Скачать или смотреть King Leopold Cut Off 2 Million Hands – The Children Congo Forgot

King Leopold II and the Congo Genocide – The Children Who Lost Everything
Between 1885 and 1908, King Leopold II of Belgium personally owned the Congo Free State, an area 80 times the size of Belgium. What he called a "civilizing mission" was actually one of history's greatest genocides. At least 10 million people died, and an estimated 2 million hands were severed, most belonging to children.
This video tells the story of the Congolese children who were mutilated, enslaved, and murdered to extract rubber for European profit. Through missionary photographs, eyewitness testimony, and historical documentation, we uncover the systematic terror that turned an entire region into a labor camp where children's hands were cheaper than rubber.
⚠️ Content Warning: This video discusses historical genocide, child mutilation, extreme violence, and systematic abuse. Contains descriptions of atrocities including hand amputation and mass murder. Educational context only. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
🎭 The story reveals:

How Leopold convinced the world he was a humanitarian while orchestrating genocide
The quota system that forced impossible rubber collection targets
Why children's hands were systematically severed as "punishment"
The Force Publique soldiers who enforced terror across the Congo
How missionaries like Alice Seeley Harris exposed the truth through photography
Why this genocide remains largely forgotten despite its massive scale
The lasting impact on the Democratic Republic of Congo today

📚 Historical Sources:

Missionary photographs by Alice Seeley Harris and William Sheppard
Roger Casement's 1904 official report to British government
E.D. Morel's Congo Reform Association documents
Eyewitness testimony from Belgian officers and missionaries
Population statistics and death toll estimates from historical records
Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" (authoritative modern source)

📊 The Scale of Horror:

10 million deaths (half the population)
2+ million hands severed
23 years of systematic terror (1885-1908)
Zero accountability for Leopold, who died wealthy in 1909

This genocide funded Belgium's modernization. The rubber extracted through torture and murder went into European automobile tires, bicycle tires, and electrical insulation. Every franc Leopold extracted was paid for in blood and severed children's hands.
The photographs that finally exposed these crimes became some of the first examples of photojournalism used for human rights advocacy. The image of Nsala staring at his daughter's severed hand and foot shocked the world and helped create the first international human rights movement.
But Leopold burned most records before relinquishing control. He never faced trial. Statues of him still stand in Brussels. And the Congo remains one of the poorest nations on Earth despite having some of the world's richest mineral deposits—a pattern of exploitation established by Leopold that continues today.
This isn't just history. The cobalt in your phone battery likely comes from Congolese mines where children still work in horrific conditions. The patterns Leopold established persist in new forms.
We remember not to assign guilt, but to understand systems of exploitation that continue. We remember because these children deserve to have their suffering acknowledged. We remember because forgetting makes repetition more likely.
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