In today's society, cultural heritage has played a major role in discovering, promoting and strengthening the identity of a community. It is primarily present because of people and only they can add meaning to it, which is then communicated and interpreted towards other communities and the rest of the world. However, when heritage objects are no longer part of the community and community from which they originated, but are moved to other contexts and communities, confusion arises regarding the identity and authenticity of the heritage. One such example is the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which primarily houses objects from Southwest Asia, such as the valuable Ishtar Gate from ancient Babylon. They were brought to Berlin, along with many other valuable items of cultural heritage by excavations by German researchers at the end of the 19th century, and since the 1930s they have been part of the permanent exhibition of the Pergamon Museum. This procedure of confiscating one's cultural heritage leads to the loss of national values and memories of the past. On this occasion, countries such as Iraq and Turkey demand the return of their national treasures. Museums as heritage institutions are at the core of the return process and have a major role that will be explored in this paper.