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Keeping the spirit of the Liberation War alive

Akku Chowdhury
THE theme for International Museum Day, which is celebrated on May 18, many years ago was "Museums: Building Community," which underlined the important social role museums play. The theme reiterates the importance of the museum and recalls the definition of the museum as a permanent institution in the service of society and of its development. I recall that theme today to reiterate the important role the Liberation War Museum has played in our community ever since its establishment.
The Liberation War Museum was opened on March 22 1996, and has been promoting nation building and community not only through the displays but also through its various programs advocating humanitarian and democratic values, and through the historic sites' connection to contemporary issues.
The Liberation War Museum is dedicated to all freedom loving people of the world, and to the victims of mindless atrocities and destruction committed in the name of religion and sovereignty. This museum displays that determination which overcomes all odds for freedom and liberty.
The Liberation War Museum has been set up to collect and disseminate information regarding our Liberation War. We try to find the truth regarding our liberation struggle, and seek justice for those millions who had perished in the most inhuman way. The truth is important, not only for the present generation but also for the future, so that they can grow up knowing how bloody and gory the birth of the nation was. This will give them impetus to be patriotic, and have determination to be better leaders of the society and the nation.
It is believed that the Museum can be a very important tool forteaching them, and giving them a sense of pride in their country. The Liberation War Museum wants the future generation to know the rich heritage ,/lifiin OOt ^1- 9J ,11 of their motherland, and draw from the spirit of the Liberation War the inspiration and pride to build a better future and make a difference in nation building.
The Muktijuddha Smriti Trust (MST) is dedicated to honouring the spirit of the struggle for freedom and the Museum is its prime project
MST is involved in identifying and preserving the historic sites of the Liberation War, the killing fields, and the graves of the victims of the Pakistan army and their agents. Let the victims of the genocide be remembered, not buried in lies.
When, on July27,1999, a killing field was discovered, the Liberation War Museum had taken the initiative for an extensive excavation of the area to find the remains
of the victims of the genocide. Attempts were made to use all scientific and medical facilities to find the evidence and clues leading to the identity of the Individuals and the cause and time of their death. Initial examinations have given us enough evidence to claim that they were the victims of the genocide committed by the Pakistan forces.
In response to the Liberation War Museum's request, the Bangladesh army began assisting with the excavation work from August 12, 1999. With their sophisticated instruments and discipline the work progressed in a systematic way. The contingent of the Bangladesh army worked with great determination and zeal, and the people warmly welcomed their assistance in this worthy cause.
Dr. M. A. Hasan has been assisting with medical examinations and trying to collect evidence of the crimes against humanity committed by the Pakistan army, and presenting them to the World Community for justice. He has also formed a War Crime Fact Finding Committee to carry on this critical duty for the nation.
After the Muslim Bazaar excavation and exhuming of the remains of the victims, the Liberation War Museum began catalouging and pre-investigation on another site where the unfortunate victims of 1971 were dumped in a jalladkhana (slaughterhouse). This is situated in Mirpur. The investigators found family members of the martyrs and one survivor from this slaughterhouse.
Their stories show that Bengalis w’ere taken to this abandoned pump-house and slaughtered, and the bodies were dumped in the underground tanks located under the pump house. It was claimed that over 10,000 bodies were dumped in the two underground tanks. The jalladkhana was thus selected for immediate excavation and exhuming of the remains of the martyrs.
The Bangladesh Anny's 46 Brigade, 7 Field Regiment Artillery and 43 Engineer Company assisted the LWM in this ■Herculean I work also. The excavation! began on November 15,1999. The exhuming ended on the 23rd with the recovery of 70 skulls and 5392 human bones. Most of the skulls revealed sign of being severed from the rest of the body with a sharp weapon and some bore marks of being struck by heavy weapons, and one had a bullet hole.
It is most important that the truth should be revealed and what happened in 1971 needs to be known, not to look backward but for the nation to move forward. As we enter the new millennium it should be the beginning of a new era for Bangladesh. Like a phoenix, we can be born out of the ashes. But we must clear the ashes. It is for all to join together and clear
the debris that had been thrown over the bodies of thousands of Bengalis in 1971, to give them the honour they deserve for the supreme sacrifice they made for our freedom. Only then we shall know ourselves.
The discovery and excavation of the killing fields has had an awakening effect in all of us, especially the younger generation. For over 25 years, history was not only distorted the truth was also gagged systematically so that future generations would be unaware of their rich heritage that was the Liberation War.
It is also important to explore the various mechanisms of legal and social redress to improve the psychological and emotional support system for the families long affected by the loss of their dear and near ones and the failure in finding the truth.
The Museum is taking the leadership on tills issue, and has made a big impact on the society by exposing the historic sites and bringing them into focus for the present generation to understand the past. We owe it to our martyrs to establish the truth about the genocide committed by the Pakistani military and bring to justice those who committed such heinous crimes. We have held many seminars and conferences on the genocide and on the need for a tribunal to try the collaborators and perpetrators.
As part of the preservation of 1971 sites, MST took the initiative to develop and restore the jalladkhana killing field in Mirpur. With the involvement of the local community, we built a memorial park, retaining the original pump house and making it a memorial site with information, photographs, objects and data from the killing and excavation. This site was opened on June 21, 2007, and the families of those killed here are regularly invited to share their experience with school children who are invited to visit the site. We hope this will impress upon others to take the initiative of preserving the killing fields that maybe found around their communities.
