Spreading the Word of the Cambodian Genocide
DITH PRAN
CAMBODIAN HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR
Dith Pran's wartime life was portrayed in the award-winning movie, The
Killing Fields. Pran and Sydney Schanberg, then a New York Times
correspondent, covered the encroaching civil war in Cambodia from 1972 to
1975. While Americans and Cambodian dependents were evacuated from Phnom Penh
on April 12, 1975, Pran and Sydney stayed to cover the fall of the capital to
the communist Khmer Rouge.
Shortly after the takeover, Pran, Sydney and two other journalists were
arrested by the Khmer Rouge and held for execution. Pran saved their lives by
persuading the Khmer Rouge that the three Westerners were neutral French
journalists. Released, the four took refuge in the French embassy until
foreigners were asked to turn in their passports and Cambodians were ordered
to leave. Exiled to the killing fields, the forced labor camps in the
Cambodian countryside, Pran endured four years of starvation and torture. In
1976, Sydney Schanberg received a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Cambodia
and he accepted the award for himself and Pran. In October of 1979, Dith Pran
escaped to Thailand and to freedom.
Born on September 27, 1942, in Angkor Wath, famous for its historic temples,
which attracted many tourists, Pran was in the tourist business until the war
spilled over from Vietnam. He then found work as a war correspondent. The
Cambodian holocaust has changed his life forever. He lost over 50 relatives by
the Khmer Rouge, including his father, three brothers, one sister, and their
families. His mother died later of malnutrition. Only one sister and he
survived.
• Photojournalist for The New York Times since 1980
• Appointed Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees in 1985
• Attended meeting of the International Red Cross in Geneva that promoted
respect and international safe passage for war victims
• Testified several times before the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific
Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives regarding the
Cambodian situation
• Member of the Asian American Journalist Association
• Board member to many non-governmental organizations
• Received four honorary doctorate degrees
• 1998 Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipient
• Founder & President of The Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project, Inc.
• Compiler of Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors
(Published by Yale, 1997)
• An authority on Cambodia, holding countless interviews with newspapers,
magazines, wire services, major television and radio stations in the US and
around
the world
• Gives lectures to colleges, high schools, world affairs councils, and other
interest groups
“I'm a one-person crusade. I must speak for those who did not survive and
for those who still suffer. Since coming to America, I have visited Cambodia
three times to evaluate the ongoing Cambodian crisis. The problems Cambodia
faces are not only political but also economical and social. The Khmer Rouge
have brought Cambodia back to year zero and that's why I'm trying to bring the
Khmer Rouge leaders to the World Court. Like one of my heroes, Elie Wiesel,
who alerts the world to the horrors of the Jewish holocaust, I try to awaken
the world to the holocaust of Cambodia, for all tragedies have universal
implications.”
“Part of my life is saving life. I don't consider myself a politician or a
hero. I'm a messenger. If Cambodia is to survive, she needs many voices.”
P.O. Box 1616, Woodbridge, NJ 07095 USA
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