The universities of Uppsala and Lund will return a total of three human skulls for reburial. The skulls are part of the universities' anatomical collections.
It is the Swedish Tornedalians' National Association – Tornionlaaksolaiset (STR-T) and the Lule-Boden Sami Association that have requested the return of the remains, which has now been approved by the government.
This is a very welcome message. Now we can rebury the remains in the same way as we have done with the skulls that previously came from Helsinki, says Terje Raattamaa, chairman of STR-T, to TT.
In August, 23 other skulls belonging to Tornedalian, Kven, Lantalainen and Sami individuals who were used in racial biology research in Helsinki were reburied.
The reburial is an acknowledgment of what went wrong, and the beginning of a reconciliation process, said Eva Kvist of STR-T to SVT then.