I nominate this headline for oxymoron of the month.

Aside from your comment's being amusingly true, there is a big difference between cemeteries in Germany and those in the US. Over there and as it applies to graves, the concept "perpetual care" is unknown. You do not "own" a grave site. You merely lease it from a municipality or state for X number of years, usually starting with 5 years and then with options for additional periods in 10 or 20 year increments; either one being quite expensive. If, at the end of any given period, the lease is not renewed, the municipality/state has the right to remove headstones, makers and whatever remains there may be, advise the last known lease payor thereof, and, if there is no response, re-rent the site. There is a method to this madness, especially as it pertains to the first 5 years. There are normally survivors who can't bring themselves to allow a relative to be "discarded" and dug up and who, more than likely, will re-rent the grave for additional periods, regardless of the cost. In other words, it is a racket, although lack of space could play a role. With respect to ancient or old cemeteries, they either fall into the category of "historical sites" as is the case with military cemeteries and depend on donations or very reluctant state appropriations or they end up becoming very dilapidated, since nobody is around to renew the leases as is, also, the case with most Jewish cemeteries. There is a small Jewish cemetery across the street from where my mother is buried. In view of why it was in shambles after the war, it had become such a reminder of guilt and shame, the refurbishing and upkeep was contractually assumed by the renters of the Christian cemetery. When I visited the grave of my mother in l998, the Jewish cemetery was quite beautiful, although there had not been a funeral in probably 60 years. As long-winded as this dissertation may have been, it, hopefully, explains the situation with respect to Jewish cemetaries, at least, in Germany.

Incredibly stupid and apallingly insensitive.

the germans should pay for the upkeep of this jewish cemetery until the end of time. it is morally mandated.

#1 is right about german cemetaries. when I was in Germany I visited a lot of Jewish cemetaries and I was appalled but not suprised at the state of decay and disrepair that they were in. Germans have no respect for them and there are few Jewish people to take care of them. I'll never forget seeing little kids climbing on top of a holocaust memorial as if it was a playground.

and go over and fix things up? Why are you people ,some of the richest in the world, I might add, always looking for a handout? Get some rich American or Russian oligarchs to give out some of their blood money to fix these places up. Otherwise tear them down and let the land be used for something else.

The deterioration of Jewish cemeteries is not limited to Germany. Many hundreds of cemteries here in the US and in other countries are in similar, dire straits. What unites them too often is the persistent belief among many Jewish people that the responsibility for paying for the upkeep and doing the work goes to someone else. Here in Indianapolis, I took over the restoration of five historic Orthodox Cemeteries six years ago. There had been considerable vandalism and the walls and fences surrounding the cemeteries were in sorry shape. A few other people were willing to help out but for the most part the larger community, quick to criticize if the grass isn't cut or the vandalism corrected, was disinterested in making any other commitment. Happily, most of our work is done and our application for inclusion in the Feder Registry of Historic Places is moving forward. Think about doing something other than criticizing the Germans or going 'tsk. tsk!" There is a Jewish cemetery near you that needs help. Adopt it as your own project. The dead can't do it themselves. And as my father of blessed memory always said, "It is a true mitzvah.

Thought the Germans after the war agreed to be responsible for the upkeep of the cemeteries after their atrocities.