Gunther von Hagens
German anatomist (1945–2026)
Gunther von Hagens (born Gunther Gerhard Liebchen; 10 January 1945 – 24 July 2026) was a German anatomist, businessman, and lecturer. He developed the technique for preserving biological tissue specimens called plastination. Von Hagens organized numerous Body Worlds public exhibitions and occasional live demonstrations of his and his colleagues' work, and has traveled worldwide to promote its educational value. The sourcing of biological specimens for and the commercial background of his exhibits had been controversial.
Early life and education
Von Hagens was born Gunther Gerhard Liebchen in Alt-Skalden (now called Skalmierzyce) near Ostrowo, Reichsgau Wartheland, in German-annexed Poland. Gerhard Liebchen, his father, was a member of the SS of Nazi Germany. When he was five days old, his parents took him on a six-month trek westwards, to escape from the advancing Red Army and the imminent Soviet occupation. The family lived briefly in Berlin and its vicinity, before finally settling in Greiz, a town which was allocated to the Soviet occupation zone, so that von Hagens grew up in East Germany. He lived in Greiz until the age of nineteen.
A haemophiliac, as a child von Hagens spent six months in hospital after being injured.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gunther von Hagens” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.