May I wear the ashes of a deceased relative in a pendant?

This is the most frequently asked question, and the answer depends on the country. Germany: not clearly regulated in law; most federal states impose mandatory cemetery burial (Friedhofszwang), which prohibits keeping ashes outside a cemetery. A few states (Bremen, and Berlin within limits) allow exceptions. Keeping a partial quantity of the ashes in a pendant is, in legal practice, often a tolerated grey area, but strictly speaking not permitted. Austria: permitted in some provinces and not in others; a hollow jewellery setting with a small quantity of ash is often tacitly accepted. Switzerland: largely permitted, varying by canton; entirely unproblematic in French-speaking Switzerland in particular.

What is *Friedhofszwang*?

Friedhofszwang - mandatory cemetery burial - is the legal obligation that bodies and urns be buried exclusively in a cemetery. In Germany it applies in most federal states to both coffin and urn burials; the ashes may neither be kept at home nor scattered freely (with exceptions for sea burial, woodland burial grounds and natural burial in approved sites). In Austria and Switzerland the rules are considerably more liberal - cantonal and provincial exceptions permit the private keeping of urns or the free scattering of ashes in many cases.

How does the ash reach an ash-jewellery workshop?

Three standard routes. Direct handover by the funeral director: after the cremation a small partial quantity of the ashes (often 1 to 5 grams) is removed and passed to the workshop; the main quantity is buried in an urn in the regular way. Handover by the family: the family receives a partial quantity of the ashes in person and passes it to the workshop. Handover via international workshops: workshops in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Belgium that sidestep Germany's strict burial rules receive the ash by specialist courier. The legal basis of this third route is disputed in the German context.

What is the legal position on memorial diamonds?

Memorial diamonds are mostly grown abroad (Switzerland, USA, Netherlands) and are subject to no direct statutory prohibition in Germany. Handing the ash over to the workshop, however, raises the same legal difficulty as with ash jewellery. In practice, a memorial diamond that has once been grown is treated as an ordinary piece of jewellery - the legal problem concerns the handover process, not the finished diamond. See also Memorial Diamond.

Practice & law

Burial Laws and the Ashes of the Deceased (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)

In Germany, ashes are largely subject to mandatory cemetery burial (*Friedhofszwang*); in Austria practice is more liberal and varies by state; in Switzerland it is largely unrestricted. This has concrete consequences for ash jewellery and memorial diamonds; the legal position is country-specific and still changing.

Written by Dr. Helene Vasall

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The legal treatment of the ashes of the deceased is a complex and continually shifting field in the German-speaking world. Unlike many other European countries (France, Italy, Spain) and most US states, Germany largely imposes mandatory cemetery burial (Friedhofszwang) - the obligation that a deceased person's ashes may only be buried in an approved cemetery. This legal position has immediate consequences for modern memorial jewellery - in particular for ash pendants and memorial diamonds, whose manufacture requires a partial quantity of the ashes to be removed. The sections below describe the legal position in the three German-speaking countries and its practical consequences.

Note: this entry is a general cultural-historical and cultural-studies overview, not legal advice. On specific legal questions, consult funeral directors, workshop providers or lawyers familiar with the local rules in force in each case.

Germany

In Germany, burial is a matter for the individual states. There is no federal burial act; each of the 16 states has its own statute. The basic principles are nevertheless similar in most states:

Mandatory cemetery burial. In most states, ashes may only be interred in an approved cemetery or an approved natural burial site (a burial woodland, sea burial within designated areas). Keeping the urn privately at home is not permitted; scattering the ashes on one's own property or in nature is prohibited.

Exceptions. A few states have relaxed the requirement. Bremen was the first state (2014) to pass a law permitting the free scattering of ashes on one's own property or in private spaces. Berlin has allowed exceptions within limits. Other states (Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland) hold to the strict requirement.

Ash jewellery. German law on wearing a partial quantity of ashes in a piece of jewellery is not clearly regulated. Strictly speaking, mandatory cemetery burial applies to small partial quantities as well - which would make a hollow jewellery setting containing ash unlawful. In legal practice, however, the situation is more complicated:

Many funeral directors pass small partial quantities of ash (1 to 5 grams) to the family without this being actively prosecuted
Specialist workshops in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium receive these partial quantities and work them into ash pendants and memorial diamonds
An express ruling from the highest courts on this practice is still awaited; individual administrative proceedings have produced differing outcomes in the past

What has emerged is a de facto grey area: legally contested, widespread in practice, and standard in the day-to-day work of the workshops.

