Cemetery where burials are organized by MOPS. There are homeless people here, anonymous remains and those whose family could not bury them

There is no mass. – There are six of us going to the cemetery. The priest, the cross and the four of us carry the coffin – says an employee of the funeral company. Then – as he says – there are ten minutes of goodbyes. The coffin with the body goes to the grave. The dull sound of earth being thrown onto the wooden lid is mixed with the words of several prayers recited by the priest. A plaque with the inscription “NN male” is installed next to a wooden cross, identical to hundreds of others in this place.

Nobody knows who he was. No one will visit him. As if he had never been there.

– After the funeral, we disperse in silence. I have been working in this industry for over twenty years, but it still feels strange to me, I will never get used to it – he says and takes a drag on his cigarette. He has a break before the next funeral. This one will be “normal”, north of Zakładowa Street in Łódź. There will be flowers, mass and mourners. The bells will ring as many times as the deceased lived. Not like the cemetery across the street.

It's the end of October. There is a lot of traffic in the café here, as well as on the alleys between the graves. It is difficult to find a parking space on Zakładowa Street. The line of cars standing at the edge of the road is interrupted where – as it looks at first glance – there is an entrance to someone's property. The paved road leads between growing trees and then turns sharply to the left. Only around the bend you can see the second cemetery – full of identical wooden crosses and similar plaques.

This is where those whose identity could not be determined, or people whose funeral had to be organized by social services for various reasons, are buried. – There are maybe three or four funerals a week. One is similar to the other – comments the funeral home employee.

Preparations for the Day of the Dead are underway at the cemetery – the grass is being mowed, a group of workers are busy laying a sidewalk between the still fresh graves. Outside of them – empty.

– There won't be crowds here even on November 1, but at least those who live here will have a better time. “At least that's it,” shrugs the man with a brushcutter strapped to his shoulders.

After a while, three men cross the modest gate of the cemetery. Everyone is in chimney sweeper costumes, everyone is carrying a torch. They go to a colleague who died a decade ago. – Nice, decent guy. He was alone, he died and social services organized a funeral – says one of them.

– Aren't you sorry that you ended up in this cemetery? – I'm asking.

– Do you really think this changes anything? We remember him, we come to light candles. The grave is for the living, so that they have a place to remember. And my friend has been in a better place for a long time, he doesn't care whether he is in one cemetery or another, he says.

A man in a black jacket appears a few aisles away. He carries a brush, a candle and a bouquet of flowers. He stops in front of a small, white tombstone – which stands out very much in the crowd of identical crosses with identical plaques. This is the grave of a several-month-old baby.

– My mother died instantly, my father – my friend – was seriously ill. A sad story with a sad ending. At least everyone is together now, he says.

Several dozen minutes later, Mr. Henryk appears at the cemetery. Three years ago, his cousin and friend, Marek, was buried here. He was 67 years old.

– Marek did not start a family, he was in conflict with his brother. When he died, my brother said he did not want to organize a funeral and entrusted it to social services. And we couldn't do anything about it, he says.

Piotr Kowalski, director of MOPS in Łódź, says that these are the procedures.

– The family of the deceased may not feel responsible for organizing a funeral ceremony. In this case, the burial will be organized in the same way as the burial of deceased persons who did not have families, i.e. by the commune, he notes.

– So if the family is not interested in the funeral, you are no longer looking for other people who could undertake it?

– No, then we take the burial on our own shoulders – replies the director of MOPS.

Bartek is also buried among many nameless graves. He was 30 years old when he died in an accident. His father, Andrzej, who tells his story at the cemetery, has tears in his eyes. “I couldn't give him much, and in the end I didn't even give him a real funeral,” he says.

Bartek was buried by social welfare because his father was not entitled to a funeral allowance. Andrzej is not insured, and neither was his deceased son.

– We, people with problems in life, are separated from this other, rich world. We live on the sidelines. Although it should be fair after death, but it isn't. Our cemetery can't even be seen from the street – says Andrzej sadly. He waves his hand, stares at the pavement and sets off along the narrow path towards the exit – in a moment he will mingle with the crowd at the second necropolis.

In the cemetery at Zakładowa Street you can also come across several graves filled with stuffed animals and toys for small children. The plaque informs that human fetuses are buried there. Below is the name of the hospital.

– We have a signed contract with the funeral home. In these graves are children who died before birth. Even if we are talking about a very early stage of development, the remains are collected by the plant and then buried. We want to give every patient, even those who have not yet been born, the respect they deserve, says Adam Czerwiński, spokesman for “Mother Polka” in Łódź.

Fragments of bodies that served medical students are buried in a similar way. In one of the alleys we come across a grave with the inscription “Human remains, isolated preparations. Medical University.”

– This place, this entire cemetery, is the answer to many questions. What happens to homeless people who have not contacted anyone for years? What about those who no longer have anyone close to them in this world? These are not easy answers, maybe that's why this cemetery is so out of the way, hidden from the eyes of outsiders, says a priest who is returning from a funeral. From the other, more famous side of Zakładowa Street.

– Are you saddened by the fact that the cemetery is hidden?

– No, not at all. I deeply believe that in the face of death, it is not our tombstone that matters. I believe that no one is anonymous after death – regardless of what is written on their grave – says the priest.

Piotr Kowalski, director of MOPS in Łódź, says that the commune organizes about 300 burials every year.