Temples of Memory

Rafiki

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  The Ntarama Church Genocide Memorial Museum is located in Bugesera, 30 kilometers south of the capital city Kigali. The museum is rich in details about the lives of genocide victims. Prior to the genocide, the museum served as a succursal to the Catholic parish of Nyamata also a genocide museum today.

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  The Ntarama church displays clothing, skulls and various items of victims. The words on the altar are dramatic, “ If you knew who I am and who you are, you would not have killed me.” At the time these pictures were taken, the summer of 2010, there were seven coffins in the room. Those coffins contain the remains of victims just found in the nearby trenches where they were dumped in 1994. They were awaiting a proper burial.

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  Smoking pipes, pair of scissors, combs, toothbrushes, a syringe and other items victims had with them when they fled to the church of Ntarama. The number of pipes indicates a large number of adult victims.

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  The light brown wooden cup is traditional and used for keeping or drinking milk. This and other kitchen items confirm testimonies from survivors from the Ntarama Church that Tutsi families fled there with their cattle.

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  Pens, a pair of glasses and broken rosaries suggest that many of the victims who sought refuge at Ntarama Church were Roman Catholics.

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  A perforated teapot used either to serve tea in the morning or keep milk for children. It is also in the Ntarama Church Genocide Memorial.

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  The stove in the kitchen section of Ntarama Church Genocide Memorial. One house in the compound of the church complex was used as a kitchen. Note the white candle that survivors have kept following the genocide memorial services.

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  Clearly visible on this ID are the terms Hutu, Tutsi, Twa and Naturalisé. Having a Tutsi marked ID meant death. This ID card is kept in a glass cupboard in the underground section of Nyamata Church Genocide Memorial. The Memorial is located about 35 kilometers south of Kigali.

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  A comb kept inside the tabernacle of Nyamata Church Genocide Memorial. Also visible is a rosary, two broken smoking pipes and a small white tube of toothpaste.

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  This aging and falling apart hat is among the victims’ clothing on display at the Nyamata Church Genocide Memorial.

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  One of the many skulls that clearly show that the victim was cut with a machete. It is kept at Nyamata Church Genocide Memorial.

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  The largest collection of clothing and related items in genocide memorial museums. The collection is housed at the Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre. The Centre is in the Nyamagabe District, Southern Province. It is in the buildings that were intended to host a technical school. More than 45,000 victims were killed there. The Memorial Centre is situated in the former Zone Turquoise area where French soldiers had headquarters in 1994.

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  At Murambi, some victims were dumped in mass graves. Billboards are used to indicate where the mass graves are located.

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  One of the most compelling images in genocide memorial museums in Rwanda. A female victim is still wearing her wedding ring. Her body lies on the shelves in one of the rooms at the Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre.

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  Kigali Memorial Center is in the Gasabo District, part of the city of Kigali. In 2000 the Center began to bury victims of the Tutsi Genocide. In addition to a cemetery, it contains a library, teaching materials and a documentation center.

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  This cartoon illustrates the so-called “Tutsi Final Solution” in Rwanda. It is reprinted as part of the permanent exhibition at the Kigali Memorial Centre in the section that describes anti-Tutsi media from the early 1990s. The French text states: Doctor, I am ill! ( says the patient) Your illness? ( asks the doctor ) The Tutsi, the Tutsi. ( Answers the patient)

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  Emmanuel Murangira, a guide at the Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre. He survived the genocide there, but his wife and five children were killed. He says that he cannot live without going to the Memorial on a regular basis. Though he cannot point out their remains, it is clear his loved ones are either exposed in the Centre or buried in the mass graves or in the burial place arranged by the government following the genocide.

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