The following information represents link.able reviews of memorial sites, museums, digital archives and databases, monuments and sanctuaries dedicated to remembering, confronting, understanding, overcoming and preventing genocide.
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General: Tolerance and Human Rights Museums and Memorials
International Coalition of Sites of Conscience: This worldwide network of historic sites, museums and initiatives is “dedicated to remembering past struggles and addressing their contemporary legacies.” The issues which this coalition focus on are: children as victims or war; displacement; genocide; human trafficking and slavery and poverty and welfare. The coalition website accredits institutions with criteria that follow the issues of the mandate of the organization. To become an accredited institutional member of the Coalition of Sites of Conscience an evaluation must be conducted and approved by the criteria set by the coalition by-laws. institutional membership is possible without accreditation. Sites are listed by geography.
The Legacy Project is an independent endeavor to better understand how humans can transition from violent, bloody conflict to peace, justice, and reconciliation. At the center of their work are student study trips to countries struggling to resolve their own legacies of violence, including Poland in 2007, South Africa in 2008, Chile and Argentina in 2009, Canada in 2012, South America Chile and Argentina in 2014, Rwanda/Uganda in 2016.
Polynational War Memorial Proposal; Website and Memorial Google Map: This website is a database of war memorials from all over the world with text and images collected from publicly available sources on line. The site is divided into four sections: The Memorials Section; The Virtual Memorial Collection: The Wars’ Section; The Resource Section. Information about the proposed Polynational War Memorial; its concept and implementation is also available at this site.
Genocide Monument: by Artist Kofi Setordji : Mr. Setordji’s works are in word, metal, bronze, stone, terracotta and paint. This installation sculpture depicts victims, refugees, politicians, judges and eyewitnesses with a directness of imagery that provokes the grimness and violent power of the reality of genocide embodied within a talisman like sculptural park.
Beyond Genocide Centre for Prevention: Amy Fagin’s illuminated manuscripts exploring 25 case studies of global episodes of mass atrocity around the world serve as the foundation for the center’s service work in prevention through education. The series of illuminations are designed as a traveling exhibition and are available for loan or purchase and offered with interdisciplinary programming for adult or young adult audiences, lay or academic.
Armenia
The Armenian Memorials Database provides viewers information about memorials and monuments dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide. The Armenian National Institute has identified 135memorials in 25 countries.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh Genocide Archive: An online archive of chronology of events, documentations, audio video, images, media and eyewitness accounts of the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh at the hands of Pakistan army.
Liberation War Museum: Dhaka, Bangladesh: Located in the center of Dhaka city and inaugurated in 1996 the museum boasts 13 years of public access with approximately 425 thousand visitors. 6 galleries display the protracted struggle of the people of Bangladesh under British colonial rule as well as the armed struggle of the 9 month liberation war of 1971.
Cambodia
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum: A museum in Phnom Penh, a former high school, which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. In 1980 the prison was reopened by the government of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea as a historical museum memorializing the actions of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Cambodian Genocide Memorials Website: From 1995 to 2004 the Documentation Center of Cambodia mapped the Cambodian killing fields and identified 19,403 mass burial pits, 189 prisons that operated during the DK period and 80 memorials constructed by survivors of the DK regime. 14 important Genocide Memorial sites in Cambodia are described on this webpage.
Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam): is an independent Cambodian research institute. Founded in 1995 they have been documenting the crimes and atrocities of the Khmer Rouge era. Their two main objectives are to record and preserve the history of the Khmer Rouge regime for future generations and to compile and organize information that can serve as potential evidence in legal accounting for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.
China
Monument to the People’s Heroes: A ten-story obelisk that was erected as a national monument of the People’s Republic of China built in memory of the martyrs who laid down their lives for the revolutionary struggles of the Chinese people during the 19th and 20th centuries. The monument is located at the southern edge of Tiananmen Square made of marble and granite. Eight bas-relief carvings depict the Chinese struggles from the First Opium War in 1840 to the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
Crusades and Inquisition
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: The Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Crusades (1095 – 1291): The Department of Medieval Art and the Cloisters web coverage of The Crusades employs an introduction to the events of the time with a slide show of representative art work from this era and links to thematic essays maps and resources.
