The Ethnological Museum of Berlin returns 23 artifacts to the National Museum of Namibia

Director of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation Hermann Parzinger and Esther Moombolah Goagoses of the National Museum of Namibia show pieces of Namibian art from the collection of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin on May 24, 2022, before 23 items of the collection will be sent to Namibia as part of the partnership research project titled "Confronting Colonial Pasts, Envisioning Creative Futures".

AFP - TOBIAS SCHWARZ

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

This is a new step in Germany's recognition of the crimes committed in its former African colonies: Berlin handed over this Friday to Namibia, a German colony from 1884 to 1915, old objects which had been looted.

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With our correspondent in Berlin,

A doll symbol of fertility, jewelry, a leather headdress: in total, 23 objects were selected, not by Germany, but by Namibian researchers.

During the colonial period, these objects had been looted and then incorporated into the collections of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.

In Namibia, they will now be studied by scientists, who hope to learn more about the history of their country.

To mark the event, several objects will also be presented to the public from June 1, in the brand new Namibian Fashion Museum. 

In recent years, Germany has multiplied symbolic gestures with regard to Namibia, in particular by returning bones and works of art.

But the reconciliation process is stalling.

Berlin recognizes

during the colonial era and offers one billion euros in reparations.

A sum deemed insufficient by the descendants of the victims of the genocide.

The Namibian Parliament refuses to ratify the reconciliation treaty between the two states.

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