Training to Bury the Dead

Christiane Hossdorf found her dream job while still in high school. The 19-year-old interned at a funeral home and decided she wanted to work in the field. She doesn't fear the sight of people who died in traffic accidents. She's not disgusted by handling bodies.

Hossdorf can only think of one situation where she'd be hesitant to do her job: Burying a child is not something she's looking forward to. "I'd let others do that for now and just watch them," she said.

A job independent of economic cycles

The young woman is lucky to have found an apprenticeship -- 24,000 Germans are still on the look-out this year and the government is now considering fining companies unwilling to train people.

The funeral business is a stable one, "independent of economic cycles", as the Federal Association of German Undertakers states in a leaflet. People die, no matter what happens. Last year, 842,000 Germans were buried or cremated and anyone training to become an undertaker stands a good chance of landing a job afterwards.

But while some of Hossdorf's friends are fascinated by what she's doing, others still can't understand why she chose her line of work.

Still a men's world

"Some think I'm crazy," she said. "They ask me: 'Why are you doing this? These people just go crazy in their heads, because they constantly have to deal with mourners.'"

Her parents initially didn't like the idea, either. They feared she would not be able to deal with the psychological pressure. Hossdorf also gets asked over and over again why she's chosen a job that's still done mainly by men.

"People tell me: 'That's a man's job and people don’t like to see women do it,'" Hossdorf said. "I see things differently. There are women who become roofers. Sure, some bodies weigh a little more and I have to stop and rest once in a while, but it always works out somehow."

Psychology of mourning

Hossdorf said she doesn't want to limit her work to helping relatives organize funerals and deal with the necessary paperwork. She hopes to help them deal with emotional issues as well.

To learn how to do that, Hossdorf attends school every couple of weeks during her three-year apprenticeship. Besides embalming, business management and funeral logistics, subjects there include the psychology of mourning, counseling, and the funeral customs and rites of various religions.

Hossdorf's boss, Elke Birghölzer, has organized a Hindu funeral, which required a special permit, because German law prohibits open caskets during funeral services. She's more familiar with Muslim funerals, where ritual washings of the body are required and the grave site needs to be permanent and not limited to 25 years -- the standard in Germany.

"When you bury people of Russian Orthodox faith, it's customary to have a sip of vodka at the grave," Birghölzer said. "Undertakers have to be prepared for that."

A new benchmark for quality funerals

A formal preparation for the job has been lacking until now. While most German tradesmen still have to pass exams to start working, the funeral industry had no universally accepted standard of training.

"A baker could become an undertaker," Birghölzer said. "All he had to do was to put a few coffins in his store."

The new training program is therefore also expected to ensure a certain quality level common to all funeral homes. But it won't be a requirement for working as an undertaker: The baker can still bury people should he choose to do so.

"Everyone with a business license can open a funeral home," Rolf Fichtner, the executive director of the Federal Association of German Undertakers, said. "That's as far as the law is concerned. But basically it won't be possible any longer to work as an undertaker without formal training or a certain quality of service."