Police investigate

Alarm at the cemetery! New coups by modern grave robbers

Criminal gangs have already targeted local cemeteries in the past. However, a detailed search for clues often did not lead to success.

(Bild: Hansjörg Schimanek)

Horror thriller about plundered graves in the German capital. The criminal investigation is already in full swing and the church representatives are accusing the police of a sacrilegious attack on Christianity.

While the famous film character Indiana Jones is still on the hunt for lost treasures in tombs and the like all over the world, brazen criminals are currently wreaking havoc in local cemeteries. Not a trace of action, good humor or even positive intentions - but rather sad petty crime and sacrilege at Christian sites!

Several graves in Vienna looted, jewelry gone
Last weekend, for example, unknown perpetrators used brute force to open several graves at Vienna's Großjedlersdorf cemetery and presumably also stole some buried valuables. According to relatives, at least one mausoleum is said to have contained a valuable piece of jewelry.

The police, however, speak of "complete professionals", as there were also indications of heavy equipment at the crime scene. Representatives of the archdiocese are shocked and the local authority is also unable to explain the attack, but no comment on the extent of the damage would be made at this stage, as the police investigation is still ongoing.

Our cemeteries are places of hope for the resurrection. These outrageous acts are also an indirect attack on our Christian traditions and values.

Georg Schimmerl, Sprecher der Erzdiözese Wien auf Nachfrage der „Krone“

Damage to property, desecration and co.
While incidents - especially at Viennese cemeteries - are becoming more frequent, there has not yet been a striking increase in this type of crime nationwide. However, a comeback of the criminal phenomenon cannot be ruled out, it is said.

In any case, last year the Federal Criminal Police Office reported a decline in the number of crimes committed on the local cemetery when asked by the "Krone". Since the beginning of the decade, however, there have been hundreds of incidents of damage to property, theft and burglary in cemeteries, with or without weapons. While the excitement is always great, the hunt for the perpetrators is usually like the search for the holy grail.