Crusader Ruins and Crusades Sites: The mapping web site: Historvius catalogues 20 ruins and sites related to the Crusader era with maps and links to these locations across Europe and the Middle East. Links to each location further examines details about travel to each location with hotel, tours and historic overview of the location and its role in Crusader history.
Museum with no Frontiers: Al-Franj: the Crusaders in the Levant: This virtual museum site explores the Latin Crusader campaigns targeted to parts of the Islamic Mediterranean coast, the Holy Land, Egypt; Byzantium and Tunisia. Through text and examples of relics of art and architecture this on line exhibition weaves together the history of the early, violent contact between the Islamic and Christian cultures and the aftermath and influence on each culture as a result of this first direct contact.
Preventing Genocide – Who is at Risk – DR Congo: The DR Congo is currently an ongoing and chronic crisis of regional warfare, mass atrocity with ethnic and sexually based violence continuing to claim lives in the millions since, roughly, 1996. Efforts toward memorializing the victims of this region of the world where mass violence is still unchecked has fallen into the hands of international organizations dedicated to draw attention to the matters unfolding on the ground. To this effect the US Holocaust Memorial Museum has devoted a substantial effort toward awareness of the events occurring in DRC and addressing the main concerns of these matters.
Yole!Africa: In response to this crisis, in 2000 internationally acclaimed filmmaker and activist Petna Ndaliko Katondolo founded Yole!Africa, a cultural center that provides youth the space, skills, and alternative education necessary to thrive despite the conflict in the region. Yole!Africa offers a series of offline and online activities, workshops, trainings, and performance opportunities in video arts, music, dance, and journalism. The center brings international experts to conduct intensive trainings for Congolese youth and provides a platform for community development and cross-cultural exchange. Because of Yole!Africa’s commitment to reaching all members of the community, all activities are free to participants.
Ethiopia
Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum: Located in Ethiopia’s capital; Addis Ababa Ethiopia; the mission of the association is to memorialize the martyrs of the Red Terror campaign of the Derg Regime “while preserving the artifacts; photographs and rare documents of this violent period in Ethiopian history for visitors, scholars and students to gain valuable knowledge and understanding. The vision of the museum is to become the leading institution in informing and educating the public about the “Red Terror” campaign while providing opportunities for research and development towards political tolerance and peace.”
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum: This web site serves as an internet introduction to the history of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons during WWII and information about the museum and park located in Hiroshima Japan. A firm commitment to peace studies and abolition of nuclear weapons permeates the mission of the website and park.
Holocaust
Holocaust Memorial Museum Database: This website provides an overview of memorial and monument institutions throughout the world that deal with the history of the Holocaust, with brief historical descriptions of their mission, locations and directions on 7 continents and the activities and contact information of each site.
U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum: is America’s national institution for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history, and serves as the United Stat’s memorial to the millions of people murdered during the holocaust. The museum’s primary mission is to advance and disseminate knowledge about the Holocaust. The museum is located in Washington DC a block from the National Mall and Memorial Parks. The museum’s web site hosts information about visiting the museum as well as information about education, research, history, remembrance, genocide and support.
Erna and Arthur Salm Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Grove: The Holocaust and Memorial Grove at Sonoma State University is designed to honor survivors and victims of genocides committed throughout the world as well as recognition of educators, scholars and activists working for awareness, tolerance at a lakeside setting on the Sonoma State University campus. The Memorial is designed as an experiential sculpture of 40-foot-long railroad tracks embedded into the lawn ending in an internally illuminated glass column. Lied into the tracks are 460 bricks representing the names of communities who have endured genocide.
