In Ireland, when I asked distant relatives about where someone was buried a hundred years ago, they could take me right to the site, even if it were an unmarked grave. In Germany, I found a cemetery in Neckargartach, but all the graves were from within the last 40-50 years, so I asked at the church office if there were an 'alte' cemetery. Once they understood what I was looking for, they laughed. They said that a grave would only last as long as there were someone to take care of it, unless it were someone famous. It's a lot easier to do geneaological research in Ireland!
I don't know if looking forward and not living in the past has always been a trait of the Germans, or if it entered their psyche as a result of losing two major wars in the last century. That certainly has to have an impact. At the church in Neckargartach, there was a memorial to soldiers who died in World War I that included some Hagners. It struck me that it must have been extremely hard on Gramma Norris living in Connecticut, with her husband off in France fighting, possibly against her own cousins.
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