Experts Share Must-Read Books and Films for Genocide Awareness Month

Looking back, the month of April marks the start of some of the most horrific genocides - Rwanda, Cambodia, Armenia, Anfal campaign against Kurds - and it is also the end of others, like the liberation of Auschwitz, which is why the month has been deemed Genocide Awareness Month. And the year of 2025 further marks pivotal anniversaries - the 30th anniversary of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War, the 50th anniversary of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, and the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian genocide.

The United States has also played a pivotal role in many of these unfortunate and deadly moments in history. But with all this atrocity, the history books can only cover so much. And each country has a different history to tell depending on their role in the genocide and who or where the story comes from, be it a survivor, a government, an organization, or a bystander. Films and books can tell these stories in a variety of ways, and by rounding out our experiences, only then can we begin to understand and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

We turned to the co-founders of the Mass Atrocity Research Initiative (MARI), SIS professors Jeff Bachman and Claudine Kuradusenge-McLeod, for their recommended reads and watches.