Citizens Preserved Rwanda Genocide Memory Before World Did

While many countries and the United Nations didn't recognize the Rwandan genocide until 1998, local citizens were already doing the painful work of bearing witness. They preserved scenes of massacre and victims' remains, creating sites where the world could finally see what happened.

MIT scholar Delia Wendel spent over a decade uncovering this forgotten story. Her new book reveals who really started Rwanda's genocide memorials and how they made difficult choices about honoring the dead.

The 1994 genocide lasted just over three months. Militias representing the Hutu ethnic group killed members of the Tutsi ethnic group, along with some moderate Hutus and Twas. What came next was equally important.

Louis Kanamugire, who lost his parents in the genocide, became the first head of Rwanda's Genocide Memorial Commission. He felt strongly that preserving and displaying victims' remains was necessary to prove what happened and begin healing.

Wendel also discovered the work of Mario Ibarra, a Chilean UN aid worker who photographed evidence, helped preserve remains, and supported the memorial commission. These independent efforts actually came before government involvement, contradicting the common belief that state control drove memorialization from the start.

The work was emotionally and physically gruesome. Citizens cleaned and preserved bodies and bones, creating evidence that foreigners, journalists, and neighbors could witness. This truth-telling allowed survivors to seek justice and recognition.

Why This Inspires

Wendel visited over 30 villages across Rwanda, building trust through years of careful conversation. What she found challenges how we think about remembering tragedy.

"Survivors, their kin, their relatives, they know their histories," Wendel explains. "What they're wishing to happen is a form of repair, or justice, or empowerment, that comes with disclosing those histories."

The shift from personal memory to official history mattered deeply. It required public recognition that validated what survivors had experienced and lost.

The book is freely available through MIT Libraries, ensuring this important history remains accessible. Wendel's research shows how ordinary people, often before governments act, can create lasting change through courage and persistence.

Their work transformed scattered memories into permanent monuments, ensuring the world would remember what it initially refused to see.