Ms Umugwaneza was eight years old when the genocide started in Rwanda. She also provided background to the conflict, describing the persecution and murder of the Tutsi from 1955. An uncle had fled to Burundi before the 1990s; he decided to return shortly before the genocide began, despite her father’s warnings, and he and his family (except for one child) were murdered. Umugwaneza recalled being beaten by her teacher in school, and her father keeping silent for fear that things would worsen. Eventually, the family had to leave their home, but nowhere was safe. Ms Umugwaneza stated that “one morning, you woke up and things had changed”: neighbours began killing neighbours, primed and prepared for years by propaganda and the presence of the militia.
Mr Turski commented how “idyllic” his childhood had been compared to his fellow panellists, as he did not arrive in Auschwitz until he was 18. He described growing up in Poland, seeing caricatures of Jewish people in newspapers, and realising that he was “different”. Between his house and secondary school was the local branch of a nationalist youth organisation; he quickly learned to avoid walking past, particularly alone, as members would hit Jewish students with clubs. Turski also realised things had changed after Germany invaded Poland and Jews were forced to wear Star of David armbands. He felt that his childhood stopped, however, once the family voluntarily moved to the Łódź Ghetto after the residents of two nearby blocks of flats were all shot dead.
Did you ever see any signs of goodwill, of people not turning a blind eye?
Mr Rahmanovic did not have any personal experiences of others showing goodwill, but recalled meeting a man after the war whose father had been an army officer. He had lost his job and his retirement money as he had refused to follow orders. “Before that,” he said, “I thought all Serbs were the same, and that they all wanted us to die. But then I realised we are not all the same, and others suffered too.”