Imperial War Museum—(Jessica Ramirez)

My experience at the Imperial War Museum was very touching. My favourite part was the thirty minute genocide film. This film dealt with why genocide occurs, the biggest genocides that have ever occurred, and how it still occurs in this day in age. Genocide begins with a thought. It is the mass killing of a certain group, which is performed by another group who literally hates and blames the other group for their state of despair or anguish. Genocide is a way to try to “exterminate” their interpretation of the perpetrators Genocide is a way to try to “exterminate” who they believe is at fault and not take full accountability. Just like Hitler blamed all Jewish people and people who were not “Aryan” for causes of the Great Depression, he thought the only way to gain economic prosperity was to kill the supposed perpetrators. The Holocaust was the biggest genocide the world’s history has ever witnessed. This film also delved into the mass killings still occurring in certain parts of Africa. Rwanda was greatly impacted by these mass killings and they also derived from the same thought processes that Hitler had. The government system is not structured and that is a major reason for this happening today. What really touched me were the true life accounts of people directly affected by genocide. There were several interviews done with victims from the genocide in Cambodia, in this case, for their religious beliefs. This woman who was interviewed literally witnessed her whole family slaughtered in front of her eyes. Toward the end of the film, anti-genocide advocates stressed the importance of having a stronger international force to help prevent this from happening. Volunteers are beginning to go out to the countries still affected by genocide and try to help the people that are living through it on a day to day basis.

-Jessica Ramirez 23/04/10