Gunther von Hagens, creator of the controversial 'Body Worlds' exhibition, dies at 81
Gunther von Hagens, the pioneer of the plastination method for body preservation, has passed away in a Heidelberg hospital. His family confirmed that, in accordance with his final wishes, his own body will undergo the same preservation process.
Gunther von Hagens, the developer of the plastination method used in the globally renowned "Body Worlds" exhibitions, has died at the age of 81. He passed away last Friday in a Heidelberg hospital, just one day after being admitted following a brain hemorrhage. His family and the Institute for Plastination announced his death on Monday, confirming that, in line with his final wishes, his own body will undergo the same preservation process.
Von Hagens pioneered this method in 1977 while working as a researcher at the Institute of Pathology and Anatomy at the University of Heidelberg.
"I wondered why plastic was poured around the bodies and not into them," he wrote in a 2018 article for The Guardian.
The process involves removing fluids and fats from the body and replacing them with plastic materials, which hardens the tissue and allows for the display of bodies in various standing or active poses.
While the exhibits were initially intended as teaching aids for universities and research institutes, von Hagens launched the traveling "Body Worlds" exhibitions in 1995. The displays, ranging from anatomical dissections to bodies posed playing chess or exercising, have been visited by over 58 million people worldwide.
In Israel, the exhibition was hosted at the Madatech in Haifa from April 2009 to early 2010, sparking significant protests from rabbis and the ZAKA organization.
Throughout his career, von Hagens faced constant criticism from those who argued that his exhibitions exploited death for voyeuristic curiosity and profit. He maintained that all displayed bodies belonged to individuals who had provided informed consent for educational use. However, in 2004, Der Spiegel published documents suggesting that a facility he operated in Dalian, China, had purchased unclaimed bodies from local police, including those of executed prisoners. Following the report, von Hagens ordered his staff to stop accepting bodies of executed individuals.
Born Gunther Gerhard Liebchen in January 1945 in occupied Poland, he grew up in communist East Germany. In 1968, he participated in protests against the Soviet suppression of the "Prague Spring" and was imprisoned the following year while attempting to flee to the West. In 1970, West Germany secured his release as a political prisoner by paying 40,000 marks.
Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2008, von Hagens eventually transferred the management of his operations to his wife and son as his health declined. Reflecting on his mortality in 2018, he wrote:
"Every body I have seen has shown me the absence of a soul. I do not believe that anything remains of us after death."
