Provenance Research in the University’s Collections
The University of Göttingen was founded in 1737 during the Age of Enlightenment. Since then, it has passed through various phases of German and European history, in which it has also played an active role in the fields of research, teaching and higher education policy. As such, its history is also linked to the history of European colonialism, National Socialism, and other injustices committed in Germany’s past. This is also reflected in the University’s collections. They are material testimonies to Göttingen’s scientific history and thus – at least in part – also testimonies to contexts of injustice.
The University of Göttingen is actively engaging with this material heritage, both in teaching and in research projects, public events and in the field of cultural policy. Collection holdings are being successively examined with regard to their provenance and any contexts of injustice. The University is open to restitution requests concerning items unlawfully held by the University. These are processed in close consultation with authorized representatives of the respective communities of origin. Initial results have already been achieved, and several successful initiatives aimed at coming to terms with this past have been recorded.
The Centre for Collection Development acts as the point of contact and co-ordination centre for the University’s academic collections. The University’s collection holdings can also be searched by the public via the collections portal (https://sammlungen.uni-goettingen.de/).
ContactProvenance research on human remains from colonial contexts
Since 2020, research has been conducted at the University of Göttingen into human remains from colonial contexts that were previously acquired by the Anthropological Collection and the Institute of Anatomy at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG). This initiative was launched by the University’s Centre for Collection Development. Representatives from the respective countries of origin were also involved in the research and reappraisal of the human remains. International workshops were held to discuss, amongst other things, the ethical, political and practical collection-related approaches to dealing with human remains from colonial contexts. The University of Göttingen remains open to further repatriations.
Further informationHuman Remains in the Collections
Some of the collections held by the University and the University Medical Center Göttingen contain human remains of various origins and contexts, which came into the University’s possession under different circumstances.
Blumenbach’s Skull CollectionThe collection dates back to the naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840). Following Blumenbach’s death, the collection, which comprised approximately 245 human remains, was further expanded by his successors until the 1940s. Today, the collection contains around 800 human remains, approximately 200 of which are of non-European provenance.
Link to collection
The collection is divided into seven sub-collections: archaeological skeletal series; histological specimens of bone microstructure; mummies from various cultures; a cranial collection representing populations from around the world; pathological specimens; primate skulls and skeletons; and a cast collection of hominin fossils. Parts of the collection date back to Blumenbach’s time, including several mummies and urinary calculi. In the 1950s, a large cranial collection from the former Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg was transferred to Göttingen. The collection comprises approximately 1,200 skulls of non-European origin, as well as a substantial assemblage of around 600 skulls from Hamburg cemeteries, two smaller series from valleys in South Tyrol, and a small number of postcranial (partial) skeletons.
Link to collection
The collection of approximately 1,200 objects relating to the history of obstetrics (including instruments, models, and specimens) dates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The academic lecturers in obstetrics and the respective heads of the Accouchierhaus in Göttingen – including Friedrich Benjamin Osiander (1759–1822) and Eduard von Siebold (1801–1861) – built up this collection for teaching and research purposes. The collection’s holdings also include specimens comprising at least 158 human body parts (skeletons, skulls (or parts thereof) and pelvises from newborns and women, as well as individual bones and tissue samples associated with the skulls and pelvises). These originate predominantly from deaths occurring in obstetric practice.
Link to collection
Further provenance research projects in the University’s collections
Identification and restitution of Nazi-looted books by the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB)
During the Nazi era, books were looted on a massive scale as a result of confiscations and expropriations. In addition, books were ‘seized’ from territories occupied during the Second World War. Some of these books can still be found today in the collections of academic libraries, including the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen). In order to investigate leads regarding the identification and restitution of unlawfully acquired literature, the SUB Göttingen carried out a research project from 2009 to 2011; detailed information on this can be found on the SUB’s website.
Further informationPublic visibility and communication of provenance research
Opened in 2022, the Knowledge Museum at Forum Wissen makes the colonial entanglements of Göttingen’s history of scholarship and research permanently visible. In the core exhibition, Spaces of Knowledge, several displays present examples from the University’s colonial past.
In addition, visitors to the museum can explore the topic of Science and Colonialism through an audio walk.
A number of special exhibitions have already addressed different aspects of colonialism. This engagement will continue in the future exhibition programme.
Project “Finding out – Communicating Provenance Research”
Local history museums also engage in provenance research: in southern Lower Saxony between 2016 and 2021, Dr Christian Riemenschneider (Regional Association) carried out provenance research on cultural assets that had been unlawfully appropriated. This research originated from the initiative of the “Provenance Research Network of Lower Saxony”.
The “Finding out” project, a collaboration between the Centre for Collection Development at the University of Göttingen and the Regional Association of Southern Lower Saxony, aimed to engage people in public spaces in conversations about objects in museums that had been acquired unlawfully. Discussions were held in various towns across southern Lower Saxony, and participatory approaches were tested. The ideas and feedback from members of the public were incorporated into the special exhibition ‘Finding out – unjustly collected?’ at the Forum Wissen, which was on display from 11 December 2025 to 17 May 2026. The project was funded by the “Pro Niedersachsen” funding programme.
