This will surely be our most depressing post. We felt it was necessary to go to the Red Terror Museum, as heart wrenching as this would be, to learn about the time of the Derg. This was during Mengistu's communist rule in Ethiopia, during the time of the drought, famine, and uprising. We talked with people who remember this time, it was a very dark time.
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| Imperial Body Guard Attire |
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| Selassie's cape |
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| Blood and organs from the Pro-Derg Political Organizaation |
Mengistu overthrew Selassie in 1974, creating a communist state, and genocide ensued for anyone who objected to the Derg or Mengistu's plans for Ethiopia. There were hundreds of thousands of victims by Mengistu's hand, actively by violence and or passively by famine, devastating Ethiopia. During this era was the devastating famine that killed 1 million Ethiopians and affected 8 million. Finally, after a 12 year trial in Ethiopia's Federal High Court, Mengistu was found guilty of genocide. Unfortunately he remains in Zimbabwe, safe from extradition.
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| Clothes of the innocent victims |
We felt uncomfortable taking pictures of what we were learning and seeing, but our guide stated that we must take pictures and share them with others.."you are the witness of this history and must repeat it."
“Communism means barbarism”
~ James Russell Lowell
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