As part of the Rwanda’s comprehensive efforts to research its heritage that was taken away by foreign countries, local scientists are currently working with their international counterparts to probe how and why hundreds of colonial-time skulls from Rwanda were taken to German museums.

In December, Berlin museum authorities said they were ready to return hundreds of human skulls taken from their former German colonies in the East African region.

In the 1800’s, Germany colonised an East African territory that covered present-day Rwanda, Burundi, parts of Tanzania, and a small region of Mozambique.

A research carried out by scientists at Berlin’s Museum of Prehistory and Early History examined 1,135 skulls, of which it was found that 904 skulls could be assigned to areas in present-day Rwanda; 202 to Tanzania; and 22 to Kenya.

Speaking to The New Times, Robert Masozera, the Director-General of the Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy (RCHA), said that it was in 2017 when the institution started following the issue of Rwandan skulls in Germany closely after the German government informed Rwanda of the existence of Rwandan skulls kept in the warehouses of the Museum of Prehistory and Ancient History in Berlin.

"In partnership with these Berlin museums, we have launched a joint research project on these human remains from Rwanda to answer questions such as: Who brought them to Europe? Where did they come from? Where did they take them? Why did they do it? What did they do with them once in Europe? What do Rwandans think of these skulls?” he noted.

He added that the research phase is still ongoing and progressing very well, though the question of repatriation will come later.

"We know that the Berlin museum intends to return the skulls to Rwanda, but this will depend on the outcome of bilateral discussions that need to take place between the two countries: Germany and Rwanda on the modalities of the restitution process,” he said.

"I cannot imagine that the Berlin Museum would pack the skulls in a container and simply send them to Rwanda without anyone in Rwanda knowing about it and without these bilateral discussions taking place first,” he added.

Among other questions that researchers will be looking into as they proceed with the research is why these skulls were collected in large numbers from Rwanda, Masozera noted.

More research work on Rwandan heritage abroad:

The RCHA is seeking information on all countries holding Rwandan collections, not only in Europe, but worldwide, according to Masozera.

"This work is progressing well but is not yet complete,” he said, adding that they know that in Europe, especially in Belgium and Germany there are some.

The Rwandan heritage that was taken abroad is mainly tangible and intangible heritage composed of: objects like collections from ethnographic and archaeological museums; human skulls and probably complete bodies); archives - written, photographic, audio and video documents produced by the colonial administration, army staff, missionaries, explorers, researchers, travelers and traditional authorities.

It also includes natural collections including zoological, botanical and geological samples.

"However, Rwanda does not have an exhaustive list of this heritage. Our institution RCHA is urgently working on this issue,” Masozera said.

"In the case of the Berlin Museum, for example, we do not yet know if it has any other Rwandan objects, but we will know in the near future,” he added.

Hermann Parzinger, the president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, an authority that oversees many of Berlin’s museums, including the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, said the clear objective of provenance research on human remains at German museums is to restitute them to the countries concerned.

"We are ready for immediate restitution and are now waiting for signals from the countries of origin,” he added.

In recent years, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has made efforts to return several human remains and artifacts that were stolen by Germans and other European colonialists in the past and ended up in Berlin collections.