(C) U.S. State Dept This story was originally published by U.S. State Dept and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Saved 700 [1] [] Date: 2023-07-07 Chargé d’Affaires Tracey Jacobson (right) and Yemen Ambassador Yahya Al Eriani (left) examine the public affairs section-curated photo exhibition inside the Gibbi, Feb. 22. Photo by Stewart Davis By Douglas Johnston What follows is a true story from the annals of American diplomacy. In 1937, a story remarkably similar to that of “Hotel Rwanda” played out at the American diplomatic compound in Ethiopia. The tale is one of unspeakable atrocities, terror, and ultimately salvation, and focuses on the courage of American diplomats and U.S. Navy technicians who saved 700 people from slaughter at the American Gibbi. The 21st-century efforts to preserve this legacy have yielded one of the Department of State’s most harrowing and rewarding accounts of diplomacy in action. A photograph of the American Gibbi building from its time as the American Legation in the mid 1930s. Associated Press photo In 1909, the United States established its first permanent American Diplomatic Legation in Ethiopia when it sent its first consul to reside in Addis Ababa. In September 1935, a seasoned American diplomat named Cornelius Van H. Engert moved, with his family, into a stately stone mansion that had been built 30 years earlier for the emperor’s secretary of war. A small Ethiopian staff and four American diplomats supported him, along with four U.S. Navy technicians who arrived in October to install and maintain a radio transmission station in the legation. In late April 1936, Italian fascists invaded Ethiopia and Emperor Haile Selassie fled the country. As Italian forces approached, Addis Ababa descended into violent chaos, arson, and looting. From May 2-5, the American legation was besieged by attackers who directed small arms fire into the compound (or Gibbi—an Amharic word that roughly translates as “compound”, which is used for the building to this day), wounded several people, and attempted to force entry. Engert, his staff, and several others evacuated women and children to the British legation, but remained for two more days to protect the premises, holding off at least one armed assault, until they were finally evacuated on May 5 by British troops. Engert’s many telegrams to the Department during these events are available as public records on the website of the Office of the Historian. Ethiopian architectural expert Fasil Georgis presents on the history of the American Gibbi building, Feb. 22, to a crowd including (front row, from left): U.S. Ambassador Tracey Jacobson, Yemen Ambassador Yahya Al Eriani, Turkish Ambassador Yaprak Alp, and U.K. Ambassador Darren Welch. Photo by Stewart Davis In February 1937, during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, a failed assassination attempt on the life of the Italian Viceroy of Ethiopia Rodolfo Graziani triggered the Addis Ababa massacre known in Ethiopia as Yekatit 12, the date of the event on the Ethiopian calendar. Over the course of three bloody days, Italian fascists rampaged through Addis Ababa, murdering thousands of Ethiopians in revenge for the failed assassination. Ethiopians fleeing for their lives began streaming into the American legation, Feb. 19, 1937, to avoid slaughter at the hands of the marauding Italian Black Shirts. Engert made the principled decision to shelter 700 Ethiopians fleeing the violence inside the American legation, thereby saving their lives. “Undisciplined bands of Black Shirts and laborers armed with rifles, axes, or clubs have, since the incident, been roaming the streets killing all natives in sight, even women amidst scenes of revolting savagery. Many natives whose huts were burning were either shot as they tried to escape or were forced to perish in the flames,” Engert wrote in his report to Washington. On the evening of Feb. 24, the last of the refugees left the compound, but only after Engert had secured the personal assurance of the Italian commander of the carabinieri that they would be given safe passage. Engert and his staff recorded the names of the male heads of household who had sheltered in the legation, which has become a public record. American Consul General C.V. Engert stands with Ethiopian guards in front of the legation in the mid 1930s. Photo courtesy of Universal Newsreel, from Sobelman Syndicate “By actual count 700 Ethiopians had taken refuge in the legation between February 19 and 23 of whom 243 [were] men, 262 women and 195 children. Before leaving, a delegation from them very touchingly expressed their gratitude to the United States government ‘for saving our lives,’” said Engert. Ethiopians commemorate the Yekatit 12 massacre every year with high-level public ceremonies, yet the story of Engert and the “Saved Seven Hundred” at the American diplomatic legation had been forgotten over time and has never been acknowledged at these ceremonies. The public affairs section (PAS) of Embassy Addis Ababa sought to change that. The United States withdrew its diplomatic presence in 1937, just days following the massacre, and reopened in 1943 in a new location far from the Gibbi. Although the neighborhood surrounding the legation’s original site remains known as “the American Gibbi,” in 1942 the Ethiopian government granted the local Yemeni community permission to use this historic building as a community school and it continues to serve in this capacity. By 2018 the building had deteriorated into an advanced state of neglect, prompting PAS to award a $240 thousand grant the following year to the international cultural heritage organization World Monuments Fund for its conservation. With the conservation work successfully completed and the building restored to its pristine 1930s condition, PAS organized a ceremonial re-opening of the building, Feb. 22, carefully timing it to coincide with the 86th commemoration of the Addis Ababa massacre. PAS spent a full year planning a multifaceted public diplomacy campaign to focus maximum attention both upon the completion of the restoration and the true story of American courage and friendship during the time of the massacre. PAS gathered information from multiple sources, including Department archives, Engert’s memoirs, and British historian Ian Campbell—the author of several definitive books on the Addis Ababa massacre—to craft a complete picture of the story. The roof of the American Gibbi undergoing repair in 2020. Photo by Fkereselassie Sifir Using a targeted small grant, PAS recruited a local NGO, Heritage Watch Association Ethiopia, to locate and record the testimony of surviving family members of the “Saved Seven Hundred” from the Gibbi. By a stroke of coincidence, the director of Heritage Watch is a granddaughter of Emperor Haile Selassie, to whom Engert presented his credentials in 1936. Heritage Watch partnered with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies to hold a public forum in Addis Ababa, Aug. 16, 2022, dedicated to informing the local population and seeking feedback from Addis Ababa residents about Yekatit 12, 1937, and the American Gibbi. For the Feb. 22 public event, PAS organized a panel of experts, including noted Ethiopian historical architect Fasil Giorghis who described the history of the building; Campbell, who vividly told the story of Engert, his family and staff, the peril they experienced, and the heroism they displayed; and the director of Heritage Watch Esther Antohin, who presented her findings and called out several audience members who were children of survivors who sheltered in the Gibbi during the massacre. A dozen television, radio, and online media outlets attended and covered the event at the Gibbi building, interviewing Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson and other prominent audience members. As of March 1, more than 30 million people had engaged with the story via newspaper, radio, TV, and online coverage. And on March 15, the Gibbi hosted Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his first visit to Ethiopia. Embassy Addis Ababa hopes to write this story indelibly into Ethiopia’s historical record so that the carefully restored building where these events took place will serve posterity as a reminder of the enduring friendship between Ethiopia and the United States. A short video in which Cultural Affairs Officer Douglas Johnston unveils the restored Gibbi and talks about its historic significance on the 86th anniversary of the event can be found here. Douglas Johnston is the cultural affairs officer in the public affairs section at Embassy Addis Ababa. [END] --- [1] Url: https://statemag.state.gov/2023/07/0723feat04/ Published and (C) by U.S. State Dept Content appears here under this condition or license: Public Domain. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/usstate/