The Imperious Duty to Remember

The Uncompromising Testimony of Jean-Baptiste Hategeka, Priest and Theologian, Survivor of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Nyundo

Abstract

In December 1994, five months after the conclusion of the genocide against the Tutsi during which up to a million of Tutsi and Hutu trying to protect them were assassinated, Jean-Baptiste Hategeka, the vicar general of the diocese of Nyundo in western Rwanda, one of few Tutsi priests who survived the massacre, published a book entitled Raisins verts pour dents agacées. Cris contre les nazis noirs au Rwanda (Sour grapes for irritated teeth. Cry against the Black Nazis in Rwanda). Self-published in Italy, where the author was receiving care after the genocide, this work had a limited distribution. The article argues on the basis of oral history interviews and original documents that it deserves wider recognition for two reasons. The first is that, written during the genocide against the Tutsi and immediately afterwards, it may be the account of the tragedy ever published in the form of a book. It brings new knowledge on genocide in Nyundo, an area targeted by the génocidaires at the onset of the genocide. Hategeka saw eight priests and a few religious sisters being killed in front of him in the bishop’s house on 9 April. He then lived in hiding with the bishop of Nyundo and a few other priests until mid-June, before escaping to Goma. The second reason is the depth and insightfulness of the political, philosophical, theological, and spiritual reflections Hategeka shared in the book. A committed Christian, he interrogates the silence of God and the meaning of faith in the middle of the genocide. He advocates for the “imperious duty to remember” and questions the ambiguity, if not outright complicity, of some sectors of the Rwandan Catholic Church.  Raisins verts is an important source for the history of the Christian response to the genocide.