At the end of the 19th century, in the Congo, the flourishing rubber industry cames with cut off hands. This African territory was privately owned by the King of the Belgians, Leopold II, who exploited the latex resources of the region's forests. Many Congolese are then forced to collect this resource under the surveillance of the Force Publique, a militia which watches over the interests of the king and terrorizes part of the population. The militia mistreats, rapes, kills and cuts hands.

Europeans react and try to shed light on the responsibility of Leopold II. Among them, writers like Arthur Conan Doyle or Mark Twain, journalist Edmund Morel, but also lesserknown missionaries. Like the British missionaries Alice Seeley Harris and her husband. To bear witness to the suffering and mutilation endured by the Congolese, Alice Seeley Harris takes a series of photos. In particular, she takes pictures of mutilated people; they are missing a hand, two hands, or a foot. These photos, shown in Europe, are shaking up public opinion and will have important political repercussions.

#Flashback is a new video series on YouTube, to tell these extraordinary stories behind the photos that changed the world.

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