“It is often mistakenly said that “history is written by the victors.” This is not true, and Cambodia’s history vindicates this point. The survivors of the Khmer Rouge were not the victors, but they are heroes, and as heroes, we must capture their oral history. Most history originates as oral history, and we must recognize the important role that oral history plays in the great tasks that lie before us.” Read full story here.
Tag: Khmer Rouge
Cambodian Oral History
“The project is the brainchild of Professor Dana Bourgerie, who travelled to Cambodia to initially study the dialects of the Chinese diaspora in the country in 2014. While conducting preliminary research, he realised many of his interview subjects didn’t know their family histories.” Read more about the project here.
Cambodian students learn about their history with an app.
“In Cambodia, an interactive smartphone app is helping educate students about the country’s devastating history under the Khmer Rouge. It is now more than 40 years since the Khmer Rouge’s rule over Cambodia came to an end. Between 1975 and 1979, the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), as they were officially known, led a brutal totalitarian regime that oversaw the mass murder of up to an estimated two million people – almost a quarter of the country’s population at the time. Many of the victims dying by execution, torture, starvation, untreated diseases or as a result of being overworked in the regime’s many hard-labour camps.” Read full story here.
Cambodian Oral History Project
From 1975 to 1979, Raet and the country of Cambodia lived in terror under the reign of the Khmer Rouge communist party and its leader, Pol Pot. Millions of Cambodian people were kicked out of their homes, forced to labor in rice fields without adequate food or rest and dragged to treacherous prisons where they were tortured and later executed. See full story here.
Cambodians Learn Oral History
A group of young Cambodians spent this week in workshops learning about interviewing, ethics and the value of historical research. Now they’ve got a daunting task ahead of them: to interview those closest to them, on camera, about their experiences during the Khmer Rouge. For full story click here.
Phnom Penh Fall Remembered
To mark the 40th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh, an oral history project has collected survivors’ intimate memories of life under the Khmer Rouge. For full story click here.