Posted on Facebook on 10 September 2016.

All Weisenborns in Kallstadt and the villages around it are members of the same family tree. Their most recent common ancestor is Johann Friedrich (1784-1861). His son Georg Friedrich (1810-1856) has several lines of male descendants continuing to the present day in the United States, and also a single line in Kallstadt, while his son Johann Heinrich (1817-1888) has many living descendants in Kallstadt.

In the Kallstadt graveyard we took pictures of all graves containing Weisenborns. Except for two I could recognise them on my webpage and add further details. Even though the graveyard is open to the public, I felt uneasy while uploading the pictures.

Here, in Nordhorn, we are part of a community of neighbours, our "Nachbarschaft". We live with each other. We celebrate birthdays, weddings and their anniversaries, and our yearly feasts. In a few weeks there is again the Oktoberfest, when we come together to eat good Bayern food and drink Bayern beer. We also see each other grow older and know we will one day stand at each other's grave. For us, our dead aren't anonymous. Far from it. They bring us sweet memories as well as tears when we talk about them.

When you look at the pictures of the graves, you will notice that the graves are well kept. I have met the people who feel enough for the buried that they maintain these graves.

I am aware that Facebook cannot be more than a network to transmit information, and only an addition to a community for those who are already a community. By adding the above words to the pictures of the graves I hope I have done justice to the feelings of those who look at them and feel that a particular grave is part of their inner world: I don't want your feelings to be hurt, but only show people outside your community how much you care ... for their distant relatives.