Berlin lawmakers use tattoos to advocate for organ donation

Members of the Berlin House of Representatives have participated in a cross-party campaign to raise awareness for organ donation. To signal their support, several lawmakers, including Green Party politician Silke Gebel, received tattoos featuring a geometric design of two semicircles forming a full circle. The design, developed by the non-profit association Junge Helden, can also be interpreted as the letters ‘O’ and ‘D’ for ‘Organ Donor’. While the tattoos are not official legal documents, they serve as a visible declaration of intent to signal wishes to relatives.

The campaign comes amid critical shortages in organ availability. In Berlin, 83 people died in 2025 while waiting for transplants. Data from the health administration shows that only 33 people in Berlin donated organs after death in 2025, a decrease of approximately one-fifth compared to the previous year. As of late April, 414 residents were on the waiting list, the majority of whom require kidney transplants.

Lawmakers are calling for increased counseling and the implementation of a ‘widerspruchsregelung’ (opt-out model) at the federal level, which would make organ donation the default unless an individual explicitly objects. Currently, only about 32,000 people in Berlin are registered in the national digital organ donation register, a figure officials describe as insufficient for a city of nearly four million.