Yad Vashem: As the Jewish people’s living memorial to the Holocaust, Yad Vashem safeguards the memory of the past and imparts its meaning for future generations. Established in 1953 as the world center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is today a dynamic and vital place of intergenerational and international encounter.” The website is dedicated to education; digital collections; exhibition information; remembrance; research; the Righteous Program; and visitors information.
Museum of Tolerance: Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum, New York: The Centers’ themes challenge visitors to confront bigotry and racism, and to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts. Their programs and themes include issues of human rights; the power of words and images; history of the Holocaust through eye-witness testimony; social justice movements in the United States; various programs confronting prejudice and discrimination.
Museum of Tolerance: A Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum, Los Angeles: The MOT LA is a human rights laboratory and educational center dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination in our world today. Four main exhibit areas include the Holocaust Section: the Tolerance Center: Finding Our Families, Finding our Selves; Special Exhibition.
Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Web Site: created by Linda M. Woolf, PhD. This web site hosts a list of links which cover various issues of genocide; mass violence and fundamental issues of human rights. Links to publications and web sites which host information about atrocities around the world are hosted on this inclusive web site.
Indonesia
The Indonesian killings of 1965–1966 were an anti communist purge following a failed coup of the 30 September Movement in Indonesia. The most widely accepted estimates are that more than 500,000 people were killed. The purge was a pivotal event in the transition to the “New Order” and the elimination of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as a political force. The upheavals led to the downfall of President Sukarno and the commencement of Suharto’s thirty-year presidency. While there are no established memorial sites at the time of this data base composition there are many unmarked mass graves where locals will provide testimony of the lore of these sites.
Memorial Monument of Plumbon is a marker sitting in the center of a rectangular clearing listing 8 names. This plaque was erected in 2015 and is a very rare acknowledgement of the victims of Indonesia’s massacres in 1966.
Iraq
Genocide Memorial Project’s statement: “We have chosen to construct our memorial in a park in New York City. We intend it to be a place where people are forced to face the genocide in Iraq against the Kurds, and we will use the granite blocks to display information about each aspect of this genocide as illustrated below. We have decided to make this memorial enclosed, as a symbol of the Kurdish people. Though they do not have a nation-state, they are the largest population in the world without one, and we intend to give them one in our memorial. We decided to construct this memorial in New York instead of closer to the place of genocide because we hope to inform and inspire Americans about this particular genocide and how to act against genocide in the future.
Halabja Memorial and Peace Museum This memorial opened in 2003 and is dedicated to the thousands killed in the Iraqi town of Halabja by chemical weapons. The Martyr’s Monument is a 100 foot structure with the museum located inside. The museum was set a blaze by local protestors in 2006, but has been rebuilt.
Namibia
Herero Cultural Centre and Genocide Memorial: This proposed architects draft for a memorial centre for the Herero victims of the 1904 genocide “creates a place of remembrance for the Herero culture and assists younger generations to understand and celebrate their culture and at the same time shape their future.” While there are annual memorial celebrations in honor of the Herero genocidal killings of the early 20th century there are currently no memorial structures where the public can visit and learn about this important event in Namibian history. This building site proposal creates a critical presentation toward the ultimate reality of such a centre.
The Ovaherero and Nama Genocide: Learning from the Past: Project teams of UNESCO, USHMM and the Namibian Museums Association is developing a traveling exhibition on the 1904 genocide against the Herero and Nama. The exhibition is intended to travel to all 14 Namibian states through the education system. Teacher’s handbooks are being designed for regional education and a supplement to the school curriculum.
Native / Indigenous Populations Australia
National Gallery of Australia: The Aboriginal Memorial: The Aboriginal Memorial is an installation exhibition located in permanent housing at the NGA which” comprises 200 traditional hollow log coffin / poles; one for each year of European settlement and representing the Aboriginal people who died defending their land and denied a proper burial”.
Monument Australia: Indigenous: This category is part of the website: Monument Australia which contains educational and historical research and general information about the public monuments and memorials in all Australian States and Territories. The Indigenous category references monuments and memorials which were erected to commemorate the indigenous Aboriginal culture of Australia.
