Hannelore Brett (84) has collected her garden gnomes for many years. “Everyone admired the garden gnomes,” she said. Now they’re gone Photo: Joerg Bergmann
By Peter Oldenburger and Jörg Bergmann
The police in Rathenow are dealing with an unusual theft. Common thieves stole 50 garden gnomes from a garden in the village of Rhinow – 1000 euros damage!
The perpetrators had apparently climbed over the fence and ransacked the Brett family’s garden. A bitter loss for Hannelore Brett (84), who lives with her husband Dieter (83), who is suffering from dementia, on the outskirts of the village of Rhinow.
The thieves left this garden gnome Photo: Joerg Bergmann
25 years ago she started collecting cute figures to beautify her garden. “So that it doesn’t look so dull, I put the garden gnomes here. That looked very funny. Everyone admired the garden. We even had a deer and a big fox with us,” says the former seamstress.
You can still see the footprints of the stolen garden gnomes in the lawn Photo: Joerg Bergmann
The woman, originally from Berlin-Rixdorf, suspects that the thief or thieves want to sell their loot at markets or on the Internet. “I would recognize some of them. The roebuck cost 150 euros, a piece of the horn broke off. I would notice that immediately,” Hannelore Brett continues.
She reported the theft to the police and also to the insurance company. “Would I buy new garden gnomes again? Actually yes. They are part of our garden. But then I have to bring them in every night so they can’t be stolen again.”