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von Emma Schätzlein und Leipzig postkolonial, 2023

In the few decades of formal German colonialism on the African continent, in the Pacific and in China, the majority of today's ethnological collections ended up in German museums: scientists, military personnel and missionaries came into possession of millions of artifacts, often through fraudulent exchange or violent robbery. In addition, researchers and military personnel also plundered ancestral graves and brought human remains to Germany, where they were misused for pseudo-scientific research and in some cases are still stored in museums today.

Cultural treasures taken to Germany under questionable and often obscure circumstances during the colonial era can still be found in several institutions in Leipzig. Alongside the GRASSI Museum of Ethnology, these include the University and the Leipzig Missionary Society. However, since its foundation in the 19th century, the GRASSI Museum has occupied a highly prominent position in the city's history.

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