{"id":22438,"date":"2024-03-27T21:33:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T20:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/?p=22438"},"modified":"2024-07-12T12:30:34","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T10:30:34","slug":"human-remains-human-remains-who-has-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/2024\/03\/menschlichen-ueberreste-human-remains-wer-hat-zugang\/","title":{"rendered":"Human remains - Who has access?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Who are we without the recognition of our human body? An essential part of our image of humanity is the official recognition of our remains. Even if we die alone, we are still connected to our loved ones. In order to feel part of society, our documentation counts. We understand ourselves through grief. By seeing how humanity expresses and shows itself, we experience access to our feelings. Only then can we enter into collective understanding and healing in the community. Especially when it comes to our pain or anger. Because when it comes to injustice, transformation does not happen alone. Who has access to the human remains from the colonial era?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:auto 45%\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Under the motto \"We want them back\", the initiative's motto is <a href=\"https:\/\/wewantthemback.berlin\/\"><strong>wewantthemback.berlin<\/strong><\/a>. They are fighting for the repatriation of human remains from the colonial past. The initiative's database was created in collaboration with 15 institutions, including those in Jena, Gotha, Berlin, Marburg and T\u00fcbingen. Current figures show that in Germany around <strong>17.000<\/strong> human remains from a colonial context. <strong>9.490 <\/strong> of these are unlawful and so far only <strong>222<\/strong> rightfully returned. Whoever is in possession of human remains also holds the responsibility of human history. Having access to the past means having access to humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecchr.eu\/publikation\/we-want-them-back-wissenschaftliches-gutachten-zum-bestand-menschlicher-ueberrestehuman-remains-aus-kolonialen-kontexten-in-berlin-februar-2022\/\">wewantthemback<\/a><\/strong> was first published in February 2022 by the coordination office at Decolonize Berlin e.V.<\/em> <em>published<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"563\" height=\"733\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/wewantthemback.webp\" alt=\"The image shows a book with the title &quot;we want them back&quot; next to a world map tilted to the right, showing the origins of human remains with color-coded areas such as all of Africa, the Americas, Arab areas and India, as well as other locations. The logo of Decolonize Berlin is shown in the left corner and a subtitle: scientific report on the inventory of human remains from colonial contexts in Berlin. It was first published in February 2022 by the coordination office at Decolonize Berlin e.V.\" class=\"wp-image-22525 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/wewantthemback.webp 563w, https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/wewantthemback-230x300.webp 230w, https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/wewantthemback-46x60.webp 46w, https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/wewantthemback-500x651.webp 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 563px) 100vw, 563px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Our renowned educational institutions such as Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin or Charit\u00e9 - Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin have shaped our image of humanity through the use, devaluation and generalization of human remains from the colonial past. Human remains can still be found in these institutions today. At Freie Universit\u00e4t we speak of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tagesspiegel.de\/berlin\/16000-knochen-fragmente-auf-gelande-der-fu-berlin-ausgegraben-4233007.html\"><strong>16,000 bone fragments<\/strong><\/a>which can be assigned to at least 54 to 107 people. But we are also talking about other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de\/leichen-im-keller-vom-umgang-mit-kolonialen-100.html\"><strong>\"Skeletons in the closet\"<\/strong><\/a>which stem from colonial and Nazi crimes. While scientists elevated themselves, they dehumanized others through their inhumane pseudo-scientific racial research aimed at hierarchizing humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Decolonizing means uprooting the hierarchies in our image of humanity from the colonial past. One example of this is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdr.de\/presse\/presseinformation-aminata-belli-deutsche-schuld-namibia-102.html\"><strong>Aminata Belli, who traces the colonial legacy of German guilt in Namibia and the genocide<\/strong><\/a> to perish. Because the first genocide of the 20th century was of the \"60,000 Ovaherero and 10,000 Nama by German colonialists\". Even in our<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/produkt\/historische-fuehrung-im-afrikanischen-viertel\/?utm_medium=paidsearch&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_campaign=&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=dekoloniale%20stadtf%C3%BChrung&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwh4-wBhB3EiwAeJsppPTfF_Mb43LewtKByno6F95DRuZzh3Ve6cKYVVjEQMDeHtYfEq_7VRoCmN8QAvD_BwE\">Decolonial city tour<\/a><\/strong> we dedicate ourselves to Nambia and the German colonial era. With Swakopmund Street in our program, we give an alternative city tour in the African Quarter to this colonial area monument that anchored the German colonial power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Victims of colonial human crimes belong back where they should NEVER have been taken, abducted and turned into foreign property. The \"Human Remains Project\" is dedicated to the task of critically confronting and returning the origin of human remains from the colonial era. After a long time, the Charit\u00e9 has also begun the repatriation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/de\/namibia-erh%C3%A4lt-20-historische-sch%C3%A4del\/a-15423027\"><strong>20 skulls to Namibia<\/strong><\/a> a first step has been taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Memorials serve to commemorate, mourn and remember. It is a process that is of fundamental importance for social orientation today and for the future. We all need a historical walk as well as places of remembrance and monuments as access to our humanity. Because being human does not happen in isolation. The victims of colonial crimes against humanity teach us the value of respect. It is an attitude and behavior towards the experiences suffered by the victims that must be honored and appreciated. Dealing with the human remains is a task of sharing an intergenerational communal bond. Because it is a question of freedom when we talk about people from colonial captivity. Keeping the human image of victims to survivors in our hearts and in our collective memory is ultimately our human image of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On this occasion, we cordially invite you to take part in our Decolonial City Tour, which takes place every Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 1 pm. We would also like to invite all educational institutions, especially the student body, to join this tour with regard to dealing with the human remains from the colonial past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-luminous-vivid-orange-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-60ee0ec2791ae04d1f5cdee0a415f4c8\"><em><strong>Walk the past, change the future.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ce155fab wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-black-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-small-font-size wp-elements-65edeb89bf5a2fd474178da463eaf1d0\"><em>I am nobody<\/em><br><em>Without the recognition of my body,<\/em><br><em>I am not officially seen<\/em><br><em>as a part of society.<\/em><br><em>And though we die alone,<\/em><br><em>we remain connected to the living,<\/em><br><em>this is how humanity is shown,<\/em><br><em>through mourning and burning<\/em><br><em>our anger away,<\/em><br><em>transforming<\/em><br><em>ourselves into the masses<\/em><br><em>of injustices.<\/em><br><em>That's how, today,<\/em><br><em>collective healing can surpass this,<\/em><br><em>by reclaiming our human remains.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-small-font-size wp-elements-27382529fe08b062d8be96ce5b5342dc\">T. N.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wer sind wir ohne die Anerkennung unseres menschlichen K\u00f6rpers? Ein wesentlicher Bestandteil unseres Menschenbildes ist die offizielle Anerkennung unserer \u00dcberreste. Auch wenn wir alleine sterben, sind wir dennoch mit unseren Hinterbliebenen verbunden. Um uns als Teil der Gesellschaft f\u00fchlen zu k\u00f6nnen, z\u00e4hlt daher unsere Dokumentation. Wir verstehen uns durch die Trauer. Indem wir sehen, wie [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[357,334],"tags":[134,116],"class_list":["post-22438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazin","category-magazine","tag-berlin-touren-mal-anders","tag-kolonialismus"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22931,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22438\/revisions\/22931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekolonialestadtfuehrung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}