GENOCIDE '71 - A MEMORY MAP
In 1947, the British ended their three hundred years of colonial rule in India. Before leaving, they split the subcontinent into two independent nation-states solely based on religion: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, which completely disregarded the other vital aspects – language, culture, and geography, including 1600 kilometers of Indian territory between East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (present Pakistan).
From the inception of Pakistan, East Pakistan faced political marginalization, economic neglect, and ethnic discrimination by West Pakistan, which eventually initiated the non-cooperative movement of the Bengalis in East Pakistan.
Following the consequences, the Pakistan military regime launched a brutal crackdown against the Bengalis in East Pakistan, leading to a full fledged war. This 9 month long liberation war started on March 26, 1971 along with the days and nights of mass killing, inferno and immense torture.
Finally on December 16 of 1971, Bangladesh became a sovereign country after a river of bloodshed.
The Pakistan military regime named the crackdown “Operation Searchlight”.
The nationwide atrocity and mass killing started at Dhaka University in the night of March 25, 1971.
Genocide ’71 – A Memory Map, a visual storytelling project, revisits the killing fields, mass graves and torture cells of 1971 in Bangladesh and tells stories of these places based on eyewitnesses and survivors’ accounts.
Dhaka
Click on each marker on the following map for visual representations and descriptions of the killing sites, mass graves and torture cells.
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Sokhina Khatun's husband, Iyar Ali and brother-in-law, Piyar Ali, were slaughtered by the Pakistan military's local non-Bengali collaborators in Mirpur. Her son, Shah Jamal, still vividly remembers that night.
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Sokhina Khatun's husband, Iyar Ali and brother-in-law, Piyar Ali, were slaughtered by the Pakistan military's local non-Bengali collaborators in Mirpur. Her son, Shah Jamal, still vividly remembers that night.
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Sokhina Khatun's husband, Iyar Ali and brother-in-law, Piyar Ali, were slaughtered by the Pakistan military's local non-Bengali collaborators in Mirpur. Her son, Shah Jamal, still vividly remembers that night.
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Chan Dhon Sur was a well-known and respected habitant of Shankhari Bazaar, Old Dhaka. When the Pakistan army attacked the neighborhood, they brutally killed him along with 19 other relatives in a single room of house no 52. His son, Amar Chan Sur, a survivor, shares his experience of the horrific incident.
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Chan Dhon Sur was a well-known and respected habitant of Shankhari Bazaar, Old Dhaka. When the Pakistan army attacked the neighborhood, they brutally killed him along with 19 other relatives in a single room of house no 52. His son, Amar Chan Sur, a survivor, shares his experience of the horrific incident.
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Chan Dhon Sur was a well-known and respected habitant of Shankhari Bazaar, Old Dhaka. When the Pakistan army attacked the neighborhood, they brutally killed him along with 19 other relatives in a single room of house no 52. His son, Amar Chan Sur, a survivor, shares his experience of the horrific incident.
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The Pakistan army killed Mohammad Ershadul Huq's nephews in their ancestral house, "Sardar Bari", in Keraniganj. Later, their dead bodies were buried with other victims in the Nazarganj graveyard.
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The Pakistan army killed Mohammad Ershadul Huq's nephews in their ancestral house, "Sardar Bari", in Keraniganj. Later, their dead bodies were buried with other victims in the Nazarganj graveyard.
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The Pakistan army killed Mohammad Ershadul Huq's nephews in their ancestral house, "Sardar Bari", in Keraniganj. Later, their dead bodies were buried with other victims in the Nazarganj graveyard.
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After the Ramna Kali Bari massacre, Rajendra Roy and the other survivors had to leave their birthplace forever. Ramna Kali Temple was over 300 years old, and there was also Maa Anandamayee Ashram, where Hindu devotees from different places visited and stayed. During the attack, The Pakistan army demolished both of the structures.
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After the Ramna Kali Bari massacre, Rajendra Roy and the other survivors had to leave their birthplace forever. Ramna Kali Temple was over 300 years old, and there was also Maa Anandamayee Ashram, where Hindu devotees from different places visited and stayed. During the attack, The Pakistan army demolished both of the structures.
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After the Ramna Kali Bari massacre, Rajendra Roy and the other survivors had to leave their birthplace forever. Ramna Kali Temple was over 300 years old, and there was also Maa Anandamayee Ashram, where Hindu devotees from different places visited and stayed. During the attack, The Pakistan army demolished both of the structures.
During the final phase of the war, the local war crime collaborators under the command of the Pakistan army prepared a list of prominent Bengali intellectuals – professors, doctors, engineers, journalists, lawyers, artists, and writers.
To cause complete intellectual bankruptcy,
they strategically abducted and killed all of them.
Bangladesh observes The Martyred Intellectuals Day on 14 December to commemorate the intellectuals who were killed during the war.
Supported by
National Geographic Society