Return of the ancestors: Berlin gives back bones to Australia!

Return of the ancestors: Berlin gives back bones to Australia!

On Thursday, December 5, 2024, there is a significant return ceremony in the Ethnological Museum in Dahlem. The Prussian Culture Foundation returns to Australia for six decades in Berlin. This is celebrated together with the Australian message, while the bones of the ancestors start their long journey home. The presented include three deceased people who were brought to Berlin in 1880, as well as two additional ancestors from the Natur and Mensch Oldenburg State Museum, as the foundation announced.

The ceremony is held in the presence of high -ranking guests, including Hermann Parzinger, the President of the Foundation, and Natasha Smith, the ambassador for Australia. Representatives of the "Ugar Island Repatriation Working Group" will also participate. This group consists of descendants of the indigenous people of Ugar Island, a small island on Torres-Straße, which has an important cultural connection to the residues. In 2011, Torres Strait Islander Repatriation Working Group applied for the return of two skulls that were collected in 1888. The ceremony thus represents a significant step in the restoration of cultural identity and inheritance of the indigenous peoples of Australia, as well as stern.de reported.

This return is not only an act of respect, but also a necessary step to recognize the historical injustices that were added to the indigenous peoples by colonial practices. At the funeral service, the cultural context of these remains is recognized, which underlines the importance of the event. With this gesture, the Prussian cultural property foundation not only brings home the remains of the ancestors, but also contributes to healing the wounds from the past, so rbb24