Persian Realm

Whenever Genocide Has occured individuals have risked their own lives to save others. How can their courage inspire us to defy genocide?

The story of how Simone Weil Lipman was able to save thousands of Jewish children during the Holocaust is a starting point for an exploration of what it takes to defy genocide. This film focuses on Damas Gisimba, director of a small orphanage in Rwanda that was besieged by militias during the 1994 genocide. Learn how Gisimba, with the help of American aid worker Carl Wilkens, managed to protect, care for, and save some 400 people.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Learn more about Damas Gisimba and the Rwandan genocide here

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis by Hutu militia. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April up until mid July, at least 500,000 people were killed.[1] Most estimates indicate a death toll between 800,000 and 1,000,000. France's government under Socialist President François Mitterand was accused by some investigators as implicated indirectly in this massacre by selling military equipment to those involved in the genocide. Mitterand's Son (accused of being involved in arms dealings for the French government) are still subject to investigation.