Priceless artifacts taken from Cameroon, Namibia and Tanzania during colonial times will be returned permanently, says Germany.
Priceless artifacts removed and looted from African nations during the German colonial era will be returned permanently, officials said.
The Berlin-based Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which manages the German capital’s numerous museums, said Monday it had started negotiations to return artifacts to Namibia, Tanzania and Cameroon.
Among the artifacts to be returned is a shell-encrusted statue of the mother goddess Ngonnso’, which is of great spiritual importance to the Nso’ people of north-west Cameroon, the foundation says.
The statue has belonged to the collection of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin since 1903, after it was “donated” by a German colonial officer who forcibly took it from the Nso’.
The Board also approved the permanent return of 23 artefacts, including jewellery, tools and fashion items, to Namibia. The objects, also stolen during the colonial period from 1884 to 1919, were sent to Namibia last month for research purposes and will now remain there.
The foundation said its president was also authorized to sign an agreement for the return of items looted by Germany from Tanzania during the Maji Maji Rebellion and other conflicts during its colonial rule in the early 20th century.
Foundation President Hermann Parzinger welcomed the return of the artefacts.
“The decision makes it clear that the issue of returning items collected in the colonial context is not always wrong,” he said.
“The special – especially spiritual – importance of an artifact to the community from which it came can also justify a return,” he added.