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On May 31, 2025, 19 skulls from an anthropological collection from the Institute of Anatomy at Leipzig University were buried in New Orleans, USA, as part of a solemn ceremony. These human remains, all from African-American individuals, came from the collection of Emil Ludwig Schmidt, who had created an extensive archive for racially motivated research over 150 years ago. In the 1880s, he was given the skulls by a doctor from New Orleans. The "New York Times", "The Guardian" and the weekly magazine "Der Spiegel" reported on the burial.
"The repatriation of human remains is a very time-consuming and complex process. It took almost two years from the first contact to the transfer," reports Prof. Martin Gericke, Deputy Director of the Institute of Anatomy. The Institute houses Emil Schmidt’s collection of around 1,200 skulls. This skull collection is to be broken up and returned to the various countries of origin. "It is very important to us to involve the societies of origin in the decision-making process as to how and where these people should be laid to rest," says Gericke. In 2023, his institute therefore wrote to archaeologists in the city of New Orleans, where the 19 individuals lived before their deaths. At the same time, they held numerous discussions with the Saxon state government, the federal government and the German Lost Art Foundation, among others, to discuss the ethical and legal framework.
A forensic anthropologist from the Louisiana Department of Justice, USA, traveled to Leipzig for a week the following summer and examined the human remains more closely in order to confirm the entries from the historical sources. A city archaeologist from New Orleans in turn established the connection to Dillard University. This private university in New Orleans is a historic college for African Americans. "We attached great importance to involving the African-American community in New Orleans and their perspective on dealing with the human remains in this process," reports Gericke on the initiation of the repatriation, which required empathy and diplomatic tact. Dillard University formed a Cultural Repatriation Committee specifically to prepare for the receipt of the skulls and to find out more about the individuals and the circumstances surrounding the trade of their remains.
The limits of provenance research and the names of the deceased
"The possibilities of provenance research are often limited, but in this case the names were noted in the collection catalog in Leipzig," explains Gericke. The names of 17 identified people, presumably former enslaved persons, were: Adam Grant, Isaac Bell, Hiram Smith, William Pierson, Henry Williams, John Brown, Hiram Malone, William Roberts, Alice Brown, Prescilla Hatchet, Marie Louise, Mahala, Samuel Prince, John Tolman, Henry Allen, Moses Willis and Henry Anderson. They were aged between 17 and 70 at the time of death.
"Further information about these people was then found in the historical files of one of the oldest hospitals in the USA in New Orleans. The collaboration with the colleagues from New Orleans was therefore crucial," says Prof. Martin Gericke, describing the research, which was like finding a needle in a haystack.
The journey from Leipzig to New Orleans
On May 15, 2025, the time had come: the employees of the Institute of Anatomy carefully placed the carefully wrapped skulls in cardboard boxes lined with paper wool. They traveled back to America in a wooden crate with an international funeral home, where they were received by the Mayor of New Orleans and the Cultural Repatriation Committee. A police escort accompanied the sensitive cargo. The reception in the Lawless Memorial Chapel was followed on May 31, 2025 by a memorial service with artistic and musical contributions as well as blessings from clergy of various religions.
The anatomy team followed the ceremonial burial in the USA live on screens in Leipzig. "This was also a very moving moment for each and every one of us," says Gericke. "With our provenance research, we were able to help clarify and heal the injustice committed."
The aim is to dissolve the skull collection
The transfer to New Orleans was not the first repatriation from Leipzig University’s anatomical collection. Last year, a skull was already returned to an indigenous group. However, they refused public reporting. taking the needs of the communities of origin into consideration is our top priority so as not to cause any further harm," says Gericke. The reappraisal of the skull collection was initiated in 2021 by two students who came across the skulls at the institute by chance and have now been repatriated to New Orleans.
The long-term goal of provenance research at the Institute of Anatomy at Leipzig University is to completely dissolve the anthropological collection. The two doctoral researchers Ulrike Lötzsch and Isabelle Reimann have also been working towards this goal at the Institute since 2024: they have started extensive research into the South American and African skulls in the collection, which should ultimately lead to repatriation - by finding contact persons in the individual countries of origin.
