Photo Story A boat prow and it’s restitution to Samoa

How does an object find its way back home?

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.

View the object D04870 boat prow | Taumua online

This photo story shows the object’s journey to Samoa.

Three people standing in front of display cabinets; in the front, wooden objects on a table, one of them held by a person — 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

Conservator Conny Ammermann carefully prepares the boat prow for transportation.
CC BY-SA 4.0 Übersee-Museum Bremen, photo: Volker Beinhorn

Well packed, the boat prow is placed in a special transport box.
CC BY-SA 4.0 Übersee-Museum Bremen, photo: Volker Beinhorn

Now the shipping documents are attached to the box.
CC BY-SA 4.0 Übersee-Museum Bremen, photo: Volker Beinhorn

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

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

The NUS organizes a celebratory event to mark the restitution.
CC BY-SA 4.0 Chikara Yoshida

The boat prow is received.
CC BY-SA 4.0 Chikara Yoshida

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

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

Find more stories …

As part of preparing our permanent exhibition “The Blue Continent—Islands in the Pacific,” we’ve built networks and collected stories. There are more stories to discover here!