Mvuyekure, Generose
Interviewee Age
95
Interviewee Gender
Female
Interviewee Ethnicity
Hutu
Geographical Location(s) during the genocide
Gitega
Interview Date
2025
Summary of Oral History
At the age of 18, Mvuyekure saw many people brutally slaughtered during the 1972 Genocide of Burundi. Mvuyekure explained that perpetrators would cut their victims’ heads open with machetes, splitting their skulls into two butchered halves. She witnessed people who were on their way to church get lined up by militia only to be shot and killed. She recalled seeing piles of the victim’s clothing and shoes stacked up in their community. Mvuyekure said when the perpetrators killed her husband, they also stole his motorcycle. From time to time, after her husband’s death, Mvuyekure would watch her husband’s executioner ride his bike throughout the community. Now, she said she hopes the mass graves will be memorialized so future generations will not let this mass atrocity happen again.
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Recommended Citation
Mvuyekure, Generose, "Mvuyekure, Generose" (2025). 1972 Burundi Genocide – Oral Histories. 60.
https://neiudc.neiu.edu/burundi-oral-histories/60
