Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof (Alter Sankt-Matthäus-Kirchhof or Old St. Matthew's Churchyard) is a cemetery in

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelh ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was established in 1856 by the Protestant parish of St. Matthew. It is known for its interment of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

and

Wilhelm Grimm Wilhelm Carl Grimm (also Karl; 24 February 178616 December 1859) was a German author and anthropologist, and the younger brother of Jacob Grimm, of the literary duo the Brothers Grimm. Life and work Wilhelm was born in February 1786 in Hanau, in ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

tellers of "

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" ("Aschenputtel"), "

The Frog Prince "The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" (german: Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich, literally "The Frog King or the Iron Henry") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 1). ...

" ("Der Froschkönig"), "

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

" ("Hänsel und Gretel"), "

Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( , ) is a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as part of ''Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Brothers Grimm's story developed from the French literary fairy tale of ''Persinette ...

", "

Rumpelstiltskin "Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; german: Rumpelstilzchen) is a German fairy tale. It was collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of ''Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about a little imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a g ...

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Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

" ("Schneewittchen");

Rudolf Virchow Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (; or ; 13 October 18215 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician. He is known as "the father of modern pathology" and as the founder ...

, variously known as "father of modern pathology", "father of modern medicine" or "father of social medicine";

Talat Pasha Mehmed Talaat (1 September 187415 March 1921), commonly known as Talaat Pasha or Talat Pasha,; tr, Talat Paşa, links=no was an Ottoman politician and convicted war criminal of the late Ottoman Empire who served as its leader from 1913 t ...

, * and

Claus von Stauffenberg Colonel Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (; 15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. Despite ...

, a German Army officer who almost assassinated

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. As for Stauffenberg, his corpse was exhumed by the SS on 22 July 1944, the day after his burial, and cremated to remove any traces of him. His tombstone, however, remains intact.

History

A Protestant parish named St. Matthäus (St. Matthew) was established in 1846 in southern Tiergarten area of Schöneberg. With the growing residents of eminent officials and scientists by the late 19th century, it became known as the "Privy Councilor's Quarters". The parish acquired a plot of land on the nearby hillside for their cemetery in 1854. It was first used for the purpose on 25 March 1856. It soon attracted even non-parishioners so that it had to be extended by 1883. To raise its value, interment fee for non-parishioners was increased in 1877. Due to impending saturation of the space, it was approved in 1890 that only the parishioners could use the cemetery. For non-parishioners, a new cemetery was created near the city. In 1909, a concrete funeral chapel was established in place of a small wooden chapel built in 1876. The artistic designs of the graveyard and chapel reflects the works of architects, sculptors, and artisans of the Prussian Empire. The

German Reichstag The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

planned to expand Berlin with demolition of the cemetery under

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he ...

s' project. During 1938–1939, the northern section, covering one-third of the area, was demolished. The rest was to be done away by 1941. The government's investment in World War II led to loss of attention to the plan. However, a number of graves were destroyed as Berlin was ravaged by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

towards the end of the war. The surrounding area, located between three rail lines, is known as "

Red Island Red Island may refer to: * Red Island, Newfoundland and Labrador * Red Island, Queensland * Red Island (Antarctica) * Red Island (Grenadines), in St Vincent and the Grenadines * Red Island Holiday Camp, in Ireland *Rhode Island, meaning red island * ...

" as it served as a hotspot for anti-Nazi resistance. The parish was dissolved in 2001, and the cemetery was taken over by the Evangelische Zwölf-Apostel-Kirchengemeinde (The Twelve Apostle Church) of Berlin. The City of Berlin had declared about 60 graves as heritage sites.

Important burials

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alter St.-Matthaus-Kirchhof Cemeteries in Berlin Lutheran cemeteries in Germany