Hôtel des Mille Collines
The Hôtel des Mille Collines is a hotel in Kigali , opened in 1973 , which sheltered more than 1200 people from certain death during the 1994 Rwandan genocide .
history
The Hôtel des Mille Collines opened in 1973.
During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the Belgian airline Sabena , which owned the hotel at the time, kicked out the European manager of the hotel and appointed Paul Rusesabagina , the then manager of the smaller Hôtel des Diplomates, as the new manager. Together with his wife, he managed to keep the genocidal Hutu - Interahamwe - militias from murdering the residents of the hotel with money and alcohol . He was able to save 1268 people from certain death.
It is unclear whether the fact that high-ranking Hutu hid their Tutsi relatives there helped to protect the hotel. Among other things, the brother of Interahamwe leader Robert Kajuga was housed in the Hôtel des Milles Collines. He also managed to provide the residents with water - which was taken from the hotel's own swimming pool until it was empty - and with food.
The four-star hotel now has 112 rooms, a bar / café, three conference rooms, a restaurant and the famous swimming pool. The name comes from a term in Rwanda, called “Pays des Mille Collines ” or “Land of a Thousand Hills” in French .
Movie
The story of the hotel and its manager at the time, Paul Rusesabagina , is told in the film Hotel Rwanda (2004). It also serves as the location in the Canadian romance drama A Sunday in Kigali (2006).
literature
- Paul Rusesabagina , Tom Zoellner: An ordinary person. The real story behind "Hotel Rwanda". Berlin-Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-8270-0633-3 .
Web links
- Official website of the Hôtel des Mille Collines (English)
- Fabian von Poser: "Hotel Rwanda" - look back ahead . In: Welt.de , April 24, 2012
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jeevan Vasagar: The Hotel that saved Hundreds from Genocide. In: TheGuardian.com. February 16, 2005, accessed April 23, 2016 .
Coordinates: 1 ° 56 '48.12 " S , 30 ° 3' 42.12" E