koenigsfeld gets firsthand feedback on the digital tombstone.

    "Younger people like it a lot, older people find it exposes too much to the public," said Koenigsfeld.
    The digital tombstone might expose a lot of things, but not the deceased person's voice as, according to the maker of the digital tombstone, creating noise is against German cemetery regulations.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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