German couple sentenced to prison for years-long cemetery bronze thefts

The verdict

On 9 July 2026, the Berlin Regional Court sentenced a 68-year-old man to four years and four months in prison and his 63-year-old wife to four years and two months for a years-long series of thefts of bronze sculptures, reliefs, and plaques from cemeteries and parks. The couple, from Demmin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, were convicted of commercial theft in 28 cases and attempted theft. A third defendant, a 57-year-old man from Berlin, received a two-year suspended sentence for commercial handling of stolen goods in 18 cases. The court also ordered the couple to forfeit €8,000 in lieu of assets and the third defendant €2,100. The verdict is not yet legally binding.

The thefts

Over several years, the couple scouted cemeteries and then, at night, loosened or forcibly removed bronze objects, some weighing up to 150 kilograms. The thefts were concentrated in Berlin cemeteries but also struck sites in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. One bronze figure alone was valued at a minimum of €60,000. The stolen items included sculptures from a children's cemetery, which the presiding judge described as particularly heartless.

The ideational value cannot be measured.

That is not only irreverent, a bottomless meanness, one is at a loss for words.

Investigation and recovery

The police had repeatedly issued public appeals for information about the missing artworks. Tips eventually led to the suspects, and in May 2025 searches were carried out in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. At the couple's home, investigators found a hiding place behind stair beams. Almost all stolen objects were returned, with only one figure still missing.

Court statements and confessions

The 57-year-old defendant confessed at the start of the trial, saying he had met the couple as a collector and was told the items came from dissolved graves. As the number of objects grew, he became suspicious. The couple confessed shortly before the end of the evidence presentation. A defense lawyer said the husband had legally collected historical fence parts for years but the pair had let themselves be tempted into stealing. The prosecution had sought sentences in line with the verdict; the defense had requested no more than three years and nine months.