Germany hands over Australian ancestral remains held by museums for over 100 years
Five sets of ancestral remains from Australia that had been in German museum collections since the 19th century have been handed back at a ceremony that a community representative described as a sad but “very joyful” moment
BERLIN (AP) — Five sets of ancestral remains from Australia that had been in German museum collections since the 19th century were handed back at a ceremony Thursday that a community representative described as a sad but “very joyful” moment.
The restitution is part of ongoing efforts by German museums and authorities to return human remains and cultural artifacts that were taken during colonial times.
In this case, three sets of remains that had been in Berlin since 1880 were handed over along with two other sets of remains held in the northwestern German city of Oldenburg. Four representatives of the Ugar Island community, part of the Torres Strait Islands off the northeastern tip of Australia, traveled to Berlin to honor their ancestors and accompany their remains on their journey home.
“These ancestral remains were never meant to be here,” said Hermann Parzinger, the head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which oversees Berlin's state museums.
