Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors

by Dith Pran (Compiler), Kim DePaul (Editor)

"Childhood testimonies by survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. . . . Compelling."—Kirkus Reviews

"Underscores with great poignancy the horror of the Pol Pot period."—Nancy J. Smith-Hefner, Journal of Asian Studies

This extraordinary book contains eyewitness accounts of life in Cambodia during Pol Pot's genocidal Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979, accounts written by survivors who were children at the time. The book has been put together by Dith Pran, whose own experiences in Cambodia were so graphically portrayed in the film The Killing Fields.

The testimonies related here bear poignant witness to the slaughter the Khmer Rouge inflicted on the Cambodian people. The contributors—most of them now in the United States and pictured in photographs that accompany their stories—report on life in Democratic Kampuchea as seen through children's eyes. They speak of their bewilderment and pain as Khmer Rouge cadres tore their families apart, subjected them to harsh brainwashing, drove them from their homes to work in forced-labor camps, and executed captives in front of them. Their stories tell of suffering and the loss of innocence, the struggle to survive against all odds, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Memoir, War, Biography, Asia, Politics

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea there was genocide in Cambodia in the 70's until I was there in 2006. The people I met made a lasting impression on me. Our tour guide spoke very little about the time during the Khmer Rouge, but when he would talk tears would well up in his eyes. I left longing to know more about their history and understand his pain.

It has taken me 4 years to finish reading this book. Saying it's extremely difficult to read is an understatement. It's horrifying. Over a million people were executed or died from starvation or disease. Pol Pot believed that a Utopian society is an agrarian society, so people who weren't executed were sent to work in the fields. Doctors, teachers, people who wore glasses,(anyone educated basically), were executed. Many of these Khmer Rouge soldiers were children, and many of their victims were children.

It's a story that needs to be told and remembered. Not easy to read, but minor compared to what they experienced. I'm rating it a 5 not for it's literary value, but for the importance of the stories themselves.

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Their doctrine gave us no human rights, no sympathy, and no freedom to do anything. Sometimes we made only a small mistake but they pointed us out to the killers and we would be killed. The Khmer Rouge tortured and killed people in many different ways. They sometimes pushed people's heads into a barrel full of water. Sometimes they pulled out the finger-nails. Other times they dug three holes in a triangle shape and buried all of the people's bodies except for the heads. Then they put a pot on the heads and burned a fire until the people died. Sometimes they put people in a pot covered with a lid and built a fire. Many times they killed people by cutting out their livers with a knife. They buried the bodies but used the livers and gallbladders to make traditional medicine for fevers. Often they ate the livers. Sometimes they hanged people, and sometimes they covered their heads with plastic bags. Babies were thrown up in the air and came down on bayonets. Other times they grabbed babies' feet and hit them on tree stumps.
- My Mother’s courage by Arn Yan ( Children of Cambodia’s killing fields - memoirs by Survivors)
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April 1975 - the month that most of these Cambodian kids leaving their home forever (some did come back eventually to their homeland but majority scattered across the
US). Many of them were being saved by the church organisation (i just couldn’t ignore the fact that most of these victims converted to christianity first then eventually were granted the assistance and aid but people do whatever they could to survive) and others were NGO, some ran to the neighbouring countries like Thailand and Malaysia before granted permission to move to US and other countries. This is my 6th book about Cambodian History and shockingly, Pol Pot Regime Atrocious Crime continued to be something new that i have to learn especially from the perspective of these children. They are adult now but the past never leave them. They were haunted by the memories of hardcore labor (forced to work for more than 16 hours per day), their parents, siblings and relatives were killed instantly, their house, land, property and even their childhood forever were confiscated along with the rise of Angkar administration. Majority of them never got to be kids at all when Khmer Rouge seized the territory and ruled with iron fist. Rape, Mutilation, Mass Killing and Death by Starvation is how Angkar instilled fear and for these kids - they survived by hoping that they are going to meet their parents or family one day. The book compiled 30 short stories from the survivors that made it out alive and it varied on how they managed to get out. However, all of them shared the same pain - of losing people that they loved, losing the country and losing the identity as Khmer Rouge kept brainwashing them to prioritise Angkar Propaganda. This is the only book that i have read that were very critical towards North Vietnamese Army. Vietnam War and Ho Chi Minh involvement in contributing the weaponry and also providing training to Khmer Rouge caused the destruction of Cambodian Institution and culture. Overall, this is heavy read - given the subject matters, it needed to be indulged slowly. I am sending love to all of the victims and survivors, may they find peace wherever they are , may their pain heal and may their trauma recover eventually.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This a series of personal memoirs from survivors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the mid 70's. The stories are horrific and bewildering. It never ceases to amaze me what humans are capable of doing to each other. Anybody wo has visited Cambodia or enjoys modern history would probably like this book. Its only downfall is that the stories become repetitious and you almost become blasé about the treatment they suffered. This sort of defeats the purpose of the book. It would probably benefit with some better editing or a different structure. Having said all that it is easy to read and I found if I would just do one story at a time it easier to take in all the horror.

