They burned down the city, they
massacred a whole lot of people, and then they looted these artifacts. When you rob a people of its entire
cultural heritage, then you steal their soul... and then you
can enslave them. What happened hollowed out society,
ripped out its heart. It was dramatic. And that wasn’t even the
worst that happened. You can’t lock up the soul of a people.
These ethnological museums are like prisons. They're prisons. The banks of the Wouri River, on the
edge of the coastal city of Douala. Last-minute preparations are underway. In
a few days’ time, the most influential families in Douala will be
competing in a canoe race. The contest is a traditional part
of the annual Ngondo Water Festival. Valère Epée is the chairman of the
festival’s board of elders. He’s checking up on progress. Only after the carved
wooden figurehead known as the Tangué is put in place
can the event begin. The Tangué is only put in place on
Saturday, it’s the very last part of the preparations. It’s not done at any old
time, traditionally it’s done on the eve of the event. And it’s not
done by any old person. And the Tangué is not
merely decorative. The Tangué is a magical object, it
decides the outcome of the canoe race. Victory or defeat depends on it. The Tangué contains the
forces of the river's depths. One of these ornate figureheads was
looted by German colonial powers in the 19th century. Like Valère Epée, these
regional elders have a deep respect for the cult of the Tangués. The issues of
colonial looting and the repatriation of African art is every bit as pressing
a topic here as it is in Europe. I get the impression that our debate,
here, tends to remain very euro-centric. No one is talking to Africans and
asking them what they envisage, what solutions they have in mind and
what sort of cooperation they would like to see. Is the repatriation of
objects, some of which are over 100 years old, what matters most to them?
Or might they have other priorities? We are not saying? Or, I am not saying
that everything should returned but if there are works that were taken under
very unsavory conditions, I think they should be returned to their owners. There’s no justification for the killings,
for the massacre, and therefore then cannot be any justification for the
continual retention of our artifacts. Key cultural heritage was stripped
away in a brutal fashion. Nothing can fill the void that was left. That’s why
it's important that repatriation occurs. There’s no doubt that it would help
reconcile a violently fractured society. In the late 19th century German and
British colonialists were scrambling for influence on the coast of Cameroon. In
1884 the Douala kings signed a treaty of protection with German
trade representatives. But Lock Priso opposed the treaty.
Several months later, he felt the full force of Germany’s military muscle
when German warships reached Douala. On December 21 1884 his village was
attacked and torched. At least 25 people lost their lives. The German consul Max Buchner wrote in
his journal: “The house of Lock Priso is being torn down, a stirring, striking
image. We are setting everything on fire.” As booty, Buchner took a wood carving
from the house: a Tangué, the feudal boat ornament belonging to Lock Priso. When Max Buchner returned to Munich a
year later, he gave this Tangué to the Royal Ethnographic Collection —
today’s Five Continents Museum. A gift drenched in blood. Today, over
one hundred years later, curator Stefan Eisenhofer is grappling with the
question of this wrongfully obtained object’s ownership. Since the late 1990s Professor Prince
Kum'a Ndumbe the Third has been demanding its return on the grounds
that he is its rightful owner. This is a Tangué that belonged to my
grandfather. I am his successor. But the Germans say I must prove that I am
my grandfather’s rightful heir. Benin City, in southern Nigeria. Sadly, in
recent decades its notoriety as a hub of human trafficking has eclipsed its
centuries-old reputation as a center of arts and crafts, and
specifically bronze works. Not far from the Royal Palace of the Oba
of Benin, Igun Street is a UNESCO World Heritage site, home of the
Guild of Benin Bronze Casters. Local artist Enotie Ogbebor
is visiting his friend Ewaen Aigbe in his bronzecasting workshop. He uses the same method employed
700 years ago. With the ‘lost wax process’, molten metal is poured
into a mold that has been created with a wax model. Once the mold is made, the
wax model is melted and drained away. The process means that each work is
unique — but these days, scrap metal is used as well as bronze. It’s a family work, it’s a hereditary work,
the parents pass it to the children. The
children pass it to their own children too. These works you are doing now, I can
see that a lot of them are coming from history. So where do you
get the references from? Most times there are some catalogue
that contains most of these jobs. So we’d come across them, we would buy
them, also we would go to the internet. You cannot see the details, because the
photograph can only show you one side. But if you could see
these objects yourself? Yes, of course. We just use our brain.
