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Like a fine wine, Vladimir Lenin’s body improves with age

For thousands of years, man has sought a way to preserve the human body, using a variety of embalming methods and mummification. But even the mummies of ancient Egypt cannot compare to the experimental embalming process used on Vladimir Lenin’s remains, a process still being refined today.

Generations of scientists have worked almost a century to preserve the body of Lenin, communist revolutionary and Father of the Soviet Union. Over the years, they have fine-tuned their preservation process, all to maintain the look, feel and flexibility of the leader’s body.

What is amazing is that many of the techniques developed by the embalming scientists have ended up being beneficial to real world medical applications. One such medical application resulting from the experimental embalming process is the technology used today to keep the blood moving through donor kidneys during transplantation.

Lenin Mausoleum in Red Square  Moscow.

Lenin Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow.
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This year, officials closed the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow’s red Square so scientists could prepare his body for public display on April 22, Lenin’s 145th birthday celebration. Now, the world will learn about the length of time, and the meticulous work that goes into keeping Lenin’s body presentable enough for public viewing.

Alexei Yurchak, professor of social anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, has published a paper in the journal Representations detailing the embalming technique. He has also written a book ”Everything Was Forever, until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation.”

Yurchak says that when Lenin died, the Bolshevik leader’s remains were embalmed on Stalin’s orders. The body was kept on display in Moscow except for a period of time during World War II. The job of taking care of the soviet leader’s body in post-Soviet times went to an institute called the Center for Scientific Research and Teaching Methods in Biochemical Technologies in Moscow.

Lenin has false eyelashes  and instead of skin fat  researchers have molded a combination of chemica...

Lenin has false eyelashes, and instead of skin fat, researchers have molded a combination of chemicals to keep his skin looking the same.
YouTube


There is a core team of five or six specialists in anatomy, surgery and biochemistry that are commonly known as the “mausoleum group.” They also are responsible for taking care of three other national leaders, the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh and the North Korean father–son duo of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, respectively.

The primary objective for the preservation of Lenin’s body is surprisingly, not maintaining the “biological flesh.” As Yurchak points out, it is a misconception that the “authenticity of the body can be measured in terms of the percentage of its original biological flesh.”

The scientists working on Lenin’s body measure its authenticity differently. He says, “They have been concerned with maintaining not the body’s biological flesh, but its physical form. This form includes the body’s look, shape, weight, and color, as well as its dynamic characteristics—its overall suppleness, elasticity of skin, flexibility of joints, internal pressure in muscle tissues, and so on.”

The body of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il on display in a glass coffin.

The body of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il on display in a glass coffin.
154 Media


To this end, the mausoleum group has created a quasi-biological science, different from regular embalming procedures. “They have to substitute occasional parts of skin and flesh with plastics and other materials, so in terms of the original biological matter the body is less and less of what it used to be,” says Yurchak.

Every two years, the body is covered in glycerol and potassium acetate, and the scientists created a double-layered rubber suit to keep a thin layer of embalming fluid covering Lenin’s body during public display. Every other year, the body is re-embalmed, a process that takes several months. Lenin’s body is submerged in separate solutions of glycerol, formaldehyde, potassium acetate, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid solution, and acetic sodium.

Lenin also has false eyelashes, and instead of skin fat, a special combination of chemicals have been molded that make his skin look supple and healthy. Many areas of skin on the body are actually plastic, painstakingly put on to make the patch blend in. All in all, the Father of the Soviet Union looks very well for his age and still is a potent figure. Just last week, two statues of the leader were knocked down in eastern Ukraine in protest of Russia.

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We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear friend Karen Graham, who served as Editor-at-Large at Digital Journal. She was 78 years old. Karen's view of what is happening in our world was colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in humankind's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, "Journalism is merely history's first draft." Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.

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