Germany sends Indigenous people’s remains to New Zealand

German institutions returned the skeletons of 95 Maori and Moriori individuals, including six mummified tattooed heads.

95 Indigenous New Zealanders’ bones, as well as antiques and cultural treasures, have been repatriated to New Zealand from museums and colleges in Germany.

The 95 Maori and Moriori persons’ ancestral bones, including six toi moko – Maori mummified tattooed skulls – were welcomed to Te Papa, New Zealand’s national museum, in a special ceremony on Wednesday.

New Zealand Ambassador to Germany Craig Hawke said the bones were being repatriated after “more than a century away from their homeland” and in a fashion that highlighted the “mature and close relationship” between Berlin and Wellington.

“Our relationship extends beyond traditional diplomatic relations to include cultural, scientific, and knowledge exchange.” “These repatriations are a powerful illustration of our collaborative partnership,” Hawke added.

Te Herekiekie Haerehuka Herewini, the Te Papa museum’s head of repatriation, stated that the German institutions involved demonstrated “significant respect and understanding” as well as a “strong sense of doing the right thing.”

“As we celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations between Aotearoa New Zealand and Germany, these repatriations demonstrate the mature and close relationship that we share,” he said.

After a four-year political battle, France’s Quai Branly Museum in Paris returned 20 toi moko – mummified tattooed skulls – that had been taken to Europe in the 18th century in 2012.

According to The New Zealand Herald, the Grassi Museum in Leipzig, the Reiss Engelhorn Museum in Mannheim, the Linden Museum, the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, the Georg August University in Gottingen, the Roemer und Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, and the Museum Wiesbaden returned the remains and other artefacts on Wednesday.

Germany returned 20 antique bronze statues to Nigeria in December as part of attempts to confront the country’s “dark colonial past,” according to the country’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock.

The statues, known as Benin bronzes, were among thousands plundered by British forces from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin — now part of southern Nigeria — during colonial control. Some of the valuables wound up in the hands of other governments, notably Germany.

Picture Courtesy: Google/images are subject to copyright