Body procurement in the Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomie in Frankfurt/Main after the Second World War — From unclaimed corpses to body bequests

Abstract

The present paper provides a detailed historical and numerical analysis of the processes regarding body procurement in a particular German anatomical institute, namely, the Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomie (DSA) in Frankfurt am Main. It covers the period from 1946 to 1980; i.e. the transitional phase during which unclaimed corpses were replaced by corpses stemming from body donors. The DSA is fortunate to possess the complete set of records spanning that period. Thus, we cannot only document the (failed) organizational and political efforts of the local anatomists and governmental agencies to uphold the unclaimed body system of old, but we can also present rather detailed data regarding the genesis of the system of body donations. In particular, we will provide evidence that this system was more or less self-generating, and that its emergence was not actively propagated by the local anatomists. Instead, it was triggered by both the media and by the donors themselves, with the latter acting as multipliers. In addition we provide, for the first time, data on the efficacy (in terms of “file corpses” vs. real corpses in anatomy) of a body donation system in Germany.