Councillors of a western Polish village were to decide on Monday whether to allow controversial German scientist Guenther von Hagen to set up a laboratory for preparing human corpses for public display.
Von Hagen, whose Bodyworld exhibition of plasticised corpses has been shown amid heavy public debate across Europe and the world, bought a site and a building in Sieniawa Zarska last year.
He has also set up a company in the village but needs a permit from the village council to transform the grounds into a global centre for his unusual technique.
Public opinion in the small village is divided. While some object that the controversial treatment of human bodies will disturb the peace of the dead, others hope that the lab will help alleviate high unemployment levels in the 1 000-strong community.
According to Von Hagen, the lab will bring 300 new jobs to Sieniawa Zarska, where almost one in three is without a job.
Von Hagen’s 89-year-old father and business partner Gerhard Liebchen is resident in Sieniawa Zarska.
Liebchen himself has also prompted controversy in the village after media reports that he used to be a member of Adolf Hitler’s notorious SS Nazi military elite and denounced Polish citizens under the German occupation of the country. — Sapa-DPA