A delegation from Cameroon commemorates ancestors at the University of Freiburg

During their trip to Freiburg, the seven delegation members, headed by Sa Majesté Bertrand Effoudou, Chef Supérieur of the Maka-Bebend d’Atok, honoured their ancestors with a ceremony. Afterwards, they met Prof. Dr Andreas Mehler and Dr Anika Becher from the Africa Centre for Transregional Research, which has accompanied the provenance research on the ancestors of the Maka, among other things. In addition to an exchange with Dr Mathias Kunz, Head of the University Archives, the delegation also spoke with Prof. Dr Kerstin Krieglstein, Rector at the University of Freiburg, and Prof. Dr Michael Schwarze, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs.

Repatriation of human remains to Cameroon

Descendants had no information about the whereabouts of their ancestors

Even today, more than 120 years after the events, the communities of origin of the posthumously looted human remains often have no information about the whereabouts of their ancestors. The Maka and Omvang communities in eastern Cameroon were also unaware that their ancestors were taken out of the country after their violent deaths. In a research project financed by the German Lost Art Foundation, the origin of these people could be proven. In August 2024, exploratory research was conducted among the Maka and Omvang communities in eastern Cameroon. A team led by Professor Dr Albert Gouaffo (University of Dschang) carried out this study as a subcontractor of the Africa Centre for Transregional Research at the University of Freiburg. It was supported by the Ministry of Science, Art and Culture of Baden-Württemberg.

“In our discussions with the delegation, we have now laid the foundations for the remains of the five people to be repatriated to Cameroon. It was an important event for them, but also for us,” added Andreas Mehler.

After their visit to Freiburg, the delegation travelled on to Stuttgart, where they met with the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Science, Petra Olschowski. They also visited the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart, where numerous cultural artefacts of the Maka people are stored in the archives. This is the first time that a delegation from Cameroon has visited their ancestors in a German collection.

The University of Freiburg and the reappraisal of its colonial past

A central concern for the University of Freiburg is to continue to critically examine the history of the Alexander Ecker Collection and the handling of human remains from colonial contexts, and to establish a culture of remembrance that also highlights disreputable aspects of the University’s history. This has been done so far, for example, in the context of various research and teaching projects, such as the project “Restitution der Würde” (“Restitution of Dignity”) funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Eucor project “Human Remains in University Collections – Comparisons and Entanglements”.

In cooperation with the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, the University of Freiburg has already returned human remains from the Alexander Ecker Collection on multiple occasions. These include the remains of 13 Iwi Kūpuna to Hawaii in 2023, the remains of eight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to Australia in 2019, and the remains of 14 people to Namibia in 2014. The repatriation process of the Maka ancestors’ remains could begin after an official request for their return is submitted to the government.