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In 2009, five Kenyan people took a petition to the British Prime Minister’s office.
2009 年，五位肯尼亚人向英国首相办公室递交了请愿书。
They claimed they endured human rights abuses in the 1950s, while Kenya was under British colonial rule and demanded reparations.
他们声称在肯尼亚在英国殖民统治下 1950 年代中人权遭受侵犯，并要求赔偿。
They had vivid accounts and physical scars from their experiences—but their testimonies were undermined.
他们的回忆生动形象，并且身体上具有伤痕，但他们的证词受到了质疑。
They had no documentary evidence that Britain sanctioned systems of torture against Kenyans—at least, not yet.
他们没有文件证据证明英国曾经授权对肯尼亚人施以酷刑，至少当时没有。
Thousands of secret files were waiting to be discovered.
成千上万份秘密文件即将被发现。
In 2010, a historian joined the trial as an expert witness and attested to having seen references to missing documents.
2010 年，一位历史学家作为专家证人参与了审判，并证实曾经看到有关失踪文件的参考资料。
They noted that Kenya had repeatedly requested the return of stolen papers, which the British government had refused.
他们指出肯尼亚曾多次要求归还被盗文件，但英国政府拒绝了。
In fact, many historians suspected there were gaps in the archives.
事实上，许多历史学家怀疑档案中存在着漏洞。
As a result, the court ordered the release of any relevant documents.
于是，法庭下令公开相关文件。
And, days later, British officials acknowledged that 1,500 pertinent files were being held in a high-security archive.
几天后，英国官员承认在一处机密档案中存有 1,500 份相关文件。
It soon became clear that these were just a small sample of documents Britain hid between the 1950s and 70s, while former colonies declared independence, as part of a widespread colonial British policy called Operation Legacy.
很快就清楚，这些只是英国在 20 世纪 50 至 70 年代之间藏匿文件的一小部分；这是前殖民地宣布独立时，称为“遗产行动”的英国殖民政策的一个环节。
The policy was for British colonial officers to destroy or remove documentation that might incriminate Britain and be of strategic value to the new governments.
这项政策使得英国殖民官员销毁或转移能使英国受指控，或对新政府有战略价值的文件记录。
They were instructed to destroy, alter, or secretly transport these papers to the UK.
他们被指示销毁、修改、或秘密将这些文件送至英国。
Documents slated for destruction were to be burnt to ashes or sunk in weighted crates far from shore.
被指定销毁的文件将被焚烧或放在重箱内沉入离岸较远的水域。
During the trial, between 2010 and 2013, an independent historian revealed they had located more than 20,000 previously hidden Operation Legacy files from 37 former colonies.
在 2010 至 2013 年判案期间，一位个人历史学家宣布他找到了来自 37 个前殖民地的超过20,000 份藏匿的“遗产行动”文件。
Finally, an estimated 1.2 million colonial files, sprawling kilometers in the archive’s so-called “Special Collections,”were also exposed.
最终，经估计 120 万份殖民文件，在称为“特别收藏”的档案馆里绵延数千米，也被揭露出来。
And these were only the documents that British forces kept.
而这些只是英国军队保留的文件。
How many were destroyed— and what information they contained—remains unknown.
被销毁文件的数目以及其包含的信息，仍是未知。
About 3.5 tons of colonial documents were slated for incineration in Kenya.
大约有 3.5 吨的殖民文件在肯尼亚被指定焚烧。
Ultimately, Operation Legacy’s objective was to obscure critical aspects of the truth.
最终，“遗产行动”的目标是掩盖一些关键事实。
In the words of Britain’s attorney-general in Kenya, “If we are going to sin, we must sin quietly.”
用英国驻肯尼亚的总检察长的话来说：“如果我们得作恶，我们必须不留痕迹。”
So, what really happened in Kenya?
那么，在肯尼亚到底发生了什么事情呢？
Beginning in 1895, the British administration forcibly removed people from their traditional lands, giving the most fertile areas to European settlers to establish large-scale farms.
从 1895 年开始，英国政府强制将人们驱离他们的传统土地，把最富饶的地区让给欧洲移民以建立大规模农场。
They mandated forced labor systems, implemented reservations for Indigenous African peoples, and restricted their movement.
他们实行了强迫劳工制度，为非洲土著民设立保留区，并限制了他们的行动自由。
Kenyan people resisted these incursions from the start and grew increasingly organized over time.
肯尼亚人从一开始就抵抗这些侵入，并随着时间的推移越来越有组织。
One movement, the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, aimed to forcibly remove white settlers and overthrow the colonial government.
其中一项运动，肯尼亚土地自由军，旨在强行驱赶白人移民并推翻殖民政府。
When the British declared a state of emergency in 1952, they were giving themselves permission to take otherwise illegal special measures to regain control.
当英国在 1952 年宣布进入紧急状态时，他们允许自己采取非法特别措施以重获控制。
The newly revealed Operation Legacy documents confirmed that people suspected of participating in the resistance were subjected to horrible abuses.
新揭示的“遗产行动”文件证实，那些涉嫌参与抵抗运动的人遭受了可怕的虐待。
Between 1952 and 1959, the British imprisoned over 80,000 people without trial, sentenced over 1,000 people convicted as terrorists to death, and imposed extreme surveillance and interrogation tactics.
在 1952 至 1959 年间，英国未经审判地关押了超过 80,000 人，给 1,000 多名被认定为恐怖分子的人判处死刑，并采用了极端的监视与审讯手段。
Some people were beaten to death.
一些人遭殴打致死，
Others were raped or castrated.
其他人被强奸或阉割。
Many were shackled at the wrist for years.
许多人被手铐束缚多年。
Children were killed.
儿童被杀害，
One person was burnt alive.
一个人被活活烧死。
Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua testified to being castrated while handcuffed and blindfolded.
恩迪库?穆特维瓦?穆图阿作证称他在被铐着手铐和蒙着眼睛的同时被阉割。
Wambugu Wa Nyingi said he was suspended upside-down, beaten, and had water thrown on his face until he could barely breathe.
万布古?瓦?宁吉说他被倒挂着殴打，并且水被泼在脸上，直到他几乎无法呼吸。
Jane Muthoni Mara said she was sexually violated with a hot bottle, and imprisoned for years without cause.
简?穆托尼?马拉说她被用热瓶子性侵，并且无故遭多年监禁。
In response to the new evidence, the British government issued a formal apology, and made an out-of-court financial settlement with the 5,228 Kenyan claimants ultimately involved in the case.
对于这些新证据，英国政府发布了正式道歉，并与最终涉及此案的 5,228 名肯尼亚人达成了庭外赔偿协议。
The original five claimants had made history—and paved the way for it to be rightfully rewritten.
最初的五名索赔人创造了历史，并为正确重写历史铺平了道路。
The uncovered files challenge fundamental myths about British colonialism as a benevolent institution that brought freedom and democracy to its subjects, then graciously gave them independence.
这些揭露的文件挑战英国殖民主义作为一种仁慈的制度，为居民带来自由和民主，并慷慨地给予他们独立的认识。
Instead, the newly exposed evidence confirms what many people knew to be true, because they lived it—and survived to rescue history from the ashes.
相反，这些新揭示的证据证实了许多人早已知道的真相，因为他们亲身经历过并幸存下来，从灰烬中拯救了历史。
