Travelling corpse artist to return bodies
Andrea Bostrom
Friday January 23, 2004
The Guardian
The controversial German anatomist Gunther von Hagens last night agreed to
return seven corpses to China after admitting that the bodies used in his
exhibitions might have come from executed prisoners.
Professor Von Hagens, whose show Body Worlds provoked fascination and disgust
when it opened in London two years ago, said the corpses would now be buried.
His statement follows a damning exposé this week by the German magazine Der
Spiegel.
It revealed that at least two corpses out of some 647 stored by the anatomist
at his centre in China had bullet holes in their skulls. Splashing the story on
its cover under the headline Dr Death, the magazine this week produced damning
email correspondence from Prof Von Hagens' Chinese manager, Sui Hongjin.
In December 2001 Dr Hongjin boasted that he had obtained the bodies of a "young
man and young woman" who had "died" that morning. The pair were "fresh
examples" of the "highest quality", the doctor said - and had been killed by a
shot to the head.
Speaking yesterday Prof Von Hagens, who earned the tabloid soubriquet Dr
Frankenstein after performing a live televised autopsy on a German alcoholic in
2002, said: "I have told my Chinese employees that they can't accept bodies
that were executed."
He added: "I can't prove the bodies weren't executed, but I believe they
weren't." He said he received his bodies from Chinese officials but could not
be sure of their origins.
He said he only discovered last week that seven corpses in his collection had
head injuries. The fedora-wearing scientist now lives in the Chinese city of
Dalian and employs 200 people to dissect and preserve corpses at a centre.
The centre is close to three prison camps, which are home to political
detainees and members of the banned Falun Gong movement. According to Amnesty
International, China's communist authorities executed 2,468 people in 2001 by
shooting them in the head or the back of the neck. Prof Von Hagens has
previously been accused of buying the corpses of prisoners, homeless people and
the mentally ill in Russia - a charge he denies.
So far nearly 14 million people in Britain, Germany, Japan and Korea have seen
the travelling corpse show. The exhibition shows the human body in a series of
poses: one figure rides a rearing horse, while in another a pregnant woman
reclines. Yesterday Prof Von Hagens, whose show has just opened in Frankfurt,
insisted that all the people who appear in his exhibition had signed releases
prior to their death.
Since the inception of his Body Worlds exhibits, protesters have pointed out
that Prof Von Hagens' work is in bad taste and insults the dead. The show in
Frankfurt, which opened last week, was met with criticism by the Lutheran
church, which promised a prayer vigil and a series of lectures in response.
At a London show, two visitors vandalised parts of the exhibit on separate
occasions, and in Munich last year, city leaders would allow the show only
after Prof Von Hagens agreed to remove some of the more dramatic exhibits,
including a corpse posed like a fencer.
Karl Hafen, who was among a small group of protesters at the press conference,
carried a sign calling Prof Von Hagens' work immoral. "I have to say, anyone
who does business with Russia or China, that person must know that these
governments are corrupt," he said. "If you are buying cheap specimens in China,
that should tip you off."
Related articles
19.03.2002: Interview: The naked and the dead
17.03.2002: World trade in bodies is linked to corpse art show
12.03.2002: Artist insists his bodies will survive legal fight
10.03.2002: Corpse exhibition faces threat of ban
20.05.2001: Skinless wonders...
Picture gallery
A selection of works from the touring exhibition
Useful links
Body Worlds official site
More about plastination
Andrea
LadyLibra
"Andrea Bostrom" <lexl...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040126083538...@mb-m17.aol.com...
> Luke Harding in Berlin
> Friday January 23, 2004
> The Guardian
>
> The controversial German anatomist Gunther von Hagens last night agreed to
> return seven corpses to China after admitting that the bodies used in his
> exhibitions might have come from executed prisoners.
> Professor Von Hagens, whose show Body Worlds provoked fascination and
disgust
> when it opened in London two years ago, said the corpses would now be
buried.
> His statement follows a damning exposé this week by the German magazine
Der
> Spiegel.
I couldn't think of a better way to dispose of executed prisoners...
Volfie: not molested by Wacko. Yet.
"LadyLibra" <Lady...@nospam.com> wrote
> I couldn't think of a better way to dispose of executed prisoners...
Me, either.
Giselle (whatta freakin' fuss over nothing)