Invitation to the digital panel discussion “Between Research, Responsibility and Remembrance: Dealing with Human Remains of Unknown Provenance”
18th February 2026, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (CET) online via Zoom

The handling of human remains from colonial contexts presents museums, collections and research institutions with complex professional as well as ethical challenges. A key finding of the Survey on Human Remains from Colonial Contexts Held in Museum and University Collections in Germany conducted in 2023 by the German Contact Point for Cultural Property and Human Remains from Colonial Contexts shows that approximately 46 % of the recorded human remains that have not been culturally modified cannot be clearly attributed to a specific geographical origin. Knowledge about origin and provenance is, however, of crucial importance both for a potential return to the communities and countries of origin and for ensuring appropriate care and handling within museums and collections in Germany.

Against this background, a number of fundamental questions arise: How should museums and collections deal with human remains, whose origin stays permanently unclear? What types of spaces or facilities are suitable for the medium- or long-term care and safekeeping of human remains with unresolved provenance? And what constitutes an ethically responsible approach to human remains whose origin cannot be determined or which cannot be repatriated to a country or society of origin?
We would like to explore these questions during the digital panel discussion Between Research, Responsibility and Remembrance: Dealing with Human Remains from Colonial Contexts of Unknown Provenance on 18 February 2026, together with experts from cultural and academic institutions in Germany and abroad. Four short presentations by Prof. Wazi Apoh (Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Ghana), Sarah Fründt (German Lost Art Foundation / Expert Network on the Handling of Human Remains), Dr. Birgit Scheps-Bretschneider (affiliated with the Dresden State Art Collections | GRASSI Museum) and Dr. Rudo Sithole (AFRIMUHERE) will open the event and provide the basis for a subsequent panel discussion. Aisha Camara will be the moderator for the event.

The German Contact Point for Cultural Property and Human Remains from Colonial Contexts warmly invites you to take part in the event. Participation in the online event is free of charge, but only possible after registration by 16 February 2026 via the online form. You will receive the access details by email prior to the event. The event will be held in English.

The event forms part of the projects on the handling of human remains from colonial contexts implemented by the German Contact Point for Cultural Property and Human Remains from Colonial Contexts with funding from the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact events-contactpoint(at)kulturstiftung.de.