Escaping the Khmer Rouge
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babaw riev watery rice soup
Banteay Seh horse fort
bong term of address for “elder”
bu term of address for “uncle”
Cambodian People’s National Liberation Front formed in 1979 by a former prime minister to resist the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) intelligence-gathering and evaluating arm of the American government
Democratic Kampuchea name of the Khmer Rouge government, headed by Pol Pot from 1975 through 1978
Ho Chi Minh led Vietnam’s war of independence against France, then the United States; died six years before his North Vietnamese troops took control of all of Vietnam in 1975
Khao-I-Dang located 20 kilometers from Aranyaprathet in Thailand, the United Nations opened this refugee camp for Cambodians in late 1979
Khmer most Cambodians are ethnic Khmer [pronounced Ka-MYE], who speak the Khmer language
Khmer Communist Party fought for control of Cambodia from 1970 to 1975, ruled from 1975 through 1978
Khmer National Armed Forces armed forces of Lol Nol’s Khmer Republic, 1970 to 1975
Khmer Republic established in 1970 by General Lon Nol
Khmer Rouge “Red Khmer” were the Cambodian communists whose movement grew rapidly in the early 1970s, leading to conquest of Cambodia from 1975 through 1978 and the deaths of up to two million of their countrymen
Kirirom Theater theater in Phnom Penh. For photograph see: http://www.norodomsihanouk.info/cinematographie/ma_cinematographie.htm
krama traditional long rectangular Cambodian scarf
Lon Nol led coup d’etat against Prince Sihanouk in 1970; established the Khmer Republic and led the country to defeat by the Khmer Rouge five years later
Mao Tse Tung led a peasant communist revolution in China that culminated in the founding of The People’s Republic of China in 1949; his ideas of revolution, and particularly the Cultural Revolution, served as a model for the Khmer Rouge revolution
mit comrade, used by Khmer Rouge to address everyone
moped low powered, motorized, two-wheeled vehicle
neary young woman; miss
New People Cambodia’s city people especially persecuted by the Khmer Rouge for their association with the Lon Nol regime and foreigners
Nong Chan sub-camp of Site 2, a displaced persons camp near Taphraya, Thailand run by the United Nations and the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front
Old People Cambodian rural folk; those who lived in liberated zones before April 17th, 1975 considered free of taint by western capitalists
Orient watch Japanese-made watches considered of excellent value
pedicab three-wheeled bicycle which can carry two or three passengers
Pol Pot head of the Khmer Rouge and prime minister of Democratic Kampuchea whose desire to create a utopia communist society caused the death of millions of his countrymen
sampeah Cambodian greeting, with palms joined together in front of chest
samput woman’s traditional skirt
Sihanouk popular leader of Cambodia in a multitude of roles spanning seven decades, from king to prime minister to president to king father
Teochiu (pronounced T’chiev) a language of China
Vietcong Vietnamese communist insurgents fighting against South Vietnam and the United States in Vietnam War
wat Buddhist temple
yothea Khmer Rouge soldier
yuan derogatory term for Vietnamese
Zero Zero Seven early border camp near Nong Samet in Thailand
Suggested Reading
First-Person Accounts
Criddle, Joan D., and Teeda Butt Mam. To Destroy You Is No Loss: The Odyssey of a Cambodian Family. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987.
Actually written by the refugee’s American sponsor, so an interesting—if patronizing—glimpse of sponsor-refugee interaction.
Him, Chanrithy. When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up under the Khmer Rouge. New York: Norton, 2000.
Superb; told from a child’s point of view.
May, Someth. Cambodian Witness: The Autobiography of Someth May. Edited and with an introduction by James Fenton. New York: Random House, 1986.
An excellent account.
Ngor, Haing, with Roger Warner. Survival in the Killing Fields. New York: Carroll and Graf, 2003.
One of the best books ever written about Cambodia. By the Academy Award–winning actor of The Killing Fields.
Picq, Laurence. Beyond the Horizon: Five Years with the Khmer Rouge. New York: St Martin’s, 1989.
An amazing account of Khmer Rouge leadership by a French woman who lived through the Pol Pot years in Phnom Penh with her husband.
Pran, Dith, comp. Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors. Edited by Kim DePaul. Yale Southeast Asia Studies Monograph Series. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
Reminiscences of 29 children ranging in age from 5 to 17.
Szymusiak, Molyda. The Stones Cry Out: A Cambodian Childhood, 1975–80. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986.
