'Looted' boat to be shown at Berlin's Humboldt Forum In a new book, German historian Götz Aly reveals how a boat was taken from the South Pacific and ended up in a German museum. Will it spark a new restitution debate? Is the Luf boat yet another stolen colonial artifact? The announcement last month that Germany would return the Benin Bronzes — 13th century sculptures stolen from Africa and since displayed in national museums — to Nigeria caused widespread celebration. It was a long-overdue win in the fight for the restitution of artworks and artifacts sitting in museum collections that were often acquired illicitly by European colonial powers.