Some nations have made immense political mistakes in the past that they feel would be best kept hidden from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, time and time again political systems have succeeded in hiding flagrant misdoing. Murderous crimes that were committed against citizens of the Soviet Union, Berlin's slaughtering of Hereros, and the rubber terrors in French and Portuguese African territories are just a few atrocities that were made to be deliberately forgotten in the public eye. Probably the most silenced tragedies took place in King Leoplod's Congo. (King Leopold's Ghost, p. 294)

In King Leopold's Ghost, Adam Hochschild tells the veracious story of the African Congo, and the human injustice that took place there under the Belgian King's rule. In the final chapter of the novel, Hochschild discussed the "Politics of Forgetting". Governments try to cover up anything and everything that might possibly make their country look bad in the future. For example, when King Leopold erased the appalling, factual records of his reign in the Congo. Hochschild depicted not only Belgium's concealment of immoral events, but of many countries that have obscured d

Belgium became a 'victim' of a German attack in 1914 that helped ease its way out of being confronted with all the killings that took place in the Congo. Britain and the United States governments sympathized for "brave little Belgium." Belgium took advantage of the opportunity and had articles in the paper about raped women and children with severed limbs all suffering from the German attacks. They all ended up being false claims, but the propaganda drowned out any attacks against Belgium on the Congo.

off hands. And so the full history of Leopold's rule in the Congo and

In the Congo, the Europeans that were perpetrating the crimes

turned out to be false. During and after the war, though, no one in

"The furnaces burned for eight days, turning most of the Congo state records to ash and smoke in the sky over Brussels. . . At the same time the furnaces roared in Brussels, orders went from the palace to the Congo commanding the destruction of records there. . . Seldom has a totalitarian regime gone to such lengths to destroy so thoroughly the records of its work." (p. 294)

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of the movement that opposed it dropped out of Europe's memory #

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jocelyn Carlson, Force Publique, Politics Forgetting, African Congo, Belgium Belgium, Congo Hochschild, Belgians Africa, Belgium Congo, King Leopold, Portuguese African, # jocelyn, jocelyn carlson, # jocelyn carlson, bad reputation belgium, african congo, reputation belgium, bad reputation, king leopold, king leopold's, politics forgetting, king leopold's ghost, leopold's ghost,
Approximate Word count = 905
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)