German museum returning Namibian skulls

Namibian tribal leaders were taking possession Friday of the skulls of 20 of their countrymen, taken by German colonial forces more than a century ago for racial experiments.

The skulls do not show any sign of violence, and it is not clear how the people died, though researchers say they were possibly victims of German forces in Namibia at the time, or died in a German-run camp.

The heads of four females and 16 males, including a young boy of about three, were removed from their bodies and preserved in formaldehyde intact with faces, skin and hair.

Once the remains arrived in Berlin, between 1909-1914, scientists tried to prove the "racial superiority" of white Europeans over black Africans by analyzing the facial features of the heads, said Thomas Schnalke, the head of the Berlin Medical Historical Museum.

In the 1920s, the heads were further dissected until only the skulls remained.

"It is our obligation to return the skulls and offer our apologies," Schnalke told The Associated Press before the ceremony. "It was wrong what they did."

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