The Outreach program, whereby we bring in students from different schools, plays an important part as a teaching tool for learning about our history. It plays an important part in building their civic and moral role as responsible citizens of this nation. The participants take an instant quiz as part of the program, and take a tour of the museum and view a 25 minutes video showing the freedom struggle of Bengalis from 1947 to 1971. The quiz is liasically.abQuLwhaLtheyhaYese.eiL
We try to motivate them to be proud citizens and become "ambassadors" of the Museum, and to participate in all its activities, which gives them a sense of belonging. Since we began this program in 1997 we have had over 100,000 participants. In 2000, we revamped the program by providing transport and including an instant quiz program for the visiting students. The Bangladesh Freedom Foundation sponsored the program, which enabled us to provide transport to the participating schools and give prizes to the quiz winners.
The program has become so popular that we sometimes have to bring in two schools on the same day, whereas we had planned to have the Outreach once a
week only. Although the majority of the students are from Dhaka, on Fridays we try to bring in students from the outskirts of Dhaka (travel time of maximum two hours). The visual learning with actual objects, artefacts and photographs from 1971 makes a very deep impression on these young minds, which is reflected from their comments and the question answer sessions.
The interest of the students can be seen from the continuous interaction we maintain with them through mail, activity participation and the annual Freedom Carnival that we began from this year.
Outreach was expanded with the introduction of a "Mobile Museum" so that we could reach out to the youth in far-flung areas of Bangladesh. We launched this program in August 2001. The mobile exhibitions have been designed to take the Museum on the wheels. Exhibits are mounted in a specially designed bus, and a video projection unit is included to show a 25-minute video on our history (1947-71). A specially trained instructor/manager conducts the program, including the instant quiz. We contact various schools to schedule their visit, and coordinate with development organisations (NGOs) for local assistance. This has added a new dimension not only to the Museum but also to our commitment to community and nation building.
In our outreach program, from 1997 till 2008, we have had participation of 104,845 students, out of which 51.473 (49%) were boys and 53512 (51%) were girls. Total number of schools was 379. In 2009, we have had 2684 students of which 1200 were boys and 1484 were girls.
The mobile museum, traveling all over the country since 2001, has covered 25 districts and 141 villages. It has traveled to 508 schools, and been viewed by over 280,000 people.
In June 2004, a unique project, "Human rights and peace education in the light of history of the Liberation War," was launched. This project, being run with support from "Manusher Jonno Foundation," has now spread all over the country. Till March 2008,1,94,410 students from 370 educational institutes of 101 upazillas of 19 districts had participated in this program. They received primary knowledge on human rights, tolerance and peace based on the history of the LiberationWar.
These students from towns and remote uillagcSrbyxakingintcruicw of eldersdnlhe-familyand neighbourhood on 1971 events, have enriched history with many untold stories and, in the process, feel the pain and glories of the Liberation War. In this oral history project, they have so far collected 7759 interviews, which are kept in the Museum's archive.
The trustees of the Liberation War Museum strongly feel that, for identifying friends and enemies of democratic secular Bangladesh and correcting distortions, it is essential that the younger generation start learning the history of the Liberation War. In this respect, increasing participation of youth in the Museum's programs kindles a ray of hope.
"Museums and globalisation" is also a
very appropriate theme considering the impact globalisation is having the world over. The theme reiterates the importance of the museum and recalls the definition of the museum as a permanent institution in the service of society and of its development. It is important to note that even before globalisation became fashionable and then a necessity, the museum community had been sharing knowledge with each other knowingly or unknowingly.
The Liberation War Museum, which opened on March 22, 1996, has been promoting not only nation building and community development but also the universal duty of the world's citizens to share and care for each others' pain, as we have had to suffer in 1971. This is done not only through the Museum displays but also through its various programs advocating humanitarian and democratic values and the historic sites' connection with contemporaryissues.
The Museum is a founder of the "International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience." The coalition brings together historic.site musepms in, many parts of the world, at many stages Of development, presenting and interpreting a wide variety of historic issues, events and people.
The coalition holds in common the belief that it is the obligation of historic sites to assist the public in drawing a connection between the history of our sites and their implications. We view the stimulating of dialogue on pressing social issues promoting humanitarian and democratic values as a primary issue. Along with the Liberation War Museum other founder members are Lowers East Side Tenenement Museum (USA), Slave Museum (Senegal), Pamatnik Terezen (Czech Republic), District Six (South Africa), The Workhouse (UK), National
Park Services (USA), Gulag Museum (Russia) and theTo Remember (Argentina).
At the Liberation War Museum we believe that teaching our future generations the importance of historical facts and international interaction is important, so that the people of the world know each other better. The planet is becoming a global village.
In our collection we have over 20,000 memorabilia and documents from 1971, of which about 30% are not exhibited due to space constraints. In 677 weeks, we have had over 4,030,500 visitors.
Every year we hold a freedom festival with the students who participated in our outreach program.
On our anniversary we have a lecture series, and on the first anniversary we had Lt.Gen. Jagjit Singh Arora. Besides, we also bring unknown freedom fighters to speak on various occasions celebrating historic and important days.
The Museum is housed in a rented building. We have been trying to get a piece of land to build a proper Museum. I will enb with thd happy news that the previous caretaker government approved our application and made an allotment for a piece of land in Agargaon. Hopefully, the construction work of a grand Museum of Liberation will begin with the help, assistance and cooperation of all the people. As we have branded our Museum as a "Citizen's Museum," we are confident the citizens will come forward to build this museum brick by brick.
The Liberation War Museum celebrates its 13th anniversary on March 22, 2009.
Akku Chowdhury is one of the Trustees and the founder Director of the Museum.