On the 19th of February, Ethiopians commemorate the martyrs’ day. The day reminds Ethiopians that their proud history as a nation never has been colonized came at a price of bitter struggle and a huge sacrifice of their forebears.
By commemorating Martyrs’ Day, Ethiopians remind the world of their incredible perseverance and capability in going through apparently hopeless situations and tackling seemingly insurmountable challenges.
The highly graphical impressive Yekatit 12 Martyrs’ monument, which stands at the Sidst Kilo Square, is reminiscent of the dark three days 85 years ago.
That was when the capital city was engulfed in flames and awashed in the blood of innocent unarmed civilians slaughtered and burned alive just because they were Ethiopians.
The Addis Ababa Massacre (Yekatit 12 Massacre) in 1937 is one of Fascist Italy’s much neglected least known atrocities, that wiped out over one-fifth of Addis Ababa’s population.
Some describe it as the cruelest single atrocity of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, and thus considered as one of the worst desecrations of humanity in the century. Historians say it is one of the most gruesome civilian massacres of all time that is by in large covered up, and the perpetrators walked free without facing justice.
Even though the capital city was the epicenter of the massacre, more atrocities were committed by Italians in places like the ancient Debre Libanos monastery during the subsequent days, following the failed assassination attempt on Marshal Graziani, Governor-General of Italian East Africa, by two patriotic youth from Eritrea.
It all began as a benign event in the premises of the Emperor’s Palace; Genete Leul Palace, which is now the main campus of Addis Ababa University, located just in front of the Martyrs’ monument mentioned earlier. It was Friday, February 19, 1937.
The festive event that gathered the poor and the notables of Addis Ababa along with the Italian fascists to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Naples has suddenly turned into an event of horror that sparked one of the most barbaric massacres ever recorded in history.
In addition to the tens of thousands of Ethiopians massacred in the capital city, several other citizens died after being taken into concentration camps in various parts of the country and in neighboring Somalia, which was under the occupation of Fascist Italy.
One survivor recounted the horrific day saying; “On that day, I was in Addis Ababa around La-gare (the train station). Suddenly, the peaceful place turned into a killing field as Italian soldiers and civilians descended.
Many of us ran to hide in train carriages, but the fascists followed us to the carriages and killed almost everyone inside with guns and machetes, and swords. My friend and I miraculously survived by hiding under piles of bodies.
The train carriage floor was covered with human blood.” The Italians have used the Yekatit 12 incident as an opportunity to selectively target and exterminate the very few overseas-educated Ethiopians and religious scholars.
The fascists considered these people a threat to the colonial rule they were struggling to establish amid the continued battle with the patriotic resistance fighters in almost every corner of the country.
Sadly, the Yekatit 12 Massacre and other mass killings perpetrated by the fascists at that time are to this day repudiated by the Italian government, ignoring overwhelming historical evidence to the contrary.
All repressive powers, regardless of their period in history or their geographical location, have almost the same tendency towards committing war crimes and genocide.
All of them do not hesitate to commit mass killing as a tool to achieve their political goals. They commit atrocities to terrorize the people they want to dominate into submission. Rulers with fascist tendencies typically use terror to break the will and the spirit of the people they target.
They employ divisive ideologies and narratives to make sure their subjects will not have unity and trust each other to forge a strong alliance against their rule.
In the light of the above arguments, it would be easy to explain the hidden motives behind the war crimes committed by TPLF. As if what it is doing by itself is not enough, TPLF has sponsored and masterminded terror in a different part of the country.
Like the Italian fascists, TPLF has committed genocide and war crimes on its fellow country people. International agencies like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have independently proven these devilish criminal acts by TPLF.
Like the Italian fascists, TPLF is responsible for the physical and mental torture, disability, and killing of several hundred thousand youths who could have been great assets for securing Ethiopia’s bright future. Like the fascists, TPLF has looted Ethiopia’s meager resources and stashed them overseas.
The Yekatit 12 massacre in a way also reflects on Ethiopians incredible capacity for forgiveness. The Ethiopians did not retaliate against the Italian invaders as a payback for the heinous crimes they committed during their five-year invasion. The Italian fascist invaders have tormented, looted, dehumanized, and massacred Ethiopians.
The fascists employed horrible genocidal strategies including mustard gas, rape, forced labor camps, mutilation of corpses. Even the Italians and the traitor bandas committed a remnant medieval time’s tradition of removing body parts from captured Ethiopian resistance fighters.
But after all these, Ethiopians choose mercy over seeking retribution against the Italian fascists. Immediately after his triumphant return to power, and the fallen Ethiopian flag began to fly high up on the pole once again, Emperor Hailesellasie made one of his powerful speeches saying: “Do not return evil for evil. Do not indulge in the atrocities which the enemy has been practicing in his usual way, even up to the last moment.
Take care not to spoil the good name of Ethiopia by acts that are worthy of the enemy. We shall see that our enemies are disarmed and sent out the same way they came.” Ethiopians have a long-held tradition of standing in unison to fight their country’s enemies with an unbreakable spirit. No matter how long it takes and how formidable and evil their enemies may be, Ethiopians have always defeated their enemies with a decisive victory. They are also well-reputed to be merciful to those who fought against them.
These Ethiopian traditions have reverberated through generations into the present time. Ethiopians have proven in the present time their moral supremacy over their enemies with acts of sympathy and benevolence.
The Ethiopian government released some of the top TPLF leaders it captured on the battlefield, considering their poor health and old age. The Afar and Amhara people are treating and hospitalizing wounded and captured TPLF fighters, who came to destroy their towns, rape their women and children, desecrate their religious centers, and loot their clinics and schools.
There are amazing reports about the local militia in north Wollo in Amahara Region who show sympathy to the TPLF child soldiers they captured during the war by allowing them live with them as cattle herders. Jeff Pearce, the Canadian novelist, and historian, who has risen to prominence as one of the contemporary analysts of Ethiopia’s past and present, recently said: “Ethiopians have the capacity for forgiveness which astonishes me. Menelik II took the POWs from Adwa and marched them to safety. Similarly some 40 years later, at the end of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Haileselase said ‘we want to able to treat these people (the Italian invaders) as friends one day.
Let the invader go back the way they come.’ That just boggles the mind, given that they (The Italians) have dropped poison gas, made concentration camps, massacred unarmed civilians, and bombed hospitals. A western would not easily forgive, you guys (Ethiopians) do. Everybody makes much of the war culture of Ethiopians. Nobody ever talks about the astonishing capacity you have for forgiveness.”
BY SOLOMON WASSIHUN
The Ethiopian Herald 20 February 2022
