1/5 Elke Hartman at the grave of her sons Julian and Sofian (photo: Imke van de Laar)
Every Hartman from Veghel cannot comprehend it. On Sunday evening, the grave of her sons Julian and Sofian was robbed at Zuidergaard cemetery. For the umpteenth time. For four years, butterflies, bears and flowers have regularly disappeared from the grave. “This is inhumane, why would someone do such a thing”, Elke wonders in tears.
Shaken, Elke stands at the grave of her sons Julian and Sofian. Now there are butterflies and flowers again, but Sunday evening they were gone. “Stolen”, Elke sighs.
Almost every day she goes to the grave of Julian and Sofian, who died during pregnancy. Items are regularly removed. “It makes me angry and sad, it breaks your heart. It’s unbelievable that people walk over a grave and take things away. I don’t think they realize what that feels like. It has a lot of value to us.”
“All plants, bears and butterflies were gone. Then you break.”
The grave robbing started four years ago. But lately it’s been getting worse. Last week it even hit twice. “I arrived here and all the stuff was gone. The plants, bears and butterflies. Then you break. That’s inhumane.”
Elke does not understand why someone does this. “I wonder what they do with it. Do you decorate your garden with it? Do you then sit and look at your flowers in the evening and are you happy?”
“In this way, instead of a place of comfort, it becomes a place where you go with fear.”
It is becoming increasingly difficult for Elke to find peace at the grave. Crying, she says: “When I arrive here, I’m already afraid that everything is gone. So instead of a place of comfort, it becomes a place where you go with fear.”
She has already reported the grave robbery several times. But so far that has yielded nothing. “We always hear the same thing: that they are not allowed to place cameras in the cemetery. So a thief has privacy, but deceased people have no peace.”
Elke hopes by telling her story that people in the neighborhood will keep an eye on things. And that the thief realizes the suffering he causes. “I hope that someone like that understands what this does to people. That you just want to give your loved ones a resting place. And that when you arrive here and everything is destroyed, that is really not possible.”
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