Documentation Study
By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
08 June 2009
Cambodia’s young generation should listen more to survivors of the Khmer
Rouge, if the memory of the regime is to survive, recent students of an oral
history project said.
Three researchers for the Documentation Center have finished three months at
the Shoah Foundation, a holocaust research center in California, learning
techniques about interviewing and video documentary.
Leng Ratanak, Sa Fatily and Chey Bunthy workerd closely with the Shoah
Foundation to develop a 43-page questionnaire for genocide survivors based
on questions designed by the institute for Holocaust survivors and others.
The Shoah Foundation produced a video documentary by interviewing 52,000
Holocaust survivors.
In recent interviews with VOA Khmer, the researchers said they had
discovered the importance of retelling memories of the regime.
Participant Leng Ratanak had dozens of family members killed under the Khmer
Rouge, including uncles, aunts and a grandfather.
He learned from his course how to ask detailed questions of Khmer Rouge
survivors, to describe their lives before, during and after the genocide. He
said after the course he and his group would pursue interviews with
survivors for the Document Center of Cambodia within detail and high
standards.
Document Center of Cambodia Director Chhang Youk said the bitter experiences
and memories of the survivors should never be forgotten.
Sa Fatily, a Cambodian Muslim, had her grandfather, grandmother and an uncle
killed under the regime. She said after the training she had more ideas for
video production. She has made a 17-minute video about genocide survivors
preparing for the UN-backed tribunal. She said in the future she plans to
make a one-hour video to make it more detailed.
Chey Bunthy’s father and grandfather were burned alive by the Khmer Rouge.
She said she was interested in learning to archive and protect film
documentary, such as copying onto a master tape, burning onto a CD or
storage on the Internet.
Independently Searching for the Truth since 1997.
MEMORY & JUSTICE
Youk Chhang, Director
Documentation Center of Cambodia
P.O. Box 1110
66 Sihanouk Blvd.,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
t: +855 23 211 875
f: +855 23 210 358
h: +855 12 905 595
e: dccam@online.com.kh
www.dccam.org
Observing the ECCC. Daily Report; please visit: www.cambodiatribunal.org
Transform the River of Blood into a River of Reconciliation. A River of Responsibility.
Break the Silence.
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About Me
- Duong Dara
- Dara Duong was born in 1971 in Battambang province, Cambodia. His life changed forever at age four, when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. During the regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979, Dara’s father, grandparents, uncle and aunt were executed, along with almost 3 million other Cambodians. Dara’s mother managed to keep him and his brothers and sisters together and survive the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years. Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again. Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington. Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.
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