Memorial diamond. A memorial diamond (see Memorial Diamond) is made almost exclusively abroad - the most important workshops are in Switzerland (Algordanza), the USA (LifeGem) and the Netherlands. Handing the ash over to these workshops is subject to the legal difficulty described above; the finished diamond is then an ordinary piece of jewellery with no further restrictions.

Austria

In Austria, too, burial is a matter for the provinces. Each of the 9 federal provinces has its own burial act.

Mandatory cemetery burial. In Austria the requirement is still formally in place in most provinces, but has been relaxed in practice. Several provinces (Vienna, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Tyrol, Vorarlberg) have introduced explicit exceptions for the private keeping of ashes in recent years.

Ashes at home. In Vienna and Salzburg, keeping the urn privately at home is permitted under certain conditions. Tyrol and Vorarlberg have also relaxed their rules. Upper Austria and Styria apply a more restrictive regime.

Ash jewellery. Austrian legal practice is more liberal than the German. A hollow jewellery setting with a small quantity of ash is tacitly accepted in most provinces. Specialist workshops in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck make ash jewellery without particular legal complications.

Switzerland

Switzerland has the most liberal legal position of the three countries.

Mandatory cemetery burial. In Switzerland, burial regulation is organised at cantonal level. In most cantons - above all in French-speaking Switzerland and in urban areas - the requirement has largely been abolished. The free scattering of ashes and the private keeping of urns are permitted in many cantons.

Ash jewellery. Swiss workshops - above all in Zurich, Geneva, Bern and Ticino - make ash jewellery without particular legal complications. Switzerland is also a significant location for memorial-diamond workshops (Algordanza in Chur is one of the world's leading workshops in this segment).

Significance for the German-speaking market. Switzerland's liberal legal position makes the country an important workshop location for German- and Austrian-speaking customers who cannot have ash jewellery or a memorial diamond made in their home country without legal complications. The workshops work with standardised shipping procedures that allow the international handover of ash with practically no legal risk.

Practical effects on memorial jewellery

The legal position across Germany, Austria and Switzerland has concrete practical effects on the modern memorial jewellery market:

Workshop locations. Many significant ash-jewellery and memorial-diamond workshops are based in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Belgium - countries with liberal law on ashes. German and Austrian customers send the partial quantity of ash there by specialist courier.

Volumes. Ash jewellery and memorial diamonds have not achieved the same market penetration in the German-speaking world as in the USA, the UK or the Netherlands. Legal uncertainty deters many potential customers; the practice remains a niche.

The alternative: hair and fingerprints. The legal complications around ashes make hair pendants and fingerprint pendants the more attractive alternative for many German and Austrian customers - both are legally unproblematic, yet iconographically and emotionally comparable in effect. This partly explains the strong uptake of fingerprint pendants in German-speaking countries (see Fingerprint Pendant).

International workshop cooperation. Many German and Austrian jewellery workshops cooperate with Dutch, Swiss and Belgian ash workshops - making the pendant domestically and having the ash element incorporated abroad.

Debate and possible legal developments

German law on ashes is the subject of continuing public debate. Several arguments are exchanged:

Advocates of liberalisation point to:

personal self-determination over one's own body and its remains (including posthumously)
cultural changes in mourning and burial practice (the individualisation of grief)
the economic significance of the growing memorial jewellery market
comparison with neighbouring countries (Switzerland, the Netherlands, France)

Advocates of the existing rules point to:

protecting the dignity of the deceased (a central value in German burial law)
the importance of cemeteries as social and cultural places of mourning
the risk of commercialising human remains
the need for clear and uniform burial rules

The debate is open. Further relaxations at state level are to be expected in the coming years - along the lines of developments in Bremen (2014) and Berlin. A uniform federal regime is unlikely in the medium term, because burial remains a matter for the states.

