Skull return: Göttingen honored the Marshall Islands after 110 years!

Skull return: Göttingen honored the Marshall Islands after 110 years!

There is news from Göttingen that, for many, sheds light on the dark chapter of colonial history. On October 7, 2025, the University of Göttingen will return four skulls to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. This return is part of a research project that deals intensively with human remains from colonial contexts. Loud NDR The transfer of these skulls was initiated in 1913 by a German colonial ruler to the Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg, before they were transferred to the collections of Göttingen in the 1950s.

What is behind this return? Historian Holger Stoecker and his dedicated team have been working on the research project “Human Remains from Colonial Contexts” for several years. This project aims to explore the history and provenance of the over 1,000 human remains held in the University's collections. The focus is on both Johann Friedrich Blumenbach's skull collection and the anthropological collections, which come from various colonial contexts. The ::investigations have already resulted in some returns to the Republics of Palau and Marshall Islands, and not all stocks have been returned.

Research for the processing of history

Again Losses of cultural property reports, the project explores the provenance of human remains in the collections collected during the period between the 1880s and 1930s in the then existing Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg. Surprisingly, parts of this collection were handed over to the University of Göttingen in the 1950s and 1960s, but not all of it. A workshop at the end of the project will discuss the results with experts from the countries of origin.

The University of Göttingen currently has no funds to continue the project, and the research project “Human Remains from Colonial Contexts” ends in 2025. Nevertheless, there are already demands for return from Australia, Palau and Namibia. This clearly shows that there is a great need for further processing and discussion, which must be stimulated by researchers.

Paths to responsibility

A comprehensive provenance research, as in Provenance Research Working Group is presented, not only deals with the origin of collections and objects, but also links them with Germany's colonial past. Emphasis is placed on collaboration with communities of origin and relevant authorities in order to build new, respectful relationships between museums and the descendants of those affected.

These are important steps that universities and museums are taking to shed light on the dark sides of colonial history and to live up to the responsibility that comes with it. It remains to be hoped that with further returns and research, many more stories from the past will find a way back to their places of origin.