Thanatopraktiker: “The beard no longer grows after death”

Richard Kühnrich stands in a cold room at the Vienna Central Cemetery. What is in the air here is not easy to describe, but perhaps penetrating and sweet with the properties. That is the smell of death, says the 56-year-old. Kühnrich is Thanatopractor. When he takes care of the deceased, he picks them up here and takes them to a room next door where he treats the body. “The ideal case would be that after the treatment, the deceased looks like he had recently closed his eyes and would sleep,” he says.