Swedish funeral homes are seeking to acquire enough land for something they hope they will never have to do: bury thousands of people in the event of war, AP reported, citing dnes.bg.
The search follows recommendations from the national secretariat of the Church of Sweden, which reflect crisis preparedness guidelines from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and the Swedish Armed Forces.
The preparedness guidelines were cast in new light by Sweden's decision to join NATO and tensions with Russia in Baltic Sea region.
According to Church of Sweden regulations, backed by legal paragraphs in Sweden's Burial Act, burial associations are responsible for ensuring that there is enough land available to bury approximately 5 percent of the population within a parish, if necessary.
The Gothenburg Burial Association, which operates in Sweden's second largest city, is currently trying to meet the challenge of acquiring at least 10 acres (40,470 square meters) of land to ensure that it can accommodate emergency coffin burials for around 30,000 dead in the event of war. This is in addition to another 15 acres (60,700 square meters) of land needed to build cemeteries for regular use in Gothenburg.
Together with the local municipality, which has a monopoly on land use decisions in Gothenburg, the burial association has identified a large area suitable for building a large-scale cemetery for the intended purpose.
But the lengthy approval and construction process means it could take around 10 years to complete, posing additional challenges in uncertain times.
Sweden has followed a policy of neutrality since the early 19th century, including during World War II.
But public opinion changed sharply in 2022 after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leading to Sweden and Finland applying to join the transatlantic alliance due to the threat of their new aggressive Russian neighbor across the Baltic. sea.