Māori, Moriori remains being returned to New Zealand from Germany

By Justin Wong ofPhoto: Te PapaThe remains of more than 100 Māori and Moriori are returning to Aotearoa New Zealand this week from Germany. Alongside six toi moko (Māori mummified tattooed heads), 95 koiwi tangata (Māori skeletal remains) and kōimi t'chakat Moriori (Moriori skeletal remains) and other taonga Māori were repatriated from seven German institutions, including the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History and the Georg August University in Göttingen. Te Papa's haihautū (Māori co-leader) Dr Arapata Hakiwai​ said the work to repatriate tūpuna from Germany was "not easy" but it reflected the strong ties between Germany and New Zealand. "Our colleagues from these German institutions have shown significant respect and understanding towards Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori and Moriori, and demonstrated a strong sense of doing the right thing." Germany was one of the first countries to begin the repatriation of Māori and Moriori ancestral remains, with more than 150 ancestors returned from Hamburg, Bremen, Frankfurt, Cologne and Berlin since 1991.