Police seek information
The arrangement had been placed on the grave at midday Saturday. The woman noticed its disappearance the following afternoon.
Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact the Eichstätt police station at (08421) 97 70-0.
Cemetery thefts reported across several regions
Separate police reports and statistics document cemetery thefts elsewhere in Germany. In Munich, police linked roughly 80 offenses at cemeteries in the city and surrounding district to a theft series that began in early 2024. In a May 24, 2024, press release, they put the total damage at several tens of thousands of euros.
The items stolen in that series were mainly made of copper, brass or bronze. To remove larger crosses and angel figures, thieves cut through their mountings with an angle grinder or saw.
SR reported on October 29, 2026, that sharply higher copper and bronze prices could help explain the rise in cemetery thefts in Saarland. A separate report by katholisch.de on October 24, 2025, said thieves sell stolen metal to recycling companies or abroad. The Eichstätt report gives no motive for the theft of the arrangement.
Saarland's cemetery theft figures reached a provisional record of 278 cases in 2025, according to police data published by SR's Saartext service. That compares with 113 cases in 2023 and 40 in 2021. Damage totaled 148,000 euros in 2025, up from 42,000 euros in 2023.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, police recorded 2,618 cemetery thefts in 2024, compared with 2,557 the previous year, according to katholisch.de's October 24, 2025, report citing the Rheinische Post.
Hesse recorded 2,606 cemetery thefts over the six years from 2020 through 2025, according to police crime statistics cited by dpa on August 4, 2026. The Hessian State Criminal Police Office put the total damage at about 1.47 million euros.
Potential criminal penalties
Taking items from a grave can constitute disturbing the peace of the dead, or Störung der Totenruhe, as well as theft, Hessian police press spokesperson Yvonne Winter told dpa in its August 4, 2026, report.
Buying or reselling stolen grave decorations can also be prosecuted as handling stolen goods, known as Hehlerei, with penalties of a fine or up to five years in prison, Winter said.
