A wooden oebject and a person in a blue dress with white gloves behind it

A boat prow and it's restitution to Samoa

During research on object “D04870 boat prow | taumua” within the project, it became clear that the boat prow in the Übersee-Museum Bremen was war loot from Samoa. It was therefore decided to return it and the process was initiated. See the journey of the object to Samoa in this photo story.

Three people standing in front of showcases, a wooden object on the table in front of them — During research into provenance of objects within the project, it became clear that this prow in the Übersee-Museum was war loot from Samoa. It was therefore immediately decided to return the prow and this was initiated.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Übersee-Museum Bremen, photo: Volker Beinhorn

A person wrapping an object in white paper — Conservator Conny Ammermann carefully prepares the boat prow for transportation.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Übersee-Museum Bremen, photo: Volker Beinhorn

A person placing an object in a box — Well packed, the boat prow is placed in a special transport box.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Übersee-Museum Bremen, photo: Volker Beinhorn

A person sticking papers onto a box — Now the shipping documents are attached to the box.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Übersee-Museum Bremen, photo: Volker Beinhorn

A van with a person lifting a box into it — A transport company then collects the boat prow from the Übersee-Museum and sends it on its four-week journey.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Übersee-Museum Bremen, photo: Charlotte Altenmüller

Two people lift an object wrapped in white paper out of a box — Having arrived safely in Samoa, the boat prow is carefully unpacked and examined by Wiebke Ahrndt, Director of the Übersee-Museum Bremen, and Taatia Fagalele, a member of staff at the National University of Samoa.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Chikara Yoshida

A wooden object in the front and a person standing and holding a speech — The NUS organizes a celebratory event to mark the restitution.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Chikara Yoshida

People sitting in a room listening — The boat prow is received.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Chikara Yoshida

People sitting at a table signing a paper — The restitution is signed by Wiebke Ahrndt, Katja Keul, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Vice President and Chancellor of the NIS, Tuifuisa'a Patila Amosa.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Chikara Yoshida

People standing behind a table, wooden object in front — The boat prow is back in Samoa and has been on display at the university's Research Museum since September 2024.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Chikara Yoshida

This story relates to the topics Collecting, Samoa, Decolonization, . Discover more content on these topics by clicking one of the tags!