Lumumba Reduced To One Tooth

In January 1961, Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was executed during the Congo Crisis after separatists took custody of him. Belgian police commissioner Gerard Soete later admitted that he and his brother exhumed Lumumba’s body, cut it up, and dissolved it in concentrated sulfuric acid to erase the remains. Decades later, Lumumba’s last known remains amounted to a single gold-capped tooth. Belgium returned that tooth to his family in 2022.

Previous Fact Next Fact