It’s a pride to the Benin people. So most times if we don’t do it, it’s like
a part of our body is missing. 1897.The Kingdom of Benin
in today’s Nigeria was rich in palm oil, rubber and ivory. Trade with the Europeans
was flourishing. But the king, the Oba, was a thorn in the
side of the British, who wanted greater influence in what was the last
independent kingdom in the region. They sent a small expedition to Benin City.
It was ambushed en route, leaving seven British officials dead. In response the British launched a
punitive expedition by a force of 1,200 soldiers of the Royal Navy. The troops
burned down towns and villages, massacring local residents. Once they
had captured the city, they began looting its monuments
and the royal palace. Ivory, wood carvings, masks, bronze
sculptures and reliefs. Thousands of valuable artifacts were stolen, shipped
to Europe and distributed to its major museums. Berlin ended up with
one of the largest collections. The Oba was sent into exile. To this day, there has been little
repatriation of these looted artifacts. In 2000, Prince Edun Akenzua submitted a
formal request to the British House of Commons for restitution of a
number of items — in vain. I think, we want outright return of those
things here. They belong here, this is where they were made, and we know the
purpose, the reason why we made them. It's our heritage and every country who
lost their heritage has nothing anymore. With these things looted,
a vacuum has been left. The Benin National Museum showcases the
history of the famous Benin Bronzes. Museum director Theophilus Umogbai
explains their significance. We have a bronze head here. We have
some bronze plaques here and they are usually used for decorating shrines and
the palace of the Oba of Benin. Now, bronzes were made not just for aesthetics.
It’s not art for art's sake. Every motive you see on it tells a story. So
the bronze casters were part of the chroniclers of the history of Benin. The history of a state — immortalized
in bronze. The newly renovated museum houses works made after the British
conquest. The older works are in Europe and the US. The objects taken abroad helped to tell
our story. Because prior to that time, they said we lived on trees. We are
monkeys. We are this, we are that. We are without culture. We are brutish,
savages and so on and so forth. When they saw the objects abroad, they
changed their narrative about us. Germany’s ethnological museums are
brimming with artifacts amassed overseas — bought, traded, gifted and
looted -- well over 1.5 million of them. But only 5 percent have
ever been put on display. In many instances, little is known
about them beyond brief notes in the museums’ inventories. To whom did they
originally belong? What was their purpose? Provenance research can help
shed light on their origins. But often entails laborious detective work. The Linden Museum Stuttgart is looking
into the provenance of its Namibia Collection with the help of Steven Isaack
from the initiative Heritage Watch Namibia. For starters: We would not know what
are in the stalls of European museums. We would not? We would not
have the full inventory. Basically our museum storerooms are full.
Some of the artifacts are increasingly in a state of disrepair
because museums are unable to restore them and properly look after them. Two objects have been exhibited in
Stuttgart just twice in over 100 years: a Bible and a whip from Namibia. In
2013 the Namibian embassy formally requested their return. German South West
Africa, 1893. Hendrik Witbooi lived in a village called
Hornkranz. He was the chief of a Nama clan and a devout Lutheran. Driven by his
religious ideals, he rebelled against the cruelty of the
colonial oppressors. That April German colonial forces
attacked and ransacked the village. 80 people were brutally murdered and the
others taken by the soldiers — who also made off with Witbooi’s
bible and cattle whip. After the massacre, Witbooi was
forced to cooperate with the colonial authorities. But he later led another
uprising, before he was killed in action in 1905. In the subsequent genocide over half
the Nama population was wiped out by German forces. Witbooi’s Bible and whip were donated
to the Linden Museum in Germany. 117 years later, they’re about
to return to Namibia. Today is the last day that these items
will be exhibited in the museum. Next week they’ll be packed up. We’ve had a
special protective box made for them. I’ll have it with me on the plane. February 2019. The delegation touches
down in Windhoek early in the morning. Hendrik Witbooi’s descendants
are attending the reception. A debate about the repatriation of
stolen art has been raging in Berlin for some time. The rebuilt Berlin City Palace
will house the Humboldt Forum, which will serve as the new home of the
Ethnological Museum. But how many of its treasures are colonial ‘blood
antiquities’? The Humboldt Forum has brought the issue of
looted art center-stage. It’s not the first time Berlin has been at
the heart of a debate about imperialism. The African continent promised the
colonial rulers wealth and power. Colonial expansion was in full flow when,
in 1884, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck invited European diplomats
to Berlin for what would go down in history as the Congo Conference.
