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Berlin / Dresden (dpa) - Since the outbreak of the corona pandemic, German newspapers have at times published more obituaries than usual.
The Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) has viewed its advertising volume statistics up to and including October 2020 and reported the result on request of the German Press Agency: “After that, there are actually in the“ Corona months ”April, May, September and October a significant increase in family advertisements compared to the previous year.
This is unusual and is, in fact, probably based on an increase in the number of obituaries. "
If you ask publishers directly, this picture is the same.
In the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" there is currently a moderate increase in obituary notices, as a spokesman for the Südwestdeutsche Medienholding (SWMH) announced.
The number rose slightly in 2020 for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
Compared to the average of previous years it was about six percent more, as the publisher announced.
"Here peaks occur in the months of April and May as well as in the period from October to December and are therefore congruent with the" peak months "of the corona pandemic."
On the one hand, the exact reasons for the increase cannot be verified;
"On the other hand, this finding could be interpreted as an indication of an increase caused by Corona."
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The "Sächsische Zeitung" is currently also recording an increased volume of obituary notices.
The DDV media group listed a few examples when asked by the dpa: Last Saturday there were three pages in the Dresden edition, usually one or two.
In the local edition of Löbau / Zittau five pages came together, otherwise there would be a maximum of three.
The media group also emphasized: "However, it would be pure speculation on our part to relate this exclusively to Corona, since we simply do not know the background to the death and are generally only mentioned in the advertisement in the rarest of cases."
The fact that funerals can only take place under strict conditions and restrictions may also play a role.
The media group added that the newspaper may therefore be used more heavily again "in order to be able to inform a larger group about the death via an advertisement".
The "Rheinische Post" had a slight increase of around two percent in 2020 in obituaries.
In previous years, the development had been in decline, as a publisher's spokesman announced.
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At the same time, the media company noticed something else: There was a significant increase in greeting messages, for example with happy birthday.
Particularly with this development, it is obvious that it could be traced back to the corona pandemic with contact restrictions.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210115-99-34477 / 2