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

“To keep you is no benefit and to destroy is no loss.”

I’m sure it sounds catchier in Khmer, but probably not the best recruitment campaign slogan you’ll hear, but such a perverse, dogmatic and totally ridiculous mind-set led to one of the most devastating acts of genocide in recorded history.

This is a book littered with a catalogue of some truly horrendous accounts. You could argue that the Cambodian genocide remains perhaps the most puzzling and auto-cannibalistic in history. In spite of being headed by a former educator, Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge seemingly sought to destroy anyone with an education and who could provide the essential skills to further their long-term aims. It literally functioned on a policy where the most ignorant and youngest were given control, in the knowledge that they would be far easier to manipulate and control as they rampaged through their own country and proceeded to starve, torture, rape and kill their own civilians. It was hard to know what was more puzzling or worse?...the profound cruelty or the profound stupidity and pointlessness of the wide-scale slaughter

It reminds us that perhaps the only thing worse than genocide is budget genocide, in the case of the Khmer Rouge most people were killed in so many cruel and often drawn out ways in order to save bullets. Anyone who has ever visited S-21 (the former prison in Phnom Penh), or the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek can testify to the extent of the truly harrowing and abhorrent acts, which were carried out for years as the rest of the world stood by and did little to nothing.

“You will be the soil for the rice field.”

And in spite of many of these people being given sanctuary in America, let’s not forget that it was America who played a vital part in destroying the country in the first place, between their secret and illegal bombing campaign on peasant villages, (1969-73) maiming and killing thousands with their UXOs (which still linger today). Which one of the prime architects – Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for?... They also made a point of later supporting the oppressive nation which emerged after the Khmer Rouge were ousted by Vietnam. The US repeatedly voted for the Khmer Rouge dominated government to keep their seat at the UN council right up until the 1990s.

[Katie Verhaeren · Rating 3 out of 5]

My only qualm with this book is it often seems to god for quantity of authors rather than getting a few really well told, well developed stories. Often times you get only a glimpse at one event in the author's life during the Khmer Rouge domination and when the author or his/her story is intriguing you're left wanting more than just a description of one moment.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am living in Cambodia now and I wanted to read this book to better understand the genocide that devastated this country. Try as I might, I could not get through it. The book is written in a monotone, with so little variation of style or voice between the stories I doubt that it was actually written by individuals, and suspect a rather poor author interviewed survivors and wrote all the stories them self. Horrendous events are described in a flat, almost list like manner that sucks all the emotion from what is being described. I don't expect every book I read to be brilliantly written, but this one simply detracted from the power of the stories being told. If you want an excellent account of the Pol Pot Regime from a child's prospective I highly recommend 'When Broken Glass Floats' by Chanrithy Him.

[Leia Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories on the terrible atrocities suffered by the Cambodian people under Kehmer Rouge rule. Unfortunately the stories all seem to flow into one another as they are are so similar. Similar in their horror and family suffering but similar none the same. I found I became a little desensitized to the suffering because there are just so many stories. I did have to put the book down and come back to it days later because I didn't want to read anymore terrible stories about children and parents dying. Each voice has a story to tell and frighteningly each story is filled with pain and lose. Thankfully though each survivor is now living elsewhere and was able to live a better fuller life even with these memories. It is good to know what happened not that long ago and to remember how families fought to stay together.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

hard to read. not because of how it's written but instead what's written. there really isn't very much out there about what happened in cambodia during the reign of the khmer rouge, considering they murdered nearly everyone capable of writing or even forming a thought outside of what angka was supposed to be and that those survivors hardly have enough time to find money to feed themselves and their familys, the time or means to write a book isn't there for them. the movie is just as hard to watch and is the story of the author that collected the storys of these survivors. learning about the past will help us shape the future.

[Farrah · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're heading to work or live in Cambodia, knowing about these stories is essential. However, this book is really meant for those who aren't leaving their homes any time soon-- those actually going to Cambodia will get much deeper accounts from the people they meet. These stories are important, but they're extremely short and barely scratch the surface. If you're looking for emotional responses to events, you'll find them here. If you're looking for politics and analysis, find something else.

That said, I'm glad this collection exists and that it covers perspectives of people who (for the most part) had different experiences under the Khmer Rouge.

