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mythenfilm presents

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When I leave home in the morning,

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I say goodbye to my loved ones.

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Because I know what can happen
if you don’t say goodbye.

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a film by Christof Schürpf

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A bit higher!

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A bit higher, back a little!

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Here the cuts were made
for an autopsy.

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When I was a child,
you laid out the body at home.

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Then there was a procession
from the home to the cemetery.

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I was usually at the front
as cross-bearer.

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This meant I developed
a relationship with death,

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a real connection.

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Shall we put the pillow in?

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- Yes.
- Let’s put it in.

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I don't really know
why I’m an exhumer.

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I just somehow ended up doing it.

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Perhaps it’s my calling.

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Exhumation involves removing
a body from the ground.

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After six months, one month,

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15, 20 years, or even longer.

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Reasons for exhumation can include:

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removal of a burial plot
once a tenure period has expired,

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or soil conditions,

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if the soil is loamy and the body
can't decompose properly.

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Or legal cases that
are still ongoing and

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involve removing the body
to perform an autopsy.

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And individual exhumations:

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when the family returns
to another country,

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the body is exhumed and
placed in a new coffin,

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before being

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transported to another cemetery.

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I have a great respect
for the dead,

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and want to treat them like the living.

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I also often feel how they were
when they were alive.

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I want to treat their remains
in the same way

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as I would treat a living person.

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Now it’ll stay.

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Oh no, I'm sorry!

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The bottom keeps slipping away.

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It’ll work!

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But it stayed before.

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I often feel a strong energy
emanating

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from the coffin or from the body.

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Energy that emanates,
where you sense

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that there’s still a lot of conflict
that couldn’t be resolved

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before the person’s death.

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Or, when you leave home
and perhaps

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didn't say goodbye.

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I’ve had people
watching me work before.

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That’s a bit weird.

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You see things a bit differently
when you do this work.

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It can happen that

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there’s no will, or it can’t be found
and there’s no way to find out

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what the person wanted.

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Whether they wanted
to be buried or cremated.

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And in this case,
nothing was found.

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It was only later
that the letter turned up stating

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the person’s wish for cremation.

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The body was buried
as a precaution,

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to avoid doing the wrong thing.

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When I see how I can
help the deceased

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to make sure
the decomposition continues,

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it gives me a lot of satisfaction
to know I’ve done something right.

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In today’s society,

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which is very hectic
and fast-moving,

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the subject of death is often avoided.

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People don’t think about it,

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and when someone dies,
it’s like the end of the world.

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Why didn’t we think of it earlier?

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After each exhumation,

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I light a candle
in the cemetery church.

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I think of the person I’ve exhumed,

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and send them
my sincerest wishes

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for an eternal rest in peace.

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I’m not afraid of death at all.

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The way I see it, the body stays,

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and the soul embarks on a journey.

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But where it goes, that I don’t know.