Over 1000 Skulls From Germany’s African Colonies Are Still Housed In Berlin

While the skulls aren’t directly connected to the Holocaust, the reason for their preservation is. Germany’s colonialist history doesn’t typically get as much attention as, say, nearby countries of France, Spain, and Great Britain. Yet, the ideologies behind German colonialism do bear a chilling connection to the rise of eugenics.

This collection provides further evidence that wealthy members of imperialist nations would hoard, collect, and display the remains of indigenous people who fell at the hands of colonialism. This was a widespread custom across Europe that is already well documented by researchers and historians. Such customs were carried out in an era where ‘human zoos’ and world fairs featured displays of indigenous people held in captivity for the entertainment of white onlookers.

In the case of the Herero Wars, German colonial presence in Africa even turned genocidal. These skulls specifically are believed to have belonged to the colonialist victims of soldiers who were overseeing the portions of Africa under German rule at the time, belonging particularly to those who resisted it. Even more disturbing is the fact that researchers believe many more were actually collected by bounty hunters looking to sell the skulls of indigenous peoples to German collectors back in Europe.

Thus, the skulls display the long legacy of imperialism and white supremacy, which involved viewing human bodies as prizes to be hunted, captured, sold, and collected. On behalf of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, researchers are now working to repatriate the remains to their rightful origins.