Dr. Simon J. Walter, Cultural Representative of the German Burial Culture Foundation interviewed Prof. Dr. Klaus Püschel, former Director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (1991–2020)

Since 2022, a pilot project has been running in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein to test a new method of human composting. In 2024, the state government amended funeral law to extend the trial for another two years.

The procedure itself is offered by a Berlin-based start-up whose founders have no prior connection to the funeral profession or its traditions. The pilot was meant to clarify technical and professional questions and to ensure transparency for the public and practitioners alike. Instead, doubts and criticism have steadily grown.

One of the most prominent critics is Prof. Dr. Klaus Püschel, a leading German forensic pathologist and long-time director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. As early as 2023, he pointed to unresolved medical, practical, legal, and ethical issues. To this day, he has received no convincing answers. In this interview, he explains his perspective on the project, his criticisms of the procedure, and the “green” narrative surrounding it.

>> Read an interview in THANOS Magazine 4/2025 — see pages 22-24.