News & Events 2005-2006

Dith Pran Speaks at Skeptics

Stand Tall, Be Strong, Speak Out

Dith Pran, whose wartime life was portrayed in the award-winning movie, The Killing Fields, was the featured Society of Skeptics speaker on April 11 in the Armstrong-Hipkins Center for the Arts. His topic for the evening was “The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Holocaust.” Pran spoke of his past, then opened the session to questions from the students in attendance. He noted that throughout his ordeal, he “stood tall and tried to be strong.” Ever since, he has been speaking out about