Thomas Fues writes:
The new body’s first priority is to compile an inventory of cultural heritage located abroad.
The establishment of the committee could herald a new phase of proactive remembrance of colonial history in the country described by some as the „model colony“ of the German empire.
Togolese scholar Kokou Azamede (Université de Togo) points to regional differences in Togo’s colonial memory spaces:
- the south, on the coast, is characterised by colonial nostalgia, partly due to the pre-colonial presence of missionary societies and trading houses.To this day, the subsequent German colonial rule is largely associated in the south with positively perceived contributions to infrastructure, administration, education, healthcare and Christianisation.
- the north was brought under control by German colonial troops, often using extreme violence against fierce resistance from many communities. After military subjugation, the population was forced into labour for colonial projects. Cultural belongings and human remains were transported to Germany as spoils of war. It is therefore obvious that the colonial loot in German institutions originates predominantly from northern Togo, while missionary collections are particularly significant for the south of the country.
The State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony investigated the provenance of their holdings from Togo under German colonial rule. The project focused on 700 „objects“ and photographs that were acquired or donated to the Museum of Ethnology in Dresden and the GRASSI Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig between 1899 and 1939.
The Museum of Prehistory and Early History has examined 477 human skulls (ancestral remains) in its collection that were brought to Germany from West Africa (mainly Togo and Cameroon) during the colonial period.
Stones from a religious context that a German missionary of the North German Mission took with him in 1911 are housed in the Lippisches Landesmuseum Detmold. The Übersee-Museum Bremen has acquired a large missionary collection from the Ewe-speaking region (today’s south-eastern Ghana and southern Togo).
Committees in former colonies:
With its decision to establish a restitution committee in Togo, the country is following the example of other former colonies of the German Empire.
- Negotiations with Germany have progressed furthest in the case of Cameroon.
- Tanzania’s restitution committee has also not yet submitted any claims against Germany.
- Ghana, whose eastern part belonged to Deutsch-Togoland, has appointed an advisory body (Focal Team on Restitution and Reparation), which was involved in the first restitution cases by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation to the Akpini community in Kpando in December 2025.
- In Namibia, the government is currently preparing a national strategy: National Policy on the Repatriation and Restitution of Human Remains and Heritage Objects.
