Genocide Archive of Rwanda

The 1994 Rwandan Genocide (alternately called the Genocide against the Tutsi) represents one of the fastest and most atrocious cases of genocide in modern history. From early April until July of 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic group systematically slaughtered approximately 1,000,000 Tutsi, politically moderate or sympathizing Hutus, and Twa people, with whom they had previously co-existed and shared cultural practices. The history of the Genocide dates back to the 1960s, when the postcolonial government instituted anti-Tutsi discriminatory practices, resulting in a deep seated hatred of and periodic violence towards Tutsis. This violence peaked in 1994 when the Hutu leadership, fearing a loss of power in the face of a pro-democracy movement, organized and instigated the Genocide through a calculated dissemination of extremist rhetoric and threats of violence through state-controlled and independent media. The Genocide ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) captured Kigali in July 1994 and defeated the Rwandan army.

The Genocide Archive of Rwanda is a collaborative project of the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre, Aegis Trust, and Rwanda’s National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide, with the assistance of the University of Texas Libraries Human Rights Documentation Initiative, USC Shoah Foundation Institute, the Rwanda Development Board, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Annenberg Foundation, and the Bridgeway Foundation, to document the Rwandan Genocide through personal history and contextual materials.

The oral history testimonies and other videos in the collection were created by the The Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre, a permanent memorial and museum dedicated to the history of the Rwandan Genocide opened in April 2004. The physical materials that comprise the rest of the collection have been contributed by various partner organizations and repositories: the Dominicains Brotherhood of Rwanda, IWACU, Ibuka, the National University of Rwanda, the National Archives of Rwanda, the National Museum of Rwanda, ORINFOR, the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and numerous individuals, including Bruno Boudiquet and the family of Dr. Paul Rutayisire.