There they drew up a framework to regulate European colonization and trade
in Africa, overriding most existing forms of African autonomy
and self-governance Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium, and
Germany all scrambled for their share. They carved up the continent between
them, arbitrarily drawing up borders that partly exist to this day. Many former colonies are still struggling
to gain economic independence, to resolve lingering conflicts over those
arbitrarily drawn borders and to overcome the sense of inferiority instilled
in them by the colonial masters. There’s a lot of colonial mentality
amongst the people, thinking, we have nothing, we are nothing, we were never
anything. And so we must strive to be like the colonial masters in order to
be regarded as human beings. But this narrative is completely false. Enotie Ogbebor has opened his studio in
Benin City to young artists. Many of them explore the trauma of colonial
rule in their creative work. Osaru Obaseki blends paint with sand
from Igun Street, the historical home of the Benin bronze casters. When you are preparing the background,
the main thing always has to be the focus? So that there’s
a connection, so? It’s a little bit tricky because you have
to go through books, because we don’t have the physical objects here, so we can’t
really relate to these things one on one. So with the mask, you are telling the
stories concerning the Queen, and her activities, and the kingdom? Our young people can’t see the
excellent representations that have been made by their ancestors. What’s
gonna inspire them? What’s gonna inspire them? Because western art is
made up of subjects and forms which are alien to us. So you’re gonna be
inspired only up to some level. But even if Picasso can be inspired by African
masks, you imagine how an African can be inspired by these same masks.
But we don’t have them to see! An estimated 95 percent of artifacts
from Benin currently housed in museums overseas were looted during the
punitive expedition. Benin has been calling for their return for more
than a century but with no result. The artifacts are scattered around the
world. It’s a logistical challenge. We want the artifacts back by all means.
But who do you speak to? Do you speak to the museum, trustees, do you speak
to the government? Who do you speak to? These collections don’t belong to the
various museums. The museums can make recommendations for specific
approaches or procedures. But ultimately it’s a political decision,
because the artifacts are public assets. Public museums in Europe are generally
custodians, and therefore not in a position to make autonomous
decisions about repatriation. In 2010 museum director Barbara
Plankensteiner co-founded the Benin Dialogue Group. Museum directors and
delegates from Europe and Nigeria meet annually to discuss efforts to reunite
the Benin works of art dispersed in collections around the world. When we started many years ago, we
were thinking in terms of permanent loans, because museums would have been
able to make such decisions themselves. What I would criticize about the
Benin Dialogue Group is the lack of transparency, and the fact they are still
talking about permanent loans. Even though our Nigerian colleagues see that as
a continuation of colonialist privilege and power structures. Basically the
European museums are saying, well if you don’t agree to permanent loans
then you won’t get the bronzes back. The Benin Dialogue Group has never said
that, one, the objects belong to the museums where they're housed or the
countries... we didn't say that. Neither did we say that the objects cannot come
wholesale, and be returned wholesale. But they say: look, let's bring them in
first, let people see them. Let's enjoy it. I don't think it's what
the Benin people want. They don't want a loan.
They want outright return. In Benin City there is also disagreement
over the best course of action. Clearly, will take more
than an initiatives like the Benin Dialogue Group
to resolve the problem. A writer and professor of German
language and literature, Prince Kum’a Ndumbe the Third has been calling for a
return of his grandfather’s Tangué for over twenty years. When it was seized
by Max Buchner in 1884, Lock Priso was head of the Bele Bele people. The
Munich museum where it ended up wants proof that the prince
is his rightful heir. They say they want proof. In this book,
I have gathered all the documents the Germans require showing that I am
Lock Priso’s rightful heir. Here, for example: In 1994, the Bele Bele
named me heir to the throne. The prince is an elite member of the
Bele Bele chiefdom, he is a member of the family, but he is not the king. The Ngondo Water Festival is getting
started. All of Douala’s incumbent kings have gathered. Paul Mbappe is here
to represent the Bele Bele lineage. He has little interest in the Tangué.
