'A little oasis' Cemetery cafes bringing new life into Berlin's graveyards

They are tucked away in some of the quietest, leafiest corners of central Berlin, and for their loyal patrons, they are a way of life among the dead.

- Deborah Cole

The German capital has about a dozen cemetery cafes, which are not spaces for mourning - though they can be that too - but serve as islands of peace in busy districts.

Unlike Paris or New York, where burial grounds traditionally occupy vast expanses on the historical outer reaches of the urban landscape, Berlin’s cemeteries have long been human-scale and primarily kiezbezogen, or rooted in communities.

There has been a boom over the past decade, with coffee houses opening within cemetery walls and even in a former crematorium. Initial fears that customers would be spooked or mourners offended have proved largely groundless.

One cafe, Lisbeth, is ensconced in a former parish hall surrounded by mature Japanese cherry trees. It is managed by Italian-born Chiara De Martin Topranin, 30, who found it via a vaguely written online advert seeking “someone to run a lovely spot in the Mitte district with a great garden”.

Over a cappuccino, with a view of the Protestant Sophien cemetery’s undulating field of headstones, she said she balked when the building’s owners revealed she would be working in a graveyard.