Native / Indigenous Populations Central and South America
International Coalition of Sites of Conscience Latin America and Caribbean Regional Network: ICSC Latin American and Caribbean Network unites a wide range of communities and topics across Central and South America to develop memory sites and educational opportunities where periods of violent internal conflict and state terrorism caused mass killings. Sites of Conscience around Latin America have become popular landmarks for memory, truth and justice. Member sites are listed and mapped on this website.
Genocide Memorial Project’s statement: In the context of Native populations’ sites of memory based on first contact or more recent atrocities there is very little in the way of memory sites. Guatemalan’s experienced a long and bloody 36-year civil war from 1960 to 1996. During this time, roughly 200,000 people were killed and more than 1.5 million were displaced. Under the leadership of military dictator Rios Montt, a campaign specifically targeting Mayas took place. Under the rouse that the indigenous peoples of Guatemala were against the government, the Guatemalan army began brutally terrorizing and destroying Mayan villages. In the 17 months of Montt’s rule, more than 1.770 Ixil Mayans were murdered, 626 villages were destroyed, and many more horrors such as rapes and beatings took place.
Native / Indigenous Populations North America
The Wounded Knee Museum: is located in Wall, South Dakota and is a narrative museum which tells the story of the small band of Lakota families who became the focus of the last major military operation of the U.S. army in its centuries long effort to subdue the Native American Tribes. Exhibits provide a vivid picture of events which surrounded the Wounded Knee Massacre. The location of the museum allows for optimum access to educational exposure and commercial success. An interactive website also elucidates information about the museum and the history of Wounded Knee.
American Indian Genocide Museum “The purpose of this museum is to bring historical truth to light through the means of education using actual documentation of events that have transpired in the near extermination and in some cases the total extermination of native tribes and cultures. It is a memorial to the victims of ethnic cleansing.”
North Korea
The human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) has remained dire under the control of Kim Jong-Un. The government is controlled by a one-party monopoly and dynastic leadership that do not tolerate pluralism and systematically denies basic freedoms. Tight controls on North Korea’s border with China continued in 2019, further reducing the number of North Koreans able to flee and seek refuge in third countries. Since there are no memorials or monuments to this population this link provides the 2019 Human Rights Watch report for DPRK.
Rwanda and Burundi
Rwanda’s six National Genocide Memorials: Bisesero; Gisozi; Murambi; Ntarama; Nyamata; Nyarubuye
Bisesero Genocide Memorial: Located about 31 kilometers from Kibuye, Rwanda Bisesero was the site of a massacre of approximately 50,000 Tutsi. The memorial hosts nine memorial buildings where many of the scattered remains have been gathered and buried. Some remain on display in commemoration of the massacre
Murambi Genocide Memorial Center: This memorial center is located in a vacated secondary school near the town of Gikongoro, south west Rwanda. The site pays homage to the approximately 40,000 victims who were massacred during a three day period. Many of the corpses were found inside the classrooms of the school building. A contemporary graphically oriented exhibition narrating the development of genocidal ideology in Rwanda and the resulting genocidal massacres.
Nyamata Genocide Memorial: This memorial is located 35 kilometers south of Kigali, Rwanda. A former Catholic Church houses the remains of collected corpses as well as burial grounds around the building. The church was sought out as a refuge for fleeing Tutsi who were being pursued by the Interhamwe militia. The protective building was breached by the militia and all of the refugees inside were massacred.
Ntarama Genocide Memorial: Located about 30 km from Kigali in the Bugesera region this church and its contents are dedicated to the remembrance of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The Bugesera district became a forced refuge for Tutsi and was a target for massacres during the genocide. The memorial site was once a church where many Tutsi fled for safety. However, the church was raided by Interhamwe soldiers and up to 10 thousand people were massacred in and around the church grounds. It was decided that the church should be used as a memorial for the victims by the Rwandan government and the people of the region.
