Survivors of Genocide

For The Writers is calling for submissions of genocide testimonies from survivors, descendants, and witnesses whose voices preserve truth against denial and erasure. From the Holocaust to Armenia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, the genocide of Indigenous peoples in the Americas, the Herero and Nama genocide, and beyond, these stories reveal the human cost behind statistics and political rhetoric. The series seeks nonfiction, memoir, essays, and reflections that confront inherited grief, scars of war, displacement, and intergenerational trauma, ensuring that lived memory remains part of the historical record.

Call for Submissions

Survivors of Genocide

We are seeking nonfiction submissions from survivors, descendants, and witnesses of genocide who are ready to share stories of loss, endurance, memory, and resistance. We invite work from those affected by the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, the Cambodian Genocide, the Bosnian Genocide, the genocide of Indigenous peoples across the Americas, and the Herero and Nama Genocide in present-day Namibia.

This call is not limited to these histories. We welcome testimonies from any community that has endured genocide, whether state-recognized or denied, documented or silenced. These accounts, past and present, are vital in challenging denial, countering distortion, and ensuring that the reality of mass violence is preserved with honesty and care.

Your voice matters. Your story is part of the historical record that must outlast efforts to erase it.

Note: Voices of Gaza has its own submission page. Please direct all pieces specific to Gaza to that collection.

Voices of Gaza

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Why This Call Matters

Genocide is not only the taking of lives but the deliberate destruction of entire peoples, cultures, and futures. Between 1941 and 1945, six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. In 1915, more than one million Armenians were killed in mass deportations and death marches. In 1994, nearly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in Rwanda in just one hundred days. The Cambodian Genocide under the Khmer Rouge claimed an estimated two million lives. The Bosnian Genocide took the lives of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995. Across the Americas, millions of Indigenous people were killed over centuries of colonization, enslavement, and forced removal. These are not numbers alone. They are families destroyed, languages silenced, and futures stolen.

Survivors remain. Descendants remain. Memory remains. Yet too often, these atrocities are reduced to a few sentences in history books or relegated to political debates that strip them of human cost. This call is about resisting that erasure. It is about placing lived testimony at the center rather than letting statistics stand in for lives.

If you carry inherited grief, scars of war and displacement, or the intergenerational echoes of trauma, your story belongs here. Your words restore scale, specificity, and truth to histories that power has sought to suppress.

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What We’re Looking For (Among Other Things)

We invite personal essays, letters, oral histories, or narrative nonfiction that explore:

• First-person accounts of surviving genocide or growing up in its shadow;

  
  

• Stories passed down from parents, grandparents, or community elders;

  
  

• The struggle to preserve language, culture, or memory after mass violence;

  
  

• Ongoing trauma, displacement, or identity loss tied to genocidal history;

  
  

• Acts of survival, rebuilding, or resistance that defied extermination;

  
  

• Reflections on justice, memory, denial, or silence.

We are especially interested in stories tied to:

• The Holocaust and the legacy of European antisemitism;

  
  

• The Armenian Genocide and its generational transmission;

  
  

• Rwanda and the haunting speed and intimacy of its 100 days;

  
  

• Cambodia, where intellect and identity were both targeted;

  
  

• Bosnia, and the lingering wounds of Srebrenica and ethnic cleansing;

  
  

• Indigenous communities across the Americas, who still fight for recognition and justice;

  
  

• Namibia, where Germany’s early colonial genocide left scars still seeking redress.

Submissions may be published anonymously or under your name. We welcome contributors from all backgrounds, faiths, and identities—especially those from historically silenced or marginalized communities.

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Submission Guidelines

We welcome submissions across all open categories. Please follow the guidelines below to ensure your work is properly considered:

• File Uploads: You may include up to five files with your submission. Accepted formats include Word documents, PDFs, audio recordings, photographs, and video files that support or accompany your written narrative.

  
  

• Cover Letter: A cover letter is required for all submissions. This should provide a brief introduction, explain the context of your piece, and note whether anonymity is requested.

  
  

• Document Format: Written submissions must be formatted as a Word Document or PDF, using 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, and clearly titled.

  
  

• Deadline: Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis, unless otherwise stated in your specific call.

  
  

• Anonymity and Privacy: If you request anonymity, we will remove all identifying details and handle your submission with the highest level of confidentiality. Your safety and privacy are top priorities for this project. We adhere to strict ethical editorial standards to protect the interests of every contributor.

  
  

Please carefully review the specific submission requirements for the call you’re responding to before submitting. We look forward to hearing your story and honoring it with the care it deserves.

Submit

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