German FM to personally return 20 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister will personally take 20 artifacts looted by Europeans during colonial times back to Nigeria when she visits Africa’s most populous country next week. The symbolic gesture follows an agreement earlier this year between Berlin and Abuja that will see all 514 so-called Benin Bronzes held in German museums handed back to Nigeria. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s spokesman said Friday that her trip Sunday shows how “serious Germany is about working through its colonial history.” The bronzes were stolen in 1897 by a British colonial expedition from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southwestern Nigeria. The objects, including numerous bas-reliefs and other sculptures, later found their way to collections around Europe.