Learning from the Dead is a documentary video report that offers a rare and intimate look inside the anatomy course at Kiel University’s Institute of Anatomy, where medical students learn from the donated bodies of deceased people. For the first time, DIE ZEIT was granted extensive access to document this central yet largely unseen part of medical education. In order to reflect the reality of the dissection room and challenge the taboo surrounding death and body donation, the film shows the bodies and dissections largely uncensored.

Over several weeks, the camera accompanies medical students through their anatomy training — including moments of uncertainty, concentration, and examination. At the same time, three body donors explain why they decided to donate their bodies to science after
death. One of them once studied medicine at Kiel University himself and returns to the dissection hall where, decades earlier, he attended the same anatomy course as a student. The film explores the encounter between medicine, mortality, and humanity — and asks what it means to learn from the dead.

Film discussion with:
Thilo Adam, Video Journalist DIE ZEIT

moderated by: Gesine Last (Curator)