Keeper of Memory
“After you visit this place – you will be a keeper of memory.” Visitors to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, are told this at the very beginning of the recorded audio tour. When guided through S-21 — the secret code name given to the Tuol Sleng prison site — you bear witness to this turbulent period of Cambodian history and view some of the atrocities that took place at this school-turned-prison for victims of the Khmer Rouge.
Some of humanity’s greatest creations are museums, monuments, and memorials to the past - creations to signify an event, a person, or to give honor and reverence. Why do we do this? Why do we, as humanity, universally feel compelled to create something which reminds and helps us sharply remember the past? What sets these locations apart and what, in the words of American President Abraham Lincoln, dedicates, consecrates, or hollows these lands?
Many of these museums and monuments around the world are dedicated to remembering the worst actions of humanity: S-21 and the Cambodian Killing fields; the mountain-top combat base of Khe Sanh, Vietnam; the ruins of a monastery in Rwanda; concentration camps across central Europe; Normandy beaches in northern France; Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, or most widely, the untold millions of ordered headstones marking the final resting places of those who gave their lives in service of a cause they may or may not have wholly believed in.
Most monuments and memorials are built to memorialize these events. These memorials impart to all who visit the memories of long lost individuals who, willingly or unwillingly, were part of these past events. Memorials invite all to not only learn of these people but to, more importantly, learn from them: to take the lessons learned, to recognize oftentimes the immorality and horror that lead to the conflict; to strive to keep it from happening again; and to provide a lasting memorial to those whose lives were often prematurely snuffed out.
These memorials often enter the national or collective memory of a nation. For example, in the United States capitol of Washington DC, there are memorials to those who have served and died for our nation. The Washington monument, the Lincoln or Jefferson memorials, the World War II memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery are a few memorials that commemorate what many see as “honorable” memories. But, as mentioned above, museums and memorials just as often serve as reminders and places of reflection of past horrors or mistakes that have been made, like the Holocaust Museum, the African History Museum, and the Vietnam Memorial.
How often though, do we take time to really remember and put the needed effort into learning from the events and people whose memories we keep? We spend lots of time preserving a record of what happened and devoting ourselves to learning the facts of events, but we often fall short in applying the knowledge and lessons from what has happened before to what is happening now. This is not to say that recording the facts is bad; there can be no application without knowing what happened. In our own lives we remember and learn from the things we personally experience, using those lessons to inform what we do later. Why should we act any differently in keeping the memories and remembering what has happened in our collective past? For example, Germany has kept and preserved concentration camps as a reminder of the Holocaust. Internationally, we, as a system of nations, have passed and codified things like the UN Convention Against Genocide in an attempt to stop this violence. In Africa, Rwanda has preserved many massacre sites and has worked to find justice and peace for the victims of their genocide in 1994. Cambodia has also preserved some of the sites of terror and killing conducted by the Khmer Rouge, during the country’s own genocidal history from 1975-1979.
Even for all of humanity’s effort of recording and remembering the past, how often do we try to avoid the mistakes and errors that led us to conflict before? The answer is not very often. Even after visiting these places and becoming a “keeper of memory,” our memories and associated lessons learned are often clouded, muddled, and forgotten when the time for action has come. This is because we want to put the heavy burden of being a “keeper of memory” on others, particularly those we have chosen to be our leaders, as opposed to carrying that burden ourselves. While it is important that leaders remember the lessons of the past, it is often more important that everyone learns and remembers.[1] In any society where the people have a voice in choosing their political leadership, it is of utmost importance that people are versed in history and share in holding the burden of remembering lessons learned as their leaders. If only the leadership is tasked with learning and remembering the past in the push forward, the door for the crafting of self-interested and often blatantly false narratives and counter narratives is opened, which, if leveraged by those seeking improper power, can lead society back down the same well-trod dark paths to conflict.
It is important that we each individually become, in our own lives, a true keeper of memory of our own collective human history. To do this is difficult. It requires that we each put in the time and the effort to learn of our past unfiltered, confronting both favorable and difficult facts from our personal and collective histories, and not just focusing upon those which make us feel comfortable about who we are or justify the decisions and choices we make, both individually and collectively. Only then can we begin to hold in our memories the moments and events that shaped not only the world we live in, but the nations, states, and communities in which we reside. Every person must become a keeper, not only of their own memories and experiences, but also of those who have come before us. It is up to each of us to remember the past and look forward to the future framed and understood by our prior collective experiences.
History can be a potent tool of dictators and demagogues the world over. Important events can be selectively highlighted or forgotten, woven into a tapestry of dangerously self-serving narratives. Putting the burden of our historical memory solely on those who lead increases the odds for people to be led astray. The only way to ensure that the past is not re-written and lost to serve a momentary or self-serving end is for everyone to be educated in both the comfortable and difficult elements of our history. Everyone must keep the memories alive and must be prepared to use this knowledge when it is needed most.
[1] “Lessons of the past” to include all facets of history. From the callous statistical numbers to the personal recording of experiences from those who were there. While we cannot know everything all the time, recognizing key lessons learned from past leaders or even just past key moments can be enough to more fully inform a leader's decision-making process.
Figure 1: “Tuol Sleng | Photos from Pol Pot’s Secret Prison | History,” www.tuolsleng.com, n.d., http://www.tuolsleng.com/history.php.
Figure 2: “About,” Arlingtoncemetery.mil, 2019, https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/about.
Figure 3:Deanna Adams, “Beyond the Walls: The Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial,” Museum of the Bible, accessed September 22, 2022, https://www.museumofthebible.org/magazine/impact/beyond-the-walls-the-washington-monument-and-the-lincoln.