Modern culture of remembrance” in the District of Düren: The “flower ban” by the District of Düren on the German military cemeteries in Hürtgen Forest before the State Constitutional Court of Northrhine-Westfalia (Published on 30/04/2025)
As is known, since the adoption of new cemetery rules (“Friedhofsordnung”, “FO”) in September 2022 the District of Düren under District Administrator Wolfgang Spelthahn (CDU) has prohibited visitors to the German military cemeteries in Hürtgen and Vossenack from laying there “wreaths or flowers, vases or other signs of mourning” unless they have been granted an exceptional permit (cf. sec. 4 cipher 4. a) FO); violations of this prohibition constitute an administrative offense (cf. sec. 7 FO).
The preliminary legal protection against this so-called “flower ban” initiated at the beginning of 2023 was unsuccessful before the Administrative Court Aachen (“VG Aachen”) and the Higher Administrative Court NRW (“OVG NRW”).
In July 2023, a constitutional complaint was filed with the State Constitutional Court of Northrhine-Westfalia (“VerfGH NRW”) against sec. 4 cipher 4. a) FO and the rejection of the corresponding urgent appeal by the OVG NRW, subsequently accompanied by a corresponding application for a temporary injunction. The VerfGH NRW has rejected both.
An report on the two decisions is available here.
(Head picture: Flowers on a grave
at the German military cemetery Vossenack, October 2023)
Further articles on the topic “‘Modern culture of remembrance’ in the District of Düren”:
- The removal of the information board on Julius Erasmus from the Vossenack military cemetery in 2021 (03/10/2021)
- Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge NRW on the removal of the information board on Julius Erasmus from the Vossenack military cemetery in 2021 (17/06/2022)
- News on the removal of the information board on Julius Erasmus from the Vossenack military cemetery in 2021 (23/08/2022)
- The “representative for the care of the war grave sites Vossenack and Hürtgen as places of a democratic culture of remembrance and commemoration” (“Beauftragter für die Betreuung der Kriegsgräberstätten Vossenack und Hürtgen als Orte einer demokratischen Erinnerungs- und Gedenkkultur”) (16/11/2022)
- The ban on laying flowers and candles at the military cemeteries in Hürtgen and Vossenack (12/02/2023)
- Administrative Court Aachen denies grant of a preliminary order against the District of Düren “flower ban”, appeal to the Higher Administrative Court (23/03/2023)
- Laying of wreaths by the Administrator of the District of Düren at the Military Cemeteries in Hürtgen and Vossenack on Remembrance Day 2022 – or: Quod licet iovi, non licet bovi?(21/04/2023)
- District of Düren denies “flower ban” on Military Cemeteries in Hürtgen Forest to press and media (13/05/2023)
- “Flower ban” of the District of Düren on the Military Cemeteries in Hürtgen Forest: Higher Administrative Court of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia rejects the appeal against the denial of urgent legal protection (03/07/2023)
- Administration out of control – District now also bans photos of the fallen in uniform at Military Cemeteries in Hürtgen Forest (18/08/2023)
- The “permanent exhibition” on the Hürtgen war cemetery (20/12/2023)
- The removal of the memorial stone for Julius Erasmus by the District in September 2022 (06/02/2024)
- The distortion of remembrance on the national Remembrance Day (“Volkstrauertag”) (21/04/2024)
- The “Dance Theater” over the graves of the war dead at the military cemetery in Vossenack on the occasion of Remembrance Day (“Volkstrauertag”) 2023 (19/08/2024)
- The statement of the President of Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. on the “Dance Theater” at the military cemetery in Vossenack on the occasion of Remembrance Day 2023 – a “fact check” (13/11/2024)
- Information from the District administration on “incidents with a right-wing extremist background” at the military cemeteries in Hürtgen and Vossenack and on “violations” of the cemetery rules (13/03/2025)
- “Flower ban”, “dance theater” and the Geneva Conventions (22/05/2025)
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