[Mrs. V Verhaeren · Rating 3 out of 5]

My only qualm with this book is it often seems to god for quantity of authors rather than getting a few really well told, well developed stories. Often times you get only a glimpse at one event in the author's life during the Khmer Rouge domination and when the author or his/her story is intriguing you're left wanting more than just a description of one moment.

[Renata Azevedo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book from a Cambodian kid while I was in Siem Reap market. I have heard about the Cambodian civil war , however didn't know about all the massacre the book describes. It was a true genocide, more than 2m people were killed. The book is very informative, although repetitive as the testimonies repeat the same story all over again.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am glad there is a record of these stories. I think it could have been edited better. Many of the stories are similar but all have personal, amazing, horrific and sometimes beautiful moments to them.

[Daniel Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book detailing the hell children went through during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. People should read to realise the evils mankind is capable of even after 1945.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifty years ago today, on April 17 1975, Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, and thus began a life of unimaginable horror and hardship for the Cambodian people. The atrocities inflicted by the Khmer Rouge upon its own people is something truly incomprehensible, and it makes me sick and angry knowing it happened. This compilation of short memoirs written by survivors of the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror is, predictably, a rough read. Not for the faint of heart. I could read no more than two, maybe three stories in a row before I'd have to put aside (the last story, Ronnie Yimsut's "The Tonle Sap Massacre" I wager will haunt me forever). And it's better that way - this is not something one reads to pass the time. For me, it was read more out of a sense of moral obligation. To honor and to understand.

If there is a repetition to these stories it speaks to the uniform darkness which enveloped the country for nearly four years from 1975-1979, and the painful shared memories that linger and form a collective consciousness. This unspeakably bleak read is only mercifully off set by a fortifying sense of survival and sheer perseverance, a dutiful notion of Never Forgetting - that's what the existence of this book inherently represents. A Celebration of Life concurrent with a Memorial to those who weren't so fortunate. The matter-of-fact lack of flair or any semblance of embellishment in these writings only renders them that much more powerful. What happened to Cambodia and its people during this time is something I am forever grateful I cannot relate to or fathom, and while it is something I will never "understand" (warped ideologies, geopolitical affairs and cultural factors can only "explain" so much), I will continue to educate myself and remember.

The kind of book where its mere existence warrants five stars (though it feels wrong even discussing a 'rating' with something like this). Recollections such as these, of Man's ghastly acts of inhumanity imposed on his fellow Man, cannot be forgotten, else they run the risk of being horrifyingly real again.

[Rachel Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, informative book that details a genocide that is rarely discussed in the Western sphere. Before reading this book, I knew very little (read: nothing) about the events that occurred in Cambodia in the 1970s. Although the main focus of this book is not the events and players that led to this decade of massacre, the book does mention the effects of the Vietnamese War on Cambodia. For some, this may raise the question of how American influence in Southeast Asia may have played a hand in paving the way for the rise of the Khmer Rouge. That being said, this book is not a geopolitical commentary, and I appreciate the main focus of the book being the experiences of the children of the Killing Fields; these children were at the time clueless of the geopolitical context of their situation, and thus it would not be fitting to make that a central theme of the book.

This book does a great job of providing a range of different experiences of the Khmer Rouge regime, all shown through the lens of a child- which is what exactly makes the book so horrific. We see and feel the loss of Khmer children throughout the country, both during the genocide and after. One interviewee recounts the glow of childhood memories at the family house. Later, this same person wandered for months in an attempt to find the way back, only to find the house burnt to rubble and no-one to turn to. Obviously, the hurt that genocide causes does not end the day the regime falls; however, reading about such experiences is truly disturbing, especially when these experiences are those of children that have spent the past years starving and farming in rice fields littered with the bodies of their peers.

That being said, I find that the sheer number of memoirs that the author has compiled makes the book a bit repetitive. I did not finish the book, as they start to become one and the same after a while. I think that including all of these accounts is a good thing, as it is only a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of lives that were affected or taken by this genocide. However, as a reader, I would not recommend to read the entire book front-to-back.

[Matty Demont · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have strong memories of my late mother talking about the 1984 movie "The Killing Fields" and especially listening over and over again to its soundtrack composed by Mike Oldfield. In particular, the song "Etude" featuring strong bamboo-like percussion sounds has become synonymous to me with anything Cambodia or Asia in general. Moreover, I personally knew one of the Cambodian refugees who moved to Belgium when he was still a kid and lives in the next village. When I visited Cambodia for the first time in 2017, I visited the Killing Fields, which brought back many of these memories. When I visited a local market in search for traditional music instruments, a Cambodian trader asked with a sad face whether I wanted to buy any of the books he was selling. I felt an instant pity as if he wanted to share the inhumane drama his country has gone through with me. I did not hesitate and bought this and another book. It is only now that I finally got to reading it. In my rating, I try to distinguish between the horror and sadness of the stories and the book as a literary contribution. The stories are really heartbreaking, but from a literary point of view, they are a bit repetitive, as if they were written by a single person. Nevertheless, the book has spurred me to read two more books, i.e., "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers," and "When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge." I treat this book as "raw data," i.e. the raw account of the horrific things that happened during the Cambodian holocaust. The book does not offer any other perspective (e.g., from the Khmer Rouge's side) or analysis that could help people understand what possibly could have gone wrong during this dreadful period. In any case, the book spurred me on the read further and somehow brought back many childhood memories around the movie and the refugee I personally knew when I was a teenager.

