History has a way of raising difficult questions. During King Leopold II's rule over the Congo Free State, millions of Congolese suffered through forced labor, starvation, disease, and brutal punishment. The cutting off of hands became one of the most infamous symbols of that era. Around the same period, one of Leopold's children was born with a severe hand deformity. Some newspapers and later writers portrayed it as divine justice or "karma." Whether you see it as coincidence, fate, or symbolism is up to you. But one thing isn't up for debate: the suffering of millions of Congolese deserves to be remembered just as much as any other atrocity in history. History should never depend on who the victims were.

History has a way of raising difficult questions. During King Leopold II's rule over the Congo Free State, millions of Congolese suffered through forced labor, starvation, disease, and brutal punishment. The cutting off of hands became one of the most infamous symbols of that era. Around the same period, one of Leopold's children was born with a severe hand deformity. Some newspapers and later writers portrayed it as divine justice or "karma." Whether you see it as coincidence, fate, or symbolism is up to you. But one thing isn't up for debate: the suffering of millions of Congolese deserves to be remembered just as much as any other atrocity in history. History should never depend on who the victims were.