Content area
Full text
Keywords: history, forensic medicine, Minovici brothers, Romanian Orthodox Church, scandals
Abstract:
This article attempts to shed light on the complex relation between cremation and Romanian forensic medicine, from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of World War Two. In order to achieve this goal I analyze the case of Nicolae and Mina Minovici and their connection with the issues of cremation, revealing, in the end, the perception of this case in the eyes of the public opinion of those times. The analysis reveals the fact that even if Nicolae and Mina Minovici sustained the ideas of cremation in Romania due to its utilitarian purposes, they were not actual cremationists. Despite this, they were accused and stigmatized by voices around the Romanian Orthodox Church, being regarded as among the main promoters of cremation in Romania.
Introduction
The relationship between cremation and forensic medicine are not solely based on their object of study, namely the body: from the point of view of cremation the body is seen in terms of its disposal while for forensic medicine it is seen as an object of study and a source that allows the identification of the cause of death.2 A close connection between these two may be documented back in time as early as the second half of the 19th century, in the dispute on the subject of cremation, when those against it claimed the legal argument that cremation, if introduced on a broad scale, would provide a good opportunity to conceal crimes by burning the body. This idea was active throughout Europe3 and in Romania4 and was consequently adopted at one point even by the Christian churches that were consistently rejecting the incineration practice in those days. The contribution brought forward by Nicolae and Mina Minovici on the development of forensic medicine in Romania was often mentioned in the scientific literature. It was underlined, with good cause, that their works were ones of pioneers and had many echoes in the broad context of this scientific discipline, throughout the entire world1. Mina Minovici, for example, is the founder of the Romanian school of forensic medicine, since, in 1892, he set up one of the world's first forensic institutes in Bucharest (Mina Minovici's inaugural speech at...