[Ruby Sturcey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that will tear your heart out. It's easy to not open the pages - and go on with a comfortable life. Within these pages are the most heartbreaking, horrific accounts of the genocide against the Cambodia people by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. It is almost impossible to image the depravity that human beings can resort to, yet the survivors' stories within these pages, one after the other, tell the truth of what happened in those horrendous years. But they also tell the story of families love for each other, their strength to keep on, and how some made it out of the killing fields to have a new life.
As a young person during the time of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia seemed like a world away, apart from anything I could relate to. It is a small step in my life to recognize that survivors live around me in my own community, with the majority of people knowing nothing of what they faced. My heart aches for their pain, and triumphs for their successes.

[Luiz Gandelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors is one of the most powerful and impactful books I have ever read. It may not be the literary masterpiece that some others are, but is extremely eye-opening and powerful. Before I had studied it in school, where I read the book, I had no idea about the existence of the Cambodian genocide. Information about the genocide is not widely available, especially in western society. Dith Pran's collection of individual stories does a great job of conveying firsthand accounts and of showing the people of the genocide, not just showing a number. The stories range from a wide variety of stories, some more powerful and better crafted than others, but that is what makes this book amazing. The individual stories grow sympathy and understanding, and this book is a fantastic opportunity for anyone wanting to learn about the Cambodia genocide, as it provides those teachings without shoving them under a statistic. I highly recommend everyone read this book, as it teaches about one of the worst atrocities of modern day and what it was like from the firsthand perspective of the very survivors of the genocide.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, not an easy read. It was a bit of a mercy this was organized into short accounts from different survivors so there was breathing space between each story. The cruelty of the Khmer Rouge is often absolutely stunning here, from the farcically inaccurate propaganda songs children were forced to sing to the way the regime tried to dismantle all family ties and bonds.

I was amazed by how many of the authors came to the US as refugees, clearly going on to many successful and helpful careers. May we keep their legacy in mind and restore refugee resettlement numbers that have been drastically curtailed by the current US president.

[Derrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book for its many perspectives during Pol Pots regime. It features a lot more authors than I had thought. It does have some variations but many of them repeats what others wrote earlier which confirms that it really was that bad.

With so many authors I would have expected more variety. A few more that worked with the Khmer Rouge would have added more depth to how they had it as well.

This is a terrifying book to read when you learn how bad they really had it.

[María Rodríguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro muy duro, con testimonios de supervivientes del régimen de los Jemeres Rojos que cuentan cómo se vieron privados de su infancia debido a las atrocidades que se cometieron en Camboya entre el 1975 y 1979.
Dar voz a todas estas personas y hablar de los que fueron asesinados durante estos años permite que no se olvide lo que sucedió y que así no se vuelva a repetir.
Muy recomendable pero muy desgarrador también.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could not decide how to rate this book, yes the horrors of what happened to the people of Cambodia need to be told, a few eye witness accounts certainly needed to be included, but was it really necessary to fill the book with endless tales of horror which could lead the reader to become immune to the brutality. I think this book would have benefited with a brief history of how the khmer rouge came to power and what caused their decline.

[Peggy Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painful History

I have visited Cambodia many times and have met survivors of the Killing Fields. This part of Cambodia’s history is important to record and learn. These stories are just tips to the iceberg of what happened in that beautiful country.

[Steve Castley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short memoirs told by surviving children from Pol Pot's regime. The stories are so sad and powerful. They are hard to read and reflect on how the world lat this happen.

[Robby Eckard · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

[Nat Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brutal stories of the Cambodian genocide. They start to run together in your mind after a while.

[Bernice Van dijck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading about history is learning, especially when the history was just a couple of years ago.

[Fifi]

Puts life into perspective ...

[Arthur Sperry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book but a very sad one. The stories are tragic in many cases, but as the Goodreads review says, they show the triumph of the human spirit and the will to survive.

[Bev Cheetham · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awful account by key witnesses of the Khmer Rouge regimes. God bless them all. Each story is a heart wrenching ordeal of this barbaric and disgusting genocide. It’s raw, real and wrong.