How is Germany responding to growing pressure from its former colonies?
Thomas Fues, 6 March 2026
On 25 February 2026, the Togolese cabinet approved a draft law to establish a restitution committee. The committee will seek to repatriate tangible and intangible cultural heritage, as well as human remains and archives from colonial contexts. The bill refers to over 8,000 „objects“ currently held in foreign museums. The government hopes that the repatriation of cultural heritage will strengthen national identity and collective memory, but also provide impetus for local cultural creators and the tourism sector.
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.
Separate memories
In his contribution to the book Fifteen Colonial Thefts, Togolese scholar Kokou Azamede (Université de Togo) points to regional differences in Togo’s colonial memory spaces. According to him, the south of the country, 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.
In contrast, the north of the country 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.
Looted belongings
In a large-scale research project, the State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony investigated the provenance of their holdings from Togo under German colonial rule. The project, funded by the German Lost Art Foundation, focused on a collection of 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 final report from 2023 documents the numerous cases of military force that preceded the appropriation by German actors:
„The research project examined eight collections, all of which were acquired during German colonial rule in the colony of Togo. This historical context is characterised by structural violence, against which the appropriation of objects must be assessed. In our research, we identified various modes of appropriation in which this violence is expressed in different ways.“
In his text Ent-Sammeln: Grundriss einer postkolonialen Museumsethik (Un-Collecting: An Outline of Postcolonial Museum Ethics), provenance researcher Ohiniko Mawussé Toffa (Ethnological Museum Berlin) examines an exemplary case of colonial violence in Togo and the ideology used to justify it. He assesses the report by staff physician Dr Ludwig Wolf on his „research trip“ in 1889 as follows:
„The report is thus also an example of colonial linguistic violence. Words such as ‚treacherous‘, ‚band of robbers‘ or ‚bestial manner‘ are not random formulations, they are tools. They create a reality in which killing, looting and expropriation by colonial officials appear not as crimes, but as protection and order.“
As part of the project The Restitution of Knowledge, Elias Aguigah, Yann LeGall and Jeanne-Ange Wagne examined the holdings of three German museums (Berlin, Stuttgart and Leipzig) from northern Togo. These include the extensive shipment of more than 1,700 belongings to Germany by a German colonial officer, Gaston Thierry. As the authors explain after evaluating historical sources, their appropriation took place in the context of military violence.
Human remains
In addition, their research has revealed that the colonial officer stole more than 60 human remains from this region of Togo. These are now held by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK). As part of a multi-year research project (2021-24), the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, which belongs to the SPK, 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. In the course of the project, the number of ancestors examined has increased to 523. The announced final publication on the project could not be found in a recent internet search.
Return of the ancestors
Based on the research project on human remains from West Africa, the SPK has reaffirmed its willingness to repatriate the ancestors:
„For a significant proportion of the remains, the region of origin could be narrowed down to such an extent that returns to individual communities are possible if desired by the countries concerned. The project extension now approved by the BKM until 31 December 2024 will enable the research results to be communicated directly to the villages and communities concerned… The project team will now personally communicate the results of the provenance research to the villages most affected. At the same time, this on-site communication will empower the communities to articulate their wishes and communicate them to their respective governments.“
The announced communication in Togo took place during a trip at the end of 2024 led by Bernhard Heeb (curator at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History). The communities visited demanded the return of their ancestors and support for the establishment of memorial sites from the German delegation. So far, no further activities in this direction have been publicly announced by the German side. It is to be expected that Togo’s newly installed restitution committee will demand the repatriation.
Mission collections
The diversity of Togo’s cultural heritage brought to Germany is illustrated by stones from a religious context that a German missionary of the North German Mission took with him in 1911. Today, they are housed in the Lippisches Landesmuseum Detmold. Similarly, the Übersee-Museum Bremen has acquired a large missionary collection from the Ewe-speaking region (today’s south-eastern Ghana and southern Togo). The museum is currently conducting an international research project (Legba-Dzoka Project) on this holding.
Belongings in non-German museums
German looted belongings from Togo can also be found in non-German museums today. In their contribution to the publication Fifteen Colonial Thefts, employees of the Field Museum in Chicago describe how part of the spoils of war of the above-mentioned colonial officer Thierry came into the possession of their museum through purchase.
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. Corresponding state committees from Cameroon and Tanzania have already held talks with the German government and visited selected German museums. Negotiations with Germany have progressed furthest in the case of Cameroon. In the talks, which were coordinated by the Foreign Office, exemplary restitutions to the four Cameroonian cultural regions were planned as a „first wave“ for September 2025. However, this step could not be implemented due to the upcoming presidential elections in Cameroon at the time. Since then, the German institutions involved have been waiting for a list from Cameroon with the desired cultural belongings.
Tanzania and Ghana
Following an initial exploratory trip to Germany in March 2025, 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) headed by the scholar Kodzo Gavua (University of Ghana), which was involved in the first restitution cases by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation to the Akpini community in Kpando in December 2025.
Germany’s inadequate response
The establishment of the restitution committee in Togo underscores the growing interest in the colonial successor states in coming to terms with their entangled history with Germany. The existence of corresponding government committees in Cameroon, Tanzania and Togo, as well as the advisory body in Ghana, refutes the argument often heard – including from German diplomats – that no one in the former colonies is interested in colonialism. In Namibia, the government is currently preparing a national strategy: National Policy on the Repatriation and Restitution of Human Remains and Heritage Objects.
The current structures and funding frameworks in Germany are not adequately prepared for the imminent intensification of negotiations with the former colonies. Although the Federal Government, the Länder and local authority associations have adopted joint guidelines on the handling of cultural assets and human remains from colonial contexts in October 2025, important elements of the progress contained therein have not yet been implemented.
The Foreign Office currently reports that the German national coordination committee, as the central point of contact for the restitution committees of the various countries of origin, and the planned international network of experts are currently being set up. It remains unclear where these new bodies will be based and who will finance them.