Photographic evidence of torture at the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum

Women’s shoes left at the museum, near a metal chair, with handcuffs (Birhan Gebrekirstos Mezgbo, July 2023).

Located in the heart of Mekelle, the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum (TMMM) was constructed as a tribute to those who died in Ethiopia’s past conflicts, particularly people who fought with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) against Ethiopia’s military regime, the Derg, which ruled from 1974 to 1991.

War returned to Tigray in 2020 – 2022, when the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), aided by soldiers from Eritrea and Amharic militias, fought against Tigrayan Defense Forces (TDF). The ENDF stationed soldiers at the museum. They destroyed much of the museum and used it as a temporary detention center for captured Tigrayan civilians, many of whom were tortured and suffered sexual violence.

This photo gallery documents destruction of the museum exhibitions and evidence of torture. As background, it includes several images taken by Bridget Conley in 2017, during a period of peace. The bulk of the images were taken by TMMM staff in July and August of 2022, documenting what they found as they re-entered the museum. Additional images were taken by Birhan Gebrekirstos Mezgbo when she visited the site in July 2023.

For deeper understanding of what occurred during the ENDF’s occupation of the museum, read our interview with Yemane Gebrehiwot, a curator and program coordinator at the TMMM, who was among the first people to re-enter the museum after ENDF soldiers vacated the site.

Tigrayan Martyrs Memorial Museum

Birhan Gebrekirstos Mezgbo is a research assistant at the World Peace Foundation, a graduate student at the Friedman School at Tufts University, specializing in Humanitarian Affairs, Human Security, and Gender Intersectionality, and a human rights advocate. She is a fellow at DW Akademie and leads the "She Heals, We Heal" project in Tigray. Additionally, Birhan is the founder of the Fetli radio program which advocates for the healing of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) survivors. She co-authored Tearing the Body, Breaking the Spirit (Independently published, May 10, 2023), a book documenting sexual and gender-based violence during the war in Tigray, Ethiopia. Before these roles, Birhan was an academic staff member at Mekelle University.

Bridget Conley leads WPF’s research programs on atrocity response and incarceration, and works closely with the Executive Director on project development, fundraising and strategic vision for WPF. Currently, her primary research focus concerns the implications of American mass incarceration for local, national and international policies.

She also leads our program on mass atrocities and was a researcher on the mass starvation program. The author of Memory from the Margins: Ethiopia’s Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum (Palgrave 2019); co-editor of Accountability for Starvation: Testing the Limits of the Law (Oxford University Press, 2021), and editor of How Mass Atrocities End: Studies from Guatemala, Burundi, Indonesia, the Sudans, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Iraq (Cambridge University Press 2016), she has also published on starvation crimes, the 1992 – 1995 war in Bosnia, mass atrocities and genocide, and how museums can engage on human rights issues.

She previously worked as Research Director for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience, where she led the Museum’s research and projects on contemporary threats of genocide, where she produced multimedia public outreach materials, formulated positions on contemporary threats of genocide, and curated exhibitions.

She received a PhD in Comparative Literature from Binghamton University in 2001. When she is not in the office, she is happiest with her family or on a mountain summit.

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The memorial (Bridget Conley, 2017).

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Statue of soldiers (Bridget Conley, 2017).

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View of the central hall of the Tigrayan Martyrs Memorial Museum in 2017 (Bridget Conley, 2017).

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Two visitors to the museum, in 2017 (Bridget Conley, 2017).

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A statue of a soldier, with hand cut off (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, July 2022).

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Graffiti left by ENDF soldiers on the wall of the museum, it states: “Their name is a servant of God [Gebreegziabher]. What they do is against God [Tsereegziabher]” (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, July 2022).

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ENDF soldiers used a room in the museum to cook their food (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, July 2022).

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ENDF soldier's documents left at the museum, indicate their division and regiment (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, August 2022).

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Chair near a banister, and electric cables, that appear to have been used to torture people held prisoner (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, July 2022).

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Women’s clothing, including bra and shoes left at the museum, folded over two metal chairs, with handcuffs (Birhan Gebrekirstos Mezgbo, July 2023).

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Women’s shoes left at the museum, near a metal chair, with handcuffs (Birhan Gebrekirstos Mezgbo, July 2023).

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Graffiti on museum walls: “Wanted” (written by blood) (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, August 2022).

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Hallway with clothing of prisoners held at the museum strewn across the floor (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, July 2022).

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Bullets, wires, and clothing left on the floor of the museum (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, August 2022).

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The memorial museum is the final resting place for the remains of some soldiers killed in the 1974 – 1991 war against the Derg. These remains were desecrated during the ENDF occupation of the museum (2020 – 2022) (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, July 2022).

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Community members visit the museum, after ENDF soldiers left (Staff of the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Museum, August 2022).

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