Grave of Dinant Hoitink
Did you know that in the Netherlands, graves are routinely cleared after a couple of decades? Graves cannot be bought, only rented. The usual period is 20-30 years. After that term is up, the grave is cleared if nobody renews the lease.
Most cemeteries have a communal plot where any remains are reburied. In most cemeteries, it is unusual to find graves older than 50-100 years. An exception are Jewish cemeteries, as Jewish tradition prevents them from being cleared.
See also this overview of online cemeteries.
About Yvette Hoitink
I have very little information about my father’s father, Gysbert Lodder, who died in about 1934 when my father was 9 years old. He was a policeman in Amsterdam. I just found your website.
The municipal archives of Amsterdam have several genealogical indexes on their website, including those of the population registration.
Check out the English version of the Amsterdam indexes or the Dutch version of the Amsterdam indexes, which is more complete. The Dutch spelling if the letter y is ij so search (‘zoek’) for Gijs* as first name (‘voornaam’).
Is there an equivalent of findagrave.com for the Netherlands, someplace that collects images of headstones before the graves are cleared?
There are several sites that collect some headstones, but not systematically. Great idea for a follow-up article 🙂 Besides Find a Grave, where you can also find some Dutch cemeteries, the most important are Online Begraafplaatsen [Cemeteries] and Graftombe [Grave tomb].
What happens to the actual headstones when they are cleared?
Upon learning about this practice, a friend of mine asked me why people bothered to inter the deceased in a cemetery if they were only going to be disinterred later on? I have to be honest, I couldn’t really answer the question. I had to guess that the burial was really more for the living, and that the period of time that the person is left in the grave is to allow for the passage of time for the contemporaries of the deceased to pass on themselves. How close or far am I from the actual reason?
When they rebury remains in a communal grave, is there a written records of those who are being reburied.
I’ve never seen records like that, but it can’t hurt to ask the cemetery.
How do you pay to continue the lease? Is it paid to each individual Cemetary?
Yes, the cemetery will send a notice to the next of kin if their address is known.
What is the procedure for adding my name as next of kin?
You would have to contact the cemetery to ask them. There’s no fixed procedure.