2009年以来，德国国内对花费在1200欧元以下的折扣葬礼需求量明显增加。今年，德国超过四分之一的葬礼业务为折扣葬礼，而2009年这一比例为16%。选择折扣葬礼的人中，多数因为死者是一名远亲，还有人是因为身在异地无法到场处理，41%则是出于经济原因。在德国，一场标准葬礼大约需要花费2800至3500欧元，如果加上购买墓地和墓地维护等费用，总支出甚至可能翻倍。有人质疑过于廉价的葬礼可能会含有一些隐性消费或者死者遗体可能会遭到不当处理。不过折扣葬礼服务机构则表示，低廉的价格是因为他们批量订购棺木而且与火葬场长期保持良好的客户关系。

Just over a quarter of all German funerals are expected to be of the cut-price variety this year, according to burials' specialist website, Bestattungen.de, up from 16 percent two years ago and 20 percent in 2010.

"If you find it cheaper anywhere else, we'll pay you back the difference, plus 30 euros," reads the advert -- not for the latest electrical device on special offer on the high street but for a funeral.

Germany, which bore discount supermarket giants Aldi and Lidl to the delight of bargain hunters, has seen a growing demand since 2009 for discount funerals, defined by the industry as costing under 1,200 euros ($1,700).

Just over a quarter of all German funerals are expected to be of the cut-price variety this year, according to burials' specialist website, Bestattungen.de, up from 16 percent two years ago and 20 percent in 2010.

"Some people find themselves obliged by law to bury their father with whom they have not had any contact for 20 years," Hartmut Woite, head of the Berlin-based company Sargdiscount, or Coffindiscount, told AFP.

"They do not want to pay thousands of euros, that's understandable. Everything is done by phone, by fax, by mail," he said.

Most people opt for a cut-price funeral because they are burying a distant relative; others choose it because of geographical distance and about 41 percent cite financial reasons, Bestattungen.de said.

A classic funeral in Germany costs on average 2,800 to 3,500 euros, or twice that if the plot and upkeep of the grave are included, according to the German undertakers' federation.

But at Sargdiscount, they cost from 479 euros, although that is only for orders placed by phone and entails a cremation in the Czech Republic with no ceremony and the ashes buried in a common grave.

"The only thing that bothers my customers is the name of my company," Woite said, adding that he believed he had introduced transparency into a sector that was "too secretive".

Naturally, the trend for discount funerals has its critics.

"It's not a question of transparency," Rolf Lichtner, spokesman for the German undertakers' federation, said.

"Less than 500 euros, that doesn't even cover the costs. Either there are hidden costs, or the body is treated without dignity," he added.

But Patrick Schneider, whose firm Aarau operates across the country and offers funerals in Berlin for 499 euros, hit back, saying: "Dignity has nothing to do with money."

His low prices are down to ordering coffins in the hundreds rather than by the dozen, as well as getting special prices at the crematorium for being a good customer, he said.

Dressed all in black and with a carefully groomed white beard, Schneider organises funerals-to-order for his wealthier customers at a plush, antique-furnished countryside building.

By contrast, business for his 499-euro funerals is conducted at Aarau's spartan premises in Berlin where the only splash of colour can be found in a catalogue of urns laid on the table.

"The quest for the cheap, the easy, what can be thrown away, now doesn't exclude burials," Dagmar Haenel, an anthropologist at the University of Bonn, commented.

"At the same time we also have a rise in very individualised burials, sometimes very costly" by rich and educated people, she said.

"When it comes to funerals, the struggle of the classes is gaining ground."

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(Agencies)

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen ）