Kontinuitäten und Brüche: Über Gewaltopfer in öffentlichen Sammlungen. Kontextübergreifende Überlegungen zum Stand der Provenienzforschung an menschlichen Überresten – Expert*innen-Netzwerk zum Umgang mit menschlichen Überresten (Continuities and Ruptures: On Victims of Violence in Public Collections. Cross-Contextual Reflections on the State of Provenance Research on Human Remains – Expert Network on the Handling of Human Remains)

Kontinuitäten und Brüche: Über Gewaltopfer in öffentlichen Sammlungen. Kontextübergreifende Überlegungen zum Stand der Provenienzforschung an menschlichen Überresten – Expert*innen-Netzwerk zum Umgang mit menschlichen Überresten

(Continuities and Ruptures: On Victims of Violence in Public Collections. Cross-Contextual Reflections on the State of Provenance Research on Human Remains – Expert Network on the Handling of Human Remains)

Provenance research on collections of human remains has shown that many contain victims of historical injustices, including colonialism, Nazism, and the GDR. During the workshop, we want to highlight and discuss the connections between these contexts in an interdisciplinary manner and assess interest in establishing a dedicated working group within the AK. Cross-contextual questions include the deliberate concealment and erasure of victims’ names and life stories in collection catalogues and how to deal with the remains today. While in the colonial context, dialogue with descendants, followed by return and often reburial, has become established, victims from other contexts are frequently buried locally as part of appropriate commemorative ceremonies. What these approaches have in common is the reappraisal and documentation of past injustices and historical trauma, as well as engagement with those living today and recognition of their pain in the present.