Scientists have established the living descendants of people whose remains were taken for scientific experiments in Germany

DNA analysis helped German scientists find in Tanzania the living relatives of people abducted and taken out of the African colony, whose remains were used for “scientific experiments” more than a hundred years ago.

How tells The Guardian, scientists have identified living descendants of people taken to Germany during the colonial era*. Since 2017, the Berlin Museum of Prehistory and Early History has been conducting research on 1,100 skulls removed at the beginning of the 20th century from the territories of German East Africa (now Burundi, Rwanda, parts of Tanzania and Mozambique).

Scientists were able to establish information about eight turtles, and for one they found a complete genetic match with a living person. The publication writes:

“The name ‘Aqida’ on the skull indicated that it belonged to a high-ranking advisor, Mangi Meli, a powerful leader of the Chagga ethnic group in the late 1800s. A DNA sample provided a direct match to a descendant of Akida.”

The researchers saw an almost complete correspondence of two more skulls to the descendants of the Chagga people. Museum President Hermann Parzinger says:

“Finding such a match is a small miracle that is likely to remain a rare occurrence, even with the most careful research into the origin.”

The skulls in question are part of a collection acquired by the museum in 2011 from the Charité hospital. It contains approximately 7,700 skulls, some of which were collected by the anthropologist Felix von Luschan during the German colonial period. “Families and the Tanzanian government will now be informed as soon as possible,” the museum said in a statement.

The remains are believed to have been looted from cemeteries and other burial sites around the world and taken to Germany for “scientific” experiments. In the past 20 years, Germany has gradually begun to talk more about the crimes it committed during the colonial era, the newspaper notes.

* In 1888, Germany established its rule over Tanzania. The imperial colony of German East Africa was established. After the First World War of 1914-1918, Tanzania came under the patronage of Britain. In 1961 Britain recognized the independence of Tanganyika.

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