Germany returns remains of Indigenous people to New Zealand

World
By William

Remains of 95 Maori and Moriori people, including six mummified tattooed heads, were returned by German institutions.

The remains of 95 Indigenous New Zealanders, artifacts and cultural treasures have been returned to New Zealand from museums and universities in Germany.

The ancestral remains of the 95 Maori and Moriori individuals, including six toi moko – Maori mummified tattooed heads – were welcomed in a private ceremony at Te Papa, New Zealand’s national museum, on Wednesday.

New Zealand’s ambassador to Germany, Craig Hawke, said the remains were being repatriated after being “more than a century away from their homeland” and in a way that demonstrated the “mature and close relationship” between Berlin and Wellington.

“Our relationship goes deeper than a traditional diplomatic relationship, to a relationship of culture, science and knowledge exchange. These repatriations are a poignant example of our partnership,” said Hawke.

The Te Papa Museum’s head of repatriation, Te Herekiekie Haerehuka Herewini, said “considerable respect and understanding” and a “strong sense of doing the right thing” had been shown by the German institutions involved.

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

Since 2003, the national museum has overseen the repatriation of more than 600 Maori and Moriori ancestral relics from institutions abroad, including Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In 2012, after a four-year political battle, France’s Quai Branly Museum in Paris brought back 20 toi moko — mummified tattooed heads — brought to Europe in the 18th century.

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

In December, Germany returned 20 historic bronze sculptures to Nigeria as part of efforts to address the country’s “dark colonial past,” the country’s then-foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said.

The sculptures, known as Benin Bronzes, were one of thousands looted from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin – now part of Southern Nigeria – by British troops when the country was under colonial rule. Some of the treasures also passed into the custody of other foreign governments, including Germany.

You might also like More from author