Nyarubuye Genocide Memorial: Is located abt. 35 kilometers from the town of Kibungo in the Kirehe district this former church and accompanying school buildings are set aside as a memorial to the 20 thousand who were killed in this area over a two day period in April of 1994. This site has an established educational center where the victims remains are preserved and displayed with educational information about the atrocities as well as a memorial wall with the names of the victims inscribed.
Kigali Memorial Centre in Kigali, Rwanda: Opened in April, 2004 on the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda. The Centre was commissioned by the Aegis Trust, a UK based genocide prevention organization with the goal of developing a memorial site on the location where up to 250,000 genocide victims were buried in mass graves into a permanent exhibition for the benefit of survivors and visitors.
Through a Glass Darkly: Genocide Memorials in Rwanda 1994 – present. This comprehensive website explores the hundreds of memorials throughout Rwanda’s “lieux de memoire” (sites of memory) as an integral part of the living landscape of Rwanda. Professor Jens Meienherich of Harvard University has overseen the collection and compilation of three types of data: more than 7000 original photographs; observational field research from several hundred interviews and analysis of over 100 of Rwanda’s” lieux de memiore” are contained within this website.
Soviet Union
The Holodomor Memorial Website: this site’s mission is the following: to uncover the cause of the Ukrainian Holodomor (famine – genocide) of 1932 – 1933 through studies of the historical events; to establish a network of Ukranian scholars directed towards the discovery of the origins of Holodomor; to establish the Holodomor Memorial Center on the Internet to inform Ukraine and the world about this tragedy.
Memorial to the Victims of Holodmor in Ukraine National Museum: opened fully in 2009 this complex is dedicated to the historical tragedy of Ukraine during the early 20th century. The museum and memorial complex consist of the “White Candle””Sculptures of Grieving Angels” “Girl with Spilelet” and” Memory Square” which is surrounded by millstones representing the “millstones of history” of the Stalin regime; and monument as well as the National World War 2 Museum. Information about touring the museum complex can be found at this location:
Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan government has made little progress in providing accountability for wartime abuses. The government’s failure to comply with a March 2013 United Nations Human Rights Council resolution led to a new resolution in 2014. The resolution calls on the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to investigate serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and related crimes by both sides during Sri Lanka’s civil war, which ended in 2009. There are a number of “post conflict attractions” that are memorials or monuments dedicated to a decidedly Sinhala perspective on the war. The link above provides the 2019 Human Rights Watch Report for Sri Lanka. This link provides a perspective on war tourism in Sri Lanka.
Sudan
Global Grassroots Conscious Social Change for Women Darfur Genocide in Sudan: This web site provides background; educational resources; artwork projects; testimonials and advocacy site links on the ongoing civil unrest and mass killings that have been perpetrated by the Government of Sudan against its citizens in the Darfur region of the country. This succinct web portal offers links to important and current educational and informational resources for teachers, students and individuals dedicated to social change which benefits marginalized women.
Tibet
Tibet Oral History Project: This website is a collection of intimate oral history portraits of elder Tibetans who lived in an unoccupied Tibet. Transcripts from 67 Tibetans from ages 58 – 95 cover the themes of culture and history; Buddhist traditions Chinese invasion and occupation, oppression and imprisonment; resistance and revolution. The Tibet Oral History Project aims to “preserve the true history of the Tibetan people…by documenting the life stories of Tibetan elders living in exile, and to disseminate that information through print, broadcast media and internet for the purposes of education and preservation of the culture and history of Tibet.
Yugoslavia (former)
Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial and Cemetery for the Victims of the 1995 Genocide: is the memorial complex set up to honor the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. The Memorial Cemetery was established in September, 2003 at the location of the massacre of Srebrenica of over 8000 boys and men in the Bosnian war, in July of 1995. The Memorial Cemetery consists of a memorial graveyard; memorial tent; stele; inscriptions and Wall of Names. Annual commemorations are hosted , annual additional burials are honored with exhumations of bodies found in mass graves around the region. A web site dedicated to the memorial and its activities can be visited for more information.