Advisory and workshop practice

Anyone in the German-speaking world wishing to have an ash pendant or memorial diamond made should bear a few practical points in mind:

Talk to the funeral director. Most funeral directors know whether handing over a partial quantity of ashes is practically possible in their region, and which procedures are established.
Choose a specialist workshop. Ash jewellery and memorial diamonds require specialist workshops with documented experience. Look for workshops with clear procedural documentation, certificates and transparent pricing.
Legal advice. For larger commissions - above all memorial diamonds in the four-figure range - brief legal advice is worthwhile. Lawyers specialising in burial law can clarify the position in the particular state.
Consider the alternative. Where the legal situation is unclear or a source of worry, a hair pendant (see Hair Pendant (Modern Memorial Jewellery)) or a fingerprint pendant (see Fingerprint Pendant) can be an emotionally and iconographically comparable alternative - both without legal complications.
Keep the procedural documentation. For ash pieces and memorial diamonds, retain the workshop certificates, shipping receipts and handover documents. Complete documentation is helpful if legal questions arise later.

The German-speaking countries in comparison

By international standards, law on ashes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is strikingly restrictive. For comparison:

USA: in almost all states, keeping ashes at home and scattering them freely is permitted; ash jewellery and memorial diamonds are established and widespread
United Kingdom: largely liberal rules; ash jewellery and memorial diamonds are common
France: more strictly regulated since 2008 (private keeping prohibited, scattering only in approved sites); but ash jewellery in small quantities is tolerated
Italy: more liberal than Germany; ash jewellery and memorial diamonds are possible
Spain: largely unrestricted; ash jewellery and memorial diamonds are widespread
Netherlands: very liberal rules; the Netherlands is one of the most important European workshop locations for ash jewellery and memorial diamonds

Germany's exceptional position in international comparison follows from the specifically German tradition of mourning and burial, with its strong anchoring in the cemetery. That tradition has deep cultural roots (see Mourning Rituals in the German-Speaking World) and is the subject of debates about cultural identity. Its continuing restrictiveness is not merely a legal position but also the expression of a particular culture of mourning which, though it has lost binding force over recent decades, continues to operate as a background norm.

Outlook

Law on ashes in the German-speaking countries is in flux. Several trends are discernible:

Step-by-step liberalisation at the level of individual states and cantons
A growing memorial jewellery market, with increasing workshop practice and social acceptance
A nationwide debate in Germany, with the first political initiatives for a uniform, relaxed regime
International workshop cooperation as a pragmatic way around the current legal uncertainty
Alternative forms of memorial jewellery (hair pendants, fingerprint pendants) as legally unproblematic options

The legal landscape will continue to change over the next ten to twenty years. For today's workshop and advisory practice, the current legal position remains decisive - with its particularities in every state and canton.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about this entry

May I wear the ashes of a deceased relative in a pendant?: This is the most frequently asked question, and the answer depends on the country. Germany: not clearly regulated in law; most federal states impose mandatory cemetery burial (Friedhofszwang), which prohibits keeping ashes outside a cemetery. A few states (Bremen, and Berlin within limits) allow exceptions. Keeping a partial quantity of the ashes in a pendant is, in legal practice, often a tolerated grey area, but strictly speaking not permitted. Austria: permitted in some provinces and not in others; a hollow jewellery setting with a small quantity of ash is often tacitly accepted. Switzerland: largely permitted, varying by canton; entirely unproblematic in French-speaking Switzerland in particular.
What is *Friedhofszwang*?: Friedhofszwang - mandatory cemetery burial - is the legal obligation that bodies and urns be buried exclusively in a cemetery. In Germany it applies in most federal states to both coffin and urn burials; the ashes may neither be kept at home nor scattered freely (with exceptions for sea burial, woodland burial grounds and natural burial in approved sites). In Austria and Switzerland the rules are considerably more liberal - cantonal and provincial exceptions permit the private keeping of urns or the free scattering of ashes in many cases.
How does the ash reach an ash-jewellery workshop?: Three standard routes. Direct handover by the funeral director: after the cremation a small partial quantity of the ashes (often 1 to 5 grams) is removed and passed to the workshop; the main quantity is buried in an urn in the regular way. Handover by the family: the family receives a partial quantity of the ashes in person and passes it to the workshop. Handover via international workshops: workshops in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Belgium that sidestep Germany's strict burial rules receive the ash by specialist courier. The legal basis of this third route is disputed in the German context.
What is the legal position on memorial diamonds?: Memorial diamonds are mostly grown abroad (Switzerland, USA, Netherlands) and are subject to no direct statutory prohibition in Germany. Handing the ash over to the workshop, however, raises the same legal difficulty as with ash jewellery. In practice, a memorial diamond that has once been grown is treated as an ordinary piece of jewellery - the legal problem concerns the handover process, not the finished diamond. See also Memorial Diamond.

Sources

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