Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Herr Burgermeister Bodem and his Angel







Monuments of Chopin, Pere Lachaise Cemetery Paris
















Bodem family monument, Beurig church cemetery











When my sister and I were in Paris a few years ago, we went to visit the city's most famous cemetery, the Cimitiere de Pere Lachaise. I was amazed at the size of the monuments of the prominent Parisians (and a few outsiders of great fame such as Chopin) buried there.

When I received the e-mailed photo above from Ewald Meyer who lives in Irsch but who was born in the neighboring village of Beurig, I wondered if he and his wife had made a trip to Paris recently. It had never occurred to me that a monument of such enormous size might reside in the cemetery at Beurig, which at about the time the tombstone was constructed, had a population of less than 1,000.

Then, when I read his explanation, I knew I had another case of class distinctions, similar to the sumptuary laws affecting clothing which I described in a recent post.

This is a summary of what Ewald Meyer wrote, knowing that what he told me would be of great interest both to me and probably to the people who periodically read this blog:

I am sending you a photo from the cemetery in Beurig. Here stands the monument of the Bodem family. Nikolaus Bodem was Bürgermeister when Johann Meyer (my 2nd great grandfather) emigrated to USA in 1861. Irsch was only a village in the Kingdom of Prussia. But any civil servant was a very big man within the Monarchy. John Meyer (a farmer) was only an (unimportant) subject of the Prussian king.

While the grave of ordinary citizens would be assigned to someone else after 25 years of non-usage, the graves of the prestigious remained untouched, even when no more relatives of the family lived in the city or village. The bombastic grave monument (of the Bodem family) is a testimonial to past times.

Because Nikolaus Bodem, as mayor, was a senior Prussian official with a superior position, his entire family was considered to be "upper class. The family tomb (not surprisingly) is the largest of the Beurig village cemetery. Even the wife of the Herr Bürgermeister Bodem is dubbed the "Frau Bürgermeister" in the engraving on the far left of the tombstone (where she is buried).

The mayorality of Irsch-Beurig was then a relatively small administrative area. It included the towns of Irsch, Beurig, Ockfen, Schoden and Serrig with a total of about 3,000 inhabitants. The administrative office was in Irsch, the largest village, which in 1810 had 982 inhabitants. But on November 1, 1833, the Prussian government moved the mayor's office to Beurig, a village of about 500.

Nicholas Bodem was born in 1803 in Irsch and died in 1885 in Beurig (where he had moved when Beurig became the mayor's administrative office). By the time he died, Beurig was the largest city of the mayorality, surpassing Irsch. It had become a railway stop for the area (including Saarburg, the district office for the Kreis) in 1860.

The cemetery in Beurig is now owned by the city Saarburg, because the two communities were incorporated in 1935 into the county seat Beurig-Saarburg. Now graves have defined periods of use. After no more than 30 years (from the date of the burial), a grave will be leveled and prepared as a new resting place.

The Bodem tomb which still stands in the cemetery is in a special section. These are the burial plots that are from the Prussian period of the 19th Century. They were the resting places of the wealthy families of the time, and regarded as self-acquired property. These are tombs for officials who were in royal service (eg, mayors and foresters) or for estate owners. Some of these family graves are still used by descendants. In other cases, there are no longer descendants. These graves are neglected as is the burial place of Herr Bürgermeister Bodem. Frau Trimborn (whose name can be seen at the far right of the photo) was the last descendant of the Bodem family.

It seems that the Herr Bodem, who was the mayor for 48 years, from 1831 to 1879, has a monument as tall as his term was long. Unfortunately, his family line's time in Beurig was much shorter.


2 comments:

  1. Ernst2:17 PM

    You've been to Pere Lachaise without visiting Georg Schmitt? Our fellow Trierer lying there. He was the composer of the "Mosellied", which is something like our national anthem. He was born in 1821 in Zurlauben/Trier and died 1900 in Paris. You can hear the song in Trier at the Hauptmarkt, the bells are playing it...



    Im weiten deutschen Lande
    zieht mancher Strom dahin
    von allen, die ich kannte
    liegt einer mir im Sinn
    O Moselstrand, o selig Land!
    Ihr grünen Berge, o Fluss und Tal
    ich grüß´ euch von Herzen
    viel tausendmal

    Es kommt so stolz gezogen
    der Strom im Sonnenschein
    und schlinget seine Wogen
    durch heller Hügel Reih´n
    O Sonnenglanz, o Wellentanz
    ihr grünen Berge, o Fluß und Tal
    ich grüß´ euch von Herzen
    viel tausendmal

    Und an des Stromes Bette
    all überall im Tal
    da stehen Dörfer, Städte
    und Burgen ohne Zahl.
    O Stadt und Land, o Stromesrand!
    Ihr grünen Berge, o Fluss und Tal
    ich grüß´ euch von Herzen
    viel tausendmal

    Da blühen holdsel´ge Frauen
    und manches Mägdlein zart
    und Mänenr magst du schauen
    und Knaben guter Art
    O Männermut, o Liebesglut
    Ihr grünen Berge, o Fluss und Tal
    ich grüß´ euch von Herzen
    viel tausendmal

    Auf sonn´ger Bergeseite
    da steh'n die Reben schlank
    in tiefer Keller Weite
    da liegt manch kühler Trank
    O lichter Schein, o kühler Wein
    Ihr grünen Berge, o Fluss und Tal
    ich grüß´ euch von Herzen
    viel tausendmal

    Und volle Krüg und Flaschen
    die sind an jedem Ort
    und wem sind leer die Taschen
    der gibt ein gutes Wort
    O froher Sang, o Gläser Klang
    Ihr grünen Berge, o Fluss und Tal
    ich grüß´ euch von Herzen
    viel tausendmal

    Wer fröhlich führt zum Munde
    das Glas mit kühlem Wein
    dem duften auf dem Grunde
    viel tausend Blümelein
    Ihr grünen Berge, o Fluss und Tal
    ich grüß´ euch von Herzen
    viel tausendmal

    So seg´n euch Gott ihr Höhen
    er segne Leut´ und Land
    die Reben, die da stehen
    auf grüner Bergeswand
    O Moselstrand, o selig Land!
    Ihr grünen Berge, o Fluss und Tal
    ich grüß´ euch von Herzen
    viel tausendmal

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  2. Thanks for that interesting information, Ernst, and for the words to the Moselleid. I knew nothing about Herr Schmitt. Wish I'd known about him when we visited, although it seems like it can take a couple of days to find the monuments your are looking for. We just stumbled upon Chopin's tomb as we wandered around. I love the idea of a Trier National Anthem. I'll be checking into this for sure.

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