Were the artifact to be returned to Cameroon, it would serve to strengthen
his rival Kum’a Ndumbe’s claim to the throne. Is the power
struggle in the Bele Bele family hampering the
repatriation effort? It’s a complex matter. In our opinion
there is insufficient evidence that Kum'a Ndumbe the Third is Lock Priso’s
legitimate successor. We most certainly need further talks including
with the official head of the Bele Bele
family, Paul Mbappe. If Germany insists on
negotiating with the chiefdom’s authorized
person, then that’s me. The question of Lock Priso’s succession
is fraught with controversy in Douala. He had 32 sons — so a number of potential
successors, including Paul Mbappe. He is most definitely not a descendant
of Lock Priso. The Germans don’t even realize he doesn’t even belong
to Lock Priso’s family. It’s very hard for us to get to the
bottom of this conflict. But the question has to be resolved before
we can return the artifact. It might not have a high profile in
Europe, but Nigeria’s contemporary art scene is one of the most vibrant in Africa.
The Nike Art Gallery in Lagos opened in 2007 and has displayed work
by more than 5,000 Nigerian artists. Nike Okundaye’s collection is the largest
in West Africa. She has her doubts about the return of the Benin bronzes. Are we ready to receive them?
That is the question. Nike’s husband Osaruyi
Okundaye has his own opinion. I respect your views, but that view is not
what I think it should be. They are only just raising the argument, oh we don’t have
a place to keep them. Who told them that? What we need? if I want it back, I will
build a place that is convenient. So I will love our government to
build a very modern museum. But without that,
they are not ready! You don’t need a special place to keep a
bronze. The Oba’s palace is there, very well secured. They should
be returned to the palace where these things
were stolen originally. Most places I went to in Europe they would
say to me: well, if let us say that these things were returned to you, how
are we sure they would not come over to Europe again, they would be
sold to Europe by some people? I bet if those works are in Nigeria, maybe
by now we will not even see it again. If you look at the news, right, you realize
that a lot of the European museums have been broken into and things have
been stolen from there in the past. You realize that a lot of things
have not even been well-kept. But Nike Okundaye is well aware that
Nigeria’s arts and culture institutions struggle with a lack of funding. Plans
for a new Royal Museum in Benin City are progressing slowly due to
limited financial resources. In 2007 a bronze head of
an Oba, looted from Benin City, sold for a record
sum of 4.7 million US dollars at Sotheby’s. Benin saw none of it. You've made money from these things
over the years, over centuries that you are keeping them. I know how much I pay
to go enter the museums in Europe or in America and all of those things. Why
don't you take some of that money and come and build a fortress? I don’t believe that the museum profited.
Perhaps conceptually. The artifacts were exhibited. They were
promoted and researched. But that benefited everyone. There’s a bit of a
misconception as to how public museums work. To collect, preserve, study, educate and
exhibit — this is the mission of a public museum. But museum director Uta
Werlich has had to confront the question — what are the ethics of
exhibiting a sacred object — a looted object -- like the Tangué? It’s been
on display here for over 40 years. We know that by today’s standards
Munich came by the figurehead unethically. Last year we reached out,
and Kum'a Ndumbe got in touch with us. Now the ball is in our court. These ethnological museums are like
prisons. They’re prisons ? Our soul was stolen and locked up in them. We don’t see these artifacts as our
hostages or prisoners. They are objects that bring people together. These are ceremonial objects, they’re
not just ornamental. Merely ‘looking’ at objects is a European cultural practice. But is a museum in Cameroon the right
home for the Tangué either? Marilyn Douala Bell thinks not. The co-founder
of the Contemporary Art Center Doual'art, she believes art belongs among
the people. In marketplaces. In villages. We need to reframe the museum question.
We don’t want to say, “good, the objects have been repatriated, now
we’ll lock them up somewhere else.” The objects belong in a museum, but
copies should be made — and displayed in communal spaces. So how do we
accomplish this? How can we use these copies to awaken a new
historical narrative? It’s the day of the Ngondo festival’s
canoe race. The Tangué was put in pride of place during the night — in a secret
ritual. Today the public is out in full force to support their teams. Around 50 rowers fit in the canoes. Each
boat has a name. The neighborhood of Deido is in the ‘Ebele O Bosso’.
The canoe with the green figurehead has
won a number of races. The German delegation in Namibia is on
its way to the desert town of Gibeon. Hendrik Witbooi’s bible and whip are
returning home with a military escort. The official hand-over is a state
ceremony attended by visitors from across the country. And a host of
high-ranking Namibian politicians. I am deeply moved to see how much
Hendrik Witbooi’s bible and whip mean to this country. And I am a little
ashamed, knowing that these objects were safeguarded but
more or less languishing in our collection for
over one hundred years. The moment arrives. The bible and the
whip are back where they belong. We want those cultural objects back in
our country so that our children can look, study and be inspired by them.
