Kirkens Korshær has opened a communal grave for socially vulnerable people at the cemetery in central Holstebro. It is the organization’s fifth burial site of its kind in Denmark, and the first six urns were placed in the ground this week.
DR reports that the grave is intended for the men and women who use, or have used, the charity’s warm room in the town. The site lies at the southern end of the cemetery in central Holstebro.
The idea came from former Korshær priest Anette Ejsing. According to DR, she wants to avoid warm room users ending up in the anonymous section known as de ukendtes grav. Per Ejsing, socially vulnerable people also have names, and everyone is equal in death.
The grave is marked by a metal Jesus figure made by the artist Jakob Villerup. The figure is wounded and scarred, with tears running down its torso and its right hand stretched toward a large nameless gravestone. Bronze name plates for the deceased are mounted on the stone.
Six urns placed this week
One of the first urns holds the remains of Erik Møller Sørensen, a 65-year-old Holstebro resident who died three years ago. As reported by DR, his sister, Pia Møller Sørensen, had waited those three years for him to get what she considered a dignified resting place. The family has no family grave site, and their parents were buried among the unknown.
Pia Møller Sørensen states that her brother had planned to be buried in the anonymous section, until Ejsing told her about the alternative. She says he lived a hard life and was a daily visitor at the warm room, and that she now intends to bring flowers to the new grave.
The project is financed by private donations, charitable foundations and Holstebro Municipality, according to Ejsing. She notes that the site is already in use before its official public inauguration. Flowers had been laid at the Jesus figure earlier in the week, before the first urns were lowered and before the first name plates were fixed to the stone.
Dagbladet Holstebro-Struer reported on August 19, 2026 that the grave is presented as a dedicated place of remembrance, so that vulnerable people connected to Kirkens Korshær are not forgotten. The local newspaper adds that the central gravestone cost around 10,000 kroner, with individual name plates to be mounted later.
The Holstebro grave is Kirkens Korshær’s first communal burial site in Mid and West Jutland. DR notes that the organization has similar grave sites in Esbjerg, Vejle, Silkeborg and Fredericia. Kirkens Korshær runs warm rooms and other services for homeless people across the country.
