Hansjörg Dilger/Maike Schimanowski/Thomas Fues/Andreas Mehler write:
Statement from the Digital Library office 12 September 2025 to our enquiry confirms the assumption that usage rates among the target groups have been low to date:
- “The use of our websites is not recorded on an individual basis, so that quantitative statements about individual users (e.g. by actors from the diaspora or civil society) are not possible.
- On the Collections from Colonial Contexts portal, we provide a contact form for each object, which is forwarded directly to our data partners, i.e. museums and collections that preserve the respective objects, so that we have no knowledge of the content and sender of the contact request.
- The portal is currently visited mainly by users whose IP addresses are registered in Germany, the USA and France, with around four per cent coming from the Global South (emphasis added by authors).
- However, website visits are not recorded if users set cookies, if browser settings reject cookies, or if data is requested via the open API (Application Programming Interface) of the German Digital Library.”
Fundamentally, the question arises as to whether the model for the centralised recording of all cultural belongings from colonial contexts held in Germany meets the needs and capabilities of the communities of origin. After all, this is what the attempt to publicise and repatriate colonially appropriated ancestral remains and cultural belongings is all about.
Open Restitution Africa (ORA) expresses scepticism about the establishment of comprehensive data portals by national governments on the continent.
Instead, the organisation advocates a strategic focus on the priorities and demands of local communities.
This is not only a matter of limited resources in former colonial territories and their diasporic connections, but also of respecting the knowledge of the communities concerned about their cultural belongings and their public presentation, as well as strengthening their agency and interpretive authority in restitution proceedings.
Recommendation:
- We see the establishment of a pluralistic governance structure, for example through an international advisory board with the participation of civil society and academia from countries of origin and Germany, as a decisive factor in increasing the attractiveness and use of the portal by the target groups.
- To support the restitution efforts of local communities and governments, the Federal Government should establish a restitution fund and provide it with adequate financial resources.
- The German Digital Library should be provided with additional funds to formulate and implement a strategy for better promoting the portal among target groups
