The paper is the result of a three-month research in autumn 2021 and reflects the literature available to its authors at the time along with extensive correspondence with some of those involved in the (envisaged) returns.
It is a first attempt to collect and bundle all the known cases in order to enable further research. It offers info about claims for human, hominin and animal remains and cultural objects.
The paper can be read as a continuation of the comprehensive working paper by Lars Müller (2021a) which deals with returns from a global perspective, from 1867 until the 1970s. In his paper, Müller also raises the issue of returns and requests related to Germany. However, these early German cases will not be dealt with further in this paper unless the case is protracted and can be traced beyond the 1970s.
We follow the recommendations of the German Museums Association (Deutscher Museumsbund) in their definition of colonial contexts which are ‘regarded as circumstances and processes that have their roots either in formal colonial rule or in colonial structures outside formal colonial rule’.
