"Whispers from the Cemetery"

The “Black Widow” is Dr. Anja Kretschmer-Rodenbröker from Bad Doberan. She is a cultural studies scholar who focuses on the scholarly examination of, among other things, historical burial crypts, the architectural and family histories of historic manor houses, and the development of funeral customs up to the modern era.

In her guided tour “Whispers from the Cemetery,” she explores death and burial in earlier eras: mourning attendants, revenants, and funeral wreaths. The focus here is on the customs, traditions, and superstitions of our ancestors. How did our ancestors deal with the topics of dying, death, and mourning? What rituals existed? Do you know why you should never call a dying person by name, or what the dove has to do with death? Who or what are “Leichenbitter”? What are “Totenkronen”? And why were the deceased bound or had peas placed in their coffins? Many of these questions are answered and supplemented with fascinating firsthand accounts.