Memory plays an important part in history. Much is determined by what, and how, events are remembered. They can be traumatic, so much so that we want to erase them, or try to sanitize them. This is why historians, journalists and others who study history have conflicting views, and why it is so important for the people who lived through these events to capture and preserve evidence whenever possible.
This is exactly what retired Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire did. Dallaire, a Canadian officer who was the force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), prior to and during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, saved documents, maps, interviews and other items from that period – some of which was lost in two fires – and has donated it to the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) Library Archives and Special Collections through the efforts of the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (RCHGS) in the Department of History (links for the webpages below).
Dallaire rose to the rank of deputy commander of the Canadian Army but was forced to retire from military service due to a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his military experiences. Since then, Dallaire has devoted his life to preserving the memory of the genocide in Rwanda and the prevention of further atrocities. He also advocates the eradication of using child soldiers in all armed conflict while also speaking publicly about his struggles with PTSD in an effort to destigmatize it.
He also served as a Canadian senator and earned the Order of Canada, the Meritorious Service Cross, the United States Legion of Merit, and the Aegis Award on Genocide Prevention. He is the founder of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, and has written several books, including the recently published “The Peace: A Warrior’s Journey.”
The reason Dallaire chose West Point as the repository for his collection was so current and future officers could learn from his experiences of having to make nearly impossible decisions, according to Dr. David Frey, professor of History and Founding Director of RCHGS. Frey spoke about Dallaire being ordered to abandon his peacekeeping mission as thousands of Tutsis were being slain by rival Hutus. Dallaire, who had informed the UN of the impending genocide, was denied permission to take preventative action, then refused the order, as did about 10% (approximately 270) out of 2,700 of his troops, and stayed to save as many lives as possible.
At the same time as he was making tactical decisions such as who to rescue or where to deploy individual peacekeepers, Dallaire was negotiating ceasefires to enable safe passage for escaping Tutsis and Hutus and pleading with diplomatic missions and heads of state for assistance. Dallaire spoke of these experiences to cadets when he visited West Point in 2021, when he made the decision to house his collection at the academy.
Now, through an innovative collaboration by staff from the USMA Library and RCHGS, Dallaire’s gift is now available to cadets, faculty, staff and researchers from all over the world. The archive is accompanied by an exhibit on the second floor of the library in Jefferson Hall titled “Grappling in the Gray: Peacekeeping and Genocide in Rwanda.” The exhibit features documents from the Dallaire Papers and audio clips from interviews and speeches given by Dallaire, alongside UNAMIR artifacts generously on loan from the Canadian War Museum.
On display are cables from Dallaire asking for assistance from UN headquarters, correspondence with warring factions, hate propaganda, the tactical vest Dallaire wore on his mission, and a machete — both a utilitarian tool and the predominant weapon of the genocide in Rwanda — all encased in glass with the stories behind them. The exhibit is so titled to be an explicit connection to the Long Gray Line and to the ambiguity and difficulty of making decisions in conflict. The official opening of the retired Lt. Gen. Honourable Roméo Dallaire Papers took place on Sept. 13, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda, in the Haig Room in Jefferson Hall.
Dallaire, the guest of honor and keynote speaker, came to the podium during the official opening after an introduction by Dr. Michael Geheran, associate professor in the Department of History and deputy director of the Resnick Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. After thanking Dr. Geheran, Dallaire gave a succinct but powerful statement explaining why he decided to put his collection together and make it public.
“I did not want people to forget the genocide,” Dallaire said. “I am humbled, while still trying to find the truth, by the youth in the audience.”
Dallaire concluded before thanking the attendees, who rose for a standing ovation. All in attendance received a copy of The Peace.
Guest speakers who attended were Dr. Alice Wairimu Nderitu, UN special adviser on the Prevention of Genocide; Dr. Michael Barnett, university professor of International Affairs and Political Science at George Washington University, who was on the desk at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York at the time of the genocide; Dr. James Orbinski, a medical doctor and ethicist who ran the Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) mission in Rwanda during the genocide and was the international president of MSF when the organization won the Nobel Prize in 1999; Honoré Gatera, a genocide survivor and director of Rwanda’s Kigali Genocide Memorial; Dr. Hollie Nyseth-Nzitatira, associate professor of Sociology at The Ohio State University researching Radio RTLM, a radio station broadcasting hate propaganda in Rwanda and its connection to the escalation of the genocide, and who is the spouse of a survivor; Gertrude Kearns, a Canadian visual artist who painted a series of portraits of Dallaire and Rwandan victims of genocide, which are on loan from the Canadian War Museum; retired Maj. Philip Lancaster, Dallaire’s executive officer during the genocide in Rwanda; and retired Joyce Leader, author of the book “From Hope to Horror: Diplomacy and the Making of the Rwanda Genocide,” and deputy chief of Mission in Rwanda during the genocide.
Dr. Scott Straus, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science and Mahatma Gandhi Fellow of the Academy of Political and Social Science at the University of California-Berkeley, appeared virtually.
Toward the end of the symposium, Amy Poe, project archivist for the USMA Library Archives and Special Collections, spoke about the process from the time the collection was delivered to the day of its opening, captured in a slideshow she presented on dual screens.
Poe documented the cleaning, organizing, cataloging, translating and other hard work that went into caring for the collection and preparing it for exhibition. Poe said that having worked on the project for over a year, she felt a deep understanding for what Dallaire had experienced, and respect for the resilience of the Rwandan people.
Poe, an Army veteran, pointed out that Dallaire’s After Action Report (AAR), included in the collection, is an example of why West Point is an ideal location for the exhibit — it is a place for learning critical lessons of leadership.
“We cannot avert our eyes,” Poe said. She became emotional as she thanked Dallaire for entrusting West Point with his papers.
Poe gave high praise to her colleague Lisa Gomez, exhibition librarian at USMA Library, with whom she worked to design and create an exhibition drawn primarily from the Dallaire archive. Gomez then addressed her gratitude to Dallaire for his gift.
Gomez added that there are plans, in the early stages at this time, to take the exhibit to academic libraries and departments, institutions with centers for genocide studies, public libraries and other institutions interested in hosting.
Learn more about the Stewart and Linda Resnick Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Resnick Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies | United States Military Academy West Point.
(Editor’s note: Here are the links to the webpages mentioned above -- Our Collections - USMA Library Archives and Special Collections - USMA Library Homepage at U.S. Military Academy, About | United States Military Academy West Point and History | United States Military Academy West Point.)