Rwanda has engaged the Mémorial de la Shoah – an Israeli foundation based in France – to help the country preserve the memorials of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, the Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, Jean-Damascène Bizimana has said.
Bizimana made the disclosure on Wednesday, January 25, during a session with the Parliamentary standing Committee on Unity, Human Rights and Fight against Genocide.
The session was examining the implementation of the law of 2016 governing ceremonies to commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi and organisation and management of memorial sites.
The Minister said that, for the national memorials, the Government was looking for partners to support, mainly, the history preservation.
This is being done as the country maintains its aim to have its four Genocide memorials included on UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. These are the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Gisozi, Nyamata Genocide Memorial site in Bugesera District, Murambi memorial centre in Nyamagabe District, and Bisesero Genocide memorial in Karongi District.
"We signed an agreement with a Jewish company called Memorial de la Shoah, which is based in France. They will mainly support us in three things: the first is training workers, because we actually do not have experienced personnel in history preservation, explaining it, and setting up archives, lay it out in the memorials, and guiding visitors,” he said, indicating that such courses are not offered in Rwanda because there are not available in the country.
Also, he said that, the firm will help Rwanda in the preservation of genocide testimonies, indicating that currently, testimonies are recorded in form of audio, but they need to be reviewed for them to be presented in a way that is easy for those following them or users such as research entities.
Another area, he said, is to help the country to disseminate the Genocide history across the world through the use of technology, including social media, which require an experienced entity for better results.
Meanwhile, he also told lawmakers that MINUBUMWE is working with the Ministry of Infrastructure such that both district and national memorials are easily accessed by people.
This is the case because roads leading to some of them are in poor condition, citing the Bisesero Genocide Memorial which has eight kilometers of road that is not easily passable.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Infrastructure offered a tender for the construction of that road, and that its funding was included in the national budget and expressed optimism that it will be rehabilitated within three years.
About the Mémorial de la Shoah (Shoah Memorial)
According to the firm’s website, the Shoah Memorial is a recognised Foundation of public utility, which works for the dissemination and teaching of the history of the Shoah to large and diverse audiences, including school children.
Shoah is the Hebrew word for holocaust – which refers to the genocide committed against Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II (1939-1945), in which some six million Jews were murdered. But, the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime started in 1933.
The Memorial is Europe’s largest research, information and awareness centre on the history of the Jewish genocide during the Second World War. It is a place of memory, pedagogy and transmission, it added.