Bizarre QR Codes on German Gravestones Not So Nefarious After All

It was a mystery that captivated the curious and sent cemetery sleuths scrambling to solve it, resulting in a long list of conspiracy theories. Alas, though, the truth about the strange QR code stickers that appeared seemingly overnight on more than 1,000 gravestones in three German cemeteries has emerged, and — spoiler alert — it wasn’t connected to the Nazis.

In December, workers and family members of those interred at Waldfriedhof, Sendlinger Friedhof and Friedhof Solln cemeteries in Munich began to notice white stickers appearing on the back of gravestones. Each roughly two-by-one-inch-square sticker bore a black QR code, the surname of the deceased, and a few more random letters and numbers. Scanning the QR code didn’t produce any clues as to its purpose or ownership, either.

Gravestone gardening?

For some, the stickers dredged up memories of a similar incident that took place more than 20 years ago. In 2004, stickers honoring Nazi leader and convicted war criminal Rudolf Hess were found on about 50 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Germany. Although the actions were attributed to a far-right hate group, no particular individuals were ever identified or prosecuted.

But it wasn’t just the unknown origin of the stickers and the unwanted connection to the prior sticker controversy that caused a stir. The sticker-placers didn’t discriminate; they added codes to the old, crumbling monuments as well as the shiny new markers, and the adhesive they used damaged several of the stones when removed. To have them all professionally removed would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars (or, in this case, euros). To the folks who had paid for those markers and the employees who had to hear their complaints, these stickers were considered vandalism — and the unknown culprit had to be unmasked before they could continue their desecration spree.

That’s when the cemeteries called in the big guns, engaging law enforcement in an effort to identify and apprehend the person or people behind this stunt. Police urged anyone who had observed others placing these stickers on gravestones to come forward. And voila …

Mystery solved

After months of global speculation, the perpetrators have been identified in the most anticlimactic manner there could be, with very few details or elaboration. As it turns out, the stickers were placed by a “gardening” company. The explanation? The company’s employees would place a sticker on a gravestone after they “maintained” it, whatever that means.

“We are a large company,” he told a German newspaper, according to The New York Times. “Everything has to happen in an orderly manner.”

The investigation is still ongoing.