I must admit, I had some difficulty finding the museum. I was expecting a big sign with the words “RED CROSS” predominantly displayed, but what I got was:
History of the Red Cross
Founding the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
In 1859, the Second Italian War of Independence took place between the French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont against the Austrian Empire (the First Italian War took place in 1848-49). The Battle of Solferino, a key battle during the war, took place in June, when the Franco-Piedmontese troops defeated the Austrians and gained the region of Lombardy. But this victory came at a cost: the battle left more than 40,000 dead and wounded.
Following the battle, a Swiss businessman by the name of Henry Dunant happened to pass through the town of Solferino on a business trip. When he witnessed the suffering of the 40,000 soldiers, Dunant decided he must do something to improve the assistance afforded to war victims. Dunant published his memoir, A Memory of Solferino, in 1862. The book put forward two proposals:
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The Conference adopted ten resolutions providing for the establishment of relief societies for wounded soldiers, and decided that a red cross on a white background should be the distinctive sign of the medical personnel. In 1864, a Diplomatic Conference was convened for the purpose of transforming the resolutions adopted in 1863 into treaty rules. They signed the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, i.e., the First Geneva Convention, which was adopted by 12 governments. | The original document of the Geneva Convention of 1864 |
Formation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
While the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) did a good job creating Red Cross Societies in different nations, World War I demonstrated the necessity that these scattered Societies create an organized core to be able to effectively coordinate with and support each other. Thus, in 1919, the League of Red Cross Societies was founded. More than 70 years later, in 1991, this became the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
There were five founding member Societies: Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States. Now, there are 190 recognized National Societies, one in almost every country in the world.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum is an audio-guided tour. Once you buy your tickets, the cashier hands you a headphone set, and this provides you with commentary every time you enter a new room.
(For more information on each area and the Museum design, click HERE)
The permanent exhibition is split into three main areas: “Defending human dignity,” “Restoring family links,” and “Reducing natural risks.” Each area was designed by a different architect, each with a different cultural background.
“By adding spatial sensitization effects to true-life stories, the aim is to transform this area into a pivotal moment in people’s lives, prompting them to reflect on the fragility of their own existences – as insecure as the world and life itself. The immersive space is intended to awaken our instinctive need for feelings of solidarity by using a mix of graphic design, cinematic effects, sound, light and drama.” -Gringo Cardia
“The intrinsic link between the family, roots and natural elements is underscored throughout the exhibition as I thought it vital to symbolize people’s return to their roots and to nature in times of turmoil and tragedy. The simplicity of the materials and the way they are put together spares visitors from heartless materialism during the difficult search for the missing.” -Diébédo Francis Kéré
“Like excessively authoritarian politicians, natural disasters always end up claiming victims. Their destructive force often leaves those victims homeless. For this exhibition area, we have taken the same tubes of recycled cardboard used to build temporary housing, schools and churches in refugee camps in Africa and in areas ravaged by natural disasters. We hope that this welcoming, organic area will help to dispel prejudices that label paper as a weak material. Prejudices are damaging and hamper development.” -Shigeru Ban
Even before you get to the three areas, the very first room you enter is the Chamber of Witnesses. I didn’t take a picture here because it is one of those places that you just can’t capture in a photograph, but I do have an image from the official Museum site for you.
This room introduces you to the 12 witnesses you will meet throughout the permanent exhibition. There are four witnesses in each area, and each witness is involved with the Red Cross in some way, be it as a leader within the organization or as one receiving the organization’s aid. You meet each witness on a projected screen, and you activate their 3-minute speech by either placing your hand on theirs or sitting down in a chair across from them. | The Chamber of Witnesses Photo courtesy International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, by Alain Germond |
Emmanuel Jal appears in the “Defending human dignity” area, and he served as a child soldier in Sudan from 1987 to 1991. The part of his testimony that echoes in my brain is when he described escaping from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. He fled with nearly 400 boys on a 3-month journey from Juba (the capital of South Sudan) to Waat (a village in the northern part of South Sudan). The boys walked the entire distance, and Jal was only one of 16 boys to survive the journey. The main problems facing the boys were lack of food and water, and Jal talks about how he was almost forced to eat his friend to avoid starvation.
Jal became a rap musician to channel his political activism and spread the word on the atrocities happening in South Sudan. Here’s an example of some of his work:
The other witness who really spoke to me was Liliose Iraguha. Iraguha appeared in the “Restoring family links” area, and she is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. Over the last year I have started learning more about genocides throughout the world, which is a really important fact to acknowledge that the Holocaust is not the only mass genocide in recent history. Even now these atrocities are occurring, like the Rohingya persecution in Myanmar.
The thing with Iraguha’s account that struck me is when she talked about returning to her aunt in Rwanda following the genocide. She was glad to be back, even though memories of her parents’ deaths must have followed her home. I know a lot of times when people experience a traumatic event in a certain place, they avoid that place to prevent remembering the event. But when that place is your whole country—your whole culture, speech, land—how do you cope with your whole world turning on you? It is a lot to think about, how one navigates the bittersweet conflicts of your heritage against the brutalities. Just this thought deserves a whole reflective blog post of its own.