The International Committee of Memorial and Human Rights Museums (IC MEMOHRI) an entity of the International Council of Museums, expresses our grave concerns regarding the proposal to convert the former residence of Rafael Trujillo into a museum and our support for the Museo de la Resistencia Dominicana in their efforts to halt the project as it now stands.

We agree with ICOM Dominican Republic in their analysis of the ethical dilemma this poses. The ICOM definition of museums highlights the role of museums as democratic and inclusive entities responsive and welcoming to the community in which they serve.  How does the preservation of a brutal dictator’s residence serve the community? How can it provide healing, rather than re-traumatization of the victims? How does it address the open and inclusive nature of museums in the celebration of culture rather than the cult of personality?

The clear danger in the project to restore the Trujillo residence with its focus on the domestic is the erasure or distortion of the broader history of silencing those who opposed the regime and the violence committed on the general population. Our mission as museum staff and historical experts is not the erasure or softening of history, but to face those difficult histories through rigorous research, giving voice to the victims, and educating the next generation in the hope that they will not face such brutal dictatorships.  Turning a dictator’s house into a museum is, in essence, an act of “honoring” that space, even if the intention is to condemn it, as it is not inherently a space to mourn and remember the victims but carries the potential to glorify the perpetrators. Society has an ethical responsibility not to honor, even tangentially, spaces associated with oppression and the mass denial of human dignity.
How societies choose to remember their oppressors sends a powerful message to both current and future generations. A museum in a dictator’s house could be interpreted as a moral ambiguity, rather than an unequivocal condemnation of tyranny and a reaffirmation of democratic and human rights values.

For these reasons, we urge the government of the Dominican Republic, along with our colleagues in ICOM Dominican Republic and at the Museo de la Resistencia Dominicana to block the current proposal to restore the former residence of Rafael Tujillo.

IC MEMOHRI Board

11 June 2025