An early account of a young girl eventually resettled in France.
Ung, Loung. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.
_____. Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.
A sequel equal in interest and vividness to Ung’s first book.
Welaratna, Usha. Beyond the Killing Fields: Voices of Nine Cambodian Survivors in America. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993.
An excellent collection of survivors’ stories in their own voices.
Yathay, Pin, with John Man. Stay Alive, My Son. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.
One of the first refugee accounts, and well done.
Other Works on Cambodia and Cambodian Refugees
Becker, Elizabeth: When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
An excellent, beautifully written account of the Cambodian tragedy.
Chanda, Nayan. Brother Enemy: The War After the War; A History of Indochina Since the Fall of Saigon. New York: Collier, 1986.
Discussion of events leading to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.
Chandler, David P. Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992.
_____. A History of Cambodia. 3d ed. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992.
Crew, Linda. Children of the River. New York: Random House, 1991.
A novel for young people about the experiences of Cambodian youth under the Khmer Rouge.
Ebihara, May M., Carol A. Mortland, and Judy Ledgerwood, eds. Cambodian Culture since 1975: Homeland and Exile. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994.
One of the first discussions of Cambodian communities in the United States. Editor May M. Ebihara was the only American anthropologist to do fieldwork in Cambodia before 1975, and Judy Ledgerwood was one of the first American scholars to do research in Cambodia in the 1980s.
Etcheson, Craig. After the Killing Fields: Lessons from the Cambodian Genocide. New York: Praeger, 2005.
Collection of articles focusing on the effects of trauma on survivors.
Fiffer, Sharon Sloan. Imagining America: Paul Thai’s Journey from the Killing Fields of Cambodia to Freedom in the U.S.A. 1991. New York: Paragon.
Description of difficult experiences under the Khmer Rouge and in America.
Fifield, Adam. A Blessing over Ashes: The Remarkable Odyssey of My Remarkable Brother. New York: HarperPerennial, 2001.
American description of growing up with a Cambodian refugee boy and traveling with him to Cambodia. A moving book that reflects refugee and sponsor relationships.
Haines, David W., ed. Refugees in America in the 1990s. A Reference Handbook. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
A chapter on the Khmer in an anthropologist’s description of the various refugee groups in
the United States in the 1990.
Kamm, Henry. Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land. New York: Arcade, 1998.
Recounts modern history of Cambodia, focusing on the insanity of the Lon Nol period and the growth of the Khmer Rouge.
Mortland, Carol A., ed. Diasporic Identity: Selected Papers on Refugees and Immigrants. Vol. VI. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association, 1998.
Several articles about Cambodians in the United States and as returnees to Cambodia.
Ponchaud, François. Cambodia: Year Zero. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978.
This was the first account that alerted the world to what was happening inside Democratic Kampuchea.
Schanberg, Sidney. The Death and Life of Dith Pran. New York: Penguin, 1985.
An American journalist’s true account of the experiences of his Cambodian colleague, and the basis for the movie The Killing Fields.
Shawcross, William. The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust and Modern Conscience. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984.
Shawcross details traumatic effects at the Thai border after 1979 in all their raw tragedy.
_____. Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979.
A devastating discussion of America’s role in facilitating the rise of the Khmer Rouge.
Sheehy, Gail. Spirit of Survival. New York: Morrow, 1986.
American journalist writing about her adopted Cambodian daughter.
Streed, Sarah. Leaving the House of Ghosts: Cambodian Refugees in the American Midwest. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002.
An American’s description of life for Cambodian refugees in America.
Stuart-Fox, Martin. The Murderous Revolution: Life and Death in Pol Pot’s Kampuchea. Drawings by Bunheang Ung. Sydney, Australia: APCOL, 1985.
Bun’s drawings are truly harrowing.
List of Names and Terms
Aimee Brel
AK-47 assault rifle
American Embassy
ammunition
Angkar
Angkor Wat
April 17 levee and canal
April 17 People
Aranyaprathet
armored vehicles
Ath
Atwater, California
Aul
automobiles
babaw riev
balloon business
bamboo
Bangkok
Banteay Seh barracks
Battambang Province
bean sprout business
Becker, Elizabeth
bicycle
black clothes
bombs
Bopha
broadcast
Buddhism
bunkers
Bunthy
Bureau of Prisons
business
canals
candlelight
Catholic Community Services
cattle
Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
Chamkar Chin, or Quarter 5
Chamkar Dong
Chamkar Mon
Chan
Chanda, Nayan
Chandler, David P.
