The statue is erected to commemorate the victims of fascist Italian reprisals following an attempt to kill the Italian Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani 19 February 1937, or Yekatit 12 in the Ethiopian calendar by three Ethiopians Abrha deboch, Moges asgedom, and Simon Adeferes. Every year, the people of Addis Ababa celebrate this day. The monument represents a white obelisk where the scenes of massacre and the funerals of the victims are depicted. This monument is also called the Monument of Martyrs or Sidist Kilo (“Six Kilometer”).