India opens first Partition museum 70 years after the painful event

In this Aug. 12, 2017 photo, a worker looks on from atop a wall with a banner for the Partition Museum that is set to open later this week in Amritsar, India, 32 kilometres (20 miles) from border with Pakistan. India’s first partition museum tells the stories of those who survived the chaos and bloodshed 7 decades ago. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)

In the 70 years since India and Pakistan were created from the former British Empire, there has never been a venue focused on the stories and memorabilia of those who survived that chaotic and bloody chapter in history until now. A new museum on the Partition of the Indian subcontinent opens this week, as the two South Asian giants mark seven decades as independent nations.

The exhibitions are housed in the red-brick Town Hall building in the north Indian border city of Amritsar. They include photographs, newspaper clippings and donated personal items meant to tell the story of how the region’s struggle for freedom from colonial rule turned into one of its most violent episodes.