Chandy
Chanthol
Chanthrear
Chea
checkpoints
Cheng
Chenla
Chhoeu Teal
childbirth
Chileng Pa
China
Chinese Cambodians
Chonburi Transit Center
Christmas
Chum
Chung
clothing
commando
concentration camps
corruption
Crew, Linda
Criddle, Joan D.
Dam Beung Chopun Street
Dangkar District
Dara
deception
Democratic Kampuchea
Depo Market
Deum Kor Market
Devi
dike
diploma
dream
Duk
Duong Sang
dye
Eastern Region
Ebihara, May M.
economy
education
Eng
engine repair
Etcheson, Craig
evacuation camps
examinations
Fiffer, Sharon Sloan
Fifield, Adam
1st Brigade of the First Division
fish
flag
Florence, Colorado
France
ghosts
grenades
Haines, David W.
Haing Ngor
Hanoi
Hawaii
Him, Chanrithy
hippie
history
Ho Chi Minh
hog business
holidays
hospital
Houng
houses
Huot
Indochinese Community Center
Indra Devi Secondary School
insects
interrogation
Japanese bridges
jeeps
Kamm, Henry
Kampong Cham Province
Kampong Trabek District
Kandal Province
Kanika
Kany
Keang
Khan
Khao-I-Dang
Khmer Hansha Airline
Khmer National United Front for National Salvation
Khmer People’s National Liberation Front
Khmer Republic
Khmer Rouge
Khsach Sar Village
The Killing Fields
killing pits
Kim
Kingdom of Cambodia
Kirirom Theater
knives
Kompong Cham Province
Kompong Chhnang Police Academy
Kosaul
krama
Krol Kau District
Lam
Lam Suong
landmines
landscape business
lanterns
Laos
Leang
leather factory
Ledgerwood, Judy
Leng
Lim
literacy
Lon Nol
loss
loudspeakers
machine guns
Mam, Teeda Butt
Man, John
Mao Tse Tung
Mao Tse Tung Blvd.
March 18th High School
Mari
market
marriage
May, Someth
medicine
Mekong
Meng
Mhang
military
Mittapheap Motor Repair
money
Monida
monk
Monsieur Pa
moped
Mortland, Carol
mosquitoes
motorcycles
music
Mutha
Narin Lorn
National Highway One
National Highway Five
National Highway Two
Navi
Neak Luong
Neary
Nep
New People
Ngor, Haing
Nim
Nixon, Richard
Noch
Northwest Airline
Oknha Tephon Street
Old People
Olympic Stadium
Ong
Orient wristwatch
oxcart
Pa
Pailin
Parrot’s Beak
pedicabs
People’s Republic of Kampuchea
Pheng
Phillips battery radio
Phnom Dong Rek
Phnom Penh
Picq, Laurence
pineapples
pistols
plastic bags
Poch
entong International Airport
Pol Pot
police academy
Ponchaud, Francois
population statistics
Pran, Dith
Prasac
Prayap
prayers
Preah Monivong Blvd
Preah Yukunthor Secondary School
Prey Sar
Prey Veng Province
prison camps
Proeung
proverbs
Rann
rape
rattan
recruits
Red Cambodians
Red Cross
re-education camps
refugees
revenge
revolution
Rhode Island
rice fields
rifles
riverfront park
roads
Royal Cambodian Socialist Youth Movement
Royal Palace
rubber
Russian Hospital
Saigon
Samnang
Samol Song
Sandstone, Minnesota
Saran Than
Sareth
Schanberg, Sidney
school
Sean
Shawcross, William
Sheehy, Gail
shells
Sihanouk
Sina
Siphal
slingshot
smugglers
Sokchea
Sokhanarith
Sokhary
Sokhom
Sokram
Sokun Pin
Sophal Prong
Southeast Asia
Sovong
Special Forces
sponsor
starvation
Streed, Sarah
Stuart-Fox, Martin
Stung Mean Chey Bridge
Stung Mean Chey Market
Svay Cha Leu
Svay Chrum District
Svay Rieng City
Svay Rieng College
Svay Rieng Province
Svay Sisophon District
Szymusiak, Molyda
Tak
Takeo
Takhmau District
taxis
temple school
Teochiu language
Thailand
Thanh
Thol
Thom
Thy
Tokyo
Tonle Sap
tools
torture