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Returning Germany鈥檚 stolen skulls

Why does Germany still keep thousands of human remains stolen from its former colonies? And why can鈥檛 Zablon Kiwelu bring home his grandfather鈥檚 skull?

In 1900, German colonial officers executed 19 Tanzanian leaders, including Akida Kiwelu, and shipped their skulls to Berlin for scientific study. Thousands of such skulls and ancestral remains stolen from Germany鈥檚 past colonies are still kept in Berlin museums to this day. In an administrative building in Berlin, Zablon Kiwelu encounters his grandfather鈥檚 skull for the first time. DNA testing confirmed a genetic match to this skull, held in an anthropological colonial-era collection of thousands of skulls known as the S-Collection. But despite proof of his heritage, Zablon cannot bring his grandfather home for a proper burial.

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