Nightly blaze of candles lit in homage to German COVID-19 victims

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Nightly blaze of candles lit in homage to German COVID-19 victims

Gertrud Schop plans to continue the installation until a vaccine for coronavirus is found

Published: May 21, 2020 12:58 AFP and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Digital Content Editor

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Copy of 979743-01-08-1590051107138 — As Germany slowly emerges from coronavirus lockdown, one woman is lighting a nightly installation of 8,000 candles in memory of the pandemic dead, determined to continue "until a vaccine is found". Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of Virus_Outbreak_Germany_91538.jpg-4dc9f-1590051094954 — At dusk each evening, 60-year-old Gertrud Schop makes the rounds of an imposing cross marked out with candles on the grass in Zella-Mehlis, a small town in central Thuringia state. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of 979756-01-08-1590051112256 — Once a week Gertrud Schop lights a candle in her garden for every person who died from COVID-19 in Germany. This week, she and volunteers lit nearly 8,000 of them. Image Credit: AFP

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20200521 candles — Each of the flickering flames represents one of the 8,000 people who has died in Germany since March. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of 979732-01-08-1590051098425 — Beginning early that month, Schop had originally planned to light a white candle for each person infected with the COVID-19 disease, alongside red lights for each who succumbed. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of 979733-01-08-1590051101607 — "I wanted to make visible the numbers from the Robert Koch Institute (for disease control)," said Schop, who was also motivated by her Christian faith. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of 979734-01-08-1590051104382 — "Three numbers on a sheet of paper, a statistic, that doesn't touch people's hearts like this installation that grows day by day," she added. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of 980154-01-08-1590051117700 — But as the number of cases quickly surged, reaching 176,000 confirmed infections so far, Schop gave up on the original plan switching instead to commemorating the dead alone. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of 979748-01-08-1590051109748 — She plans to continue the installation to keep their memory alive, even as the infection rate has slowed and Germany cautiously returns to everyday life. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of 979746-01-08-1590051114799 — Now the country - less hard hit than its European neighbours - has begun loosening the restrictions imposed to control the virus' spread, although Schop's determination to continue her memorial is undiminished. Image Credit: AFP

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