January 26, 2004

• Von Hagens forced to return controversial corpses to China
  
  Luke Harding in Berlin
  Friday January 23, 2004
  The Guardian
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

  Eye to eye: Prof Gunther von Hagens with one of his plastinated cadavers at the Edinburgh fringe. Photo: Murdo MacLeod.

  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 show Body Worlds provoked fascination and disgust when it opened in London two years ago.
  

  At least two corpses out of some 647 stored by the anatomist at his centre in China had bullet holes in their skulls.
  

  Speaking yesterday Prof Von Hagens, who earned the tabloid soubriquet Dr Frankenstein after performing a live televised autopsy, said: "I have told my Chinese employees that they can't accept bodies that were executed."

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