Hendrik Witbooi is a national hero in Namibia. Children are taught about the
freedom fighter who rebelled against the German colonial occupation. His descendants sing the
praises of his heroism. You must bring back
everything that is not yours! In Germany, the acknowledgment of our
difficult colonial past has taken far too long but is has begun. A token for this is
the return of the Witboi bible and whip after more than 100 years — far too long.
And I am deeply sorry for that. The Bible and whip is handed to the
president of Namibia. But there is an irony to the fact that the first major
artifact to be returned by Germany to Africa was a bible — brought by the
German colonial masters to Namibia and then stolen by them. Is the repatriation of looted art merely
so much empty symbolism? Is it perhaps not more urgent to ask how colonial
thinking still shapes politics? What responsibility does Europa have to Africa?
Will Germany ever atone for the Herero-Nama genocide? These are questions the politicians
don’t want to answer. They would rather simply return individual
items...and that worries me. We need a broader discussion about
Europe’s colonial legacy. The ultimate goal is not simply to
return as much as possible. The goal is to systematically work through the
issue, widen access, nurture dialogue
and work together as equal partners. ‘Equal partners? We don’t
even let them in!” How easy will it be, is it, for the African
to get a visa to go to your country? But in a world riven by inequality and
injustice, how much of a priority is the return of stolen art? Are there not
more urgent problems that need solving? Our first priority now is education
and feeding, food, poverty? Let’s take it from this angle. We should
teach our children our cultural heritage. And not every child can travel to
Germany to go and see these things. Seeing the thing physically is more
educative than seeing the pictures. You have.. you see it, you feel it. . When Nigerian artist Victor
Ehikhamenor visits Europe and the US he makes a point of going to see the
Benin Bronzes. His ‘ancestors’, as he calls them. And he posts
them on Instagram. Probably without some of these raids
maybe the world probably wouldn't have known the amount of artwork that
was coming out from this part of the world. In that sense it was good.
Because art is art. The way the Europeans were reflecting their society
back then, was the same way we were reflecting our society, you understand. It’s new, this is the latest one that I
made. These are bronze that I cast from Benin. This is the head of an
Oba, and this is the crucifix? Now that we are talking about African
art, now we are talking about Benin bronze, I think they have done their
work, they have done their job, they have shown the world, they have seen
the world, the world has seen them and I think they are kind of like thinking,
OK, it's time for us to go back home. The objects that were stolen will never
play the role in society they once played. Society has changed. The
people who knew how to bring them to life and imbued them with energy are gone.
The question of restitution has to be considered within the context of
today’s world so that the younger generations that will see them
can develop their own emotional relationship with them. Canoes from across Douala are taking
part in today’s race. For the young people, the figureheads are an integral
part of the boats. The boat, the Tangué, and the rowers are one. At the end of the race, the green
Tangué has won a narrow victory. The figurehead illustrates the
complexity of restitution and the debate surrounding it. There aren’t
always straightforward solutions. And perhaps we need to accept the fact that in
some cases we won’t find a solution at all. I‘m waiting. I’ve done what I can. They
wanted documents. I have sent them documents. Publicly.
The talks between the museum in Munich and myself
are no longer private. We can no longer act as though our
collections came to us out of nowhere. We have to face up to our responsibility. Justice must be done for people
whose soul was stolen from them. Once we have clarity, a way to
reconciliation must be found. And reconciliation does not mean Africans
have to go to the Humboldt Forum in Berlin to see their heritage.
We don’t just want to look at it. We want these
objects to live here. History that lives and breathes. The way
it does at the annual Igue Festival in Benin City.
The festival includes a procession to the royal palace to reaffirm loyalty to the
Oba. The palace that was destroyed and plundered in the British conquest of
Benin Kingdom over 120 years ago. Even today the scars have not healed.
So if we don’t launch processes that will free us of the burden of violence
and pain we suffered in the past, we will get nowhere. What matters is that
we flush out the poison of this era and reinvent our future. The easiest way is to return the artefacts.
Say sorry, this was wrong. Here. And then the healing can start.
I'm from said tribe. I am Bini from the Benin Kingdom presently Benin City, Ẹ̀dọ́ state, Nigeria. The artworks known as the Benin Bronzes were the spoils of war. But now we live in more civilised times, they should be returned.
Alone what was taken from the Kingdom of Benin is just mind-numbing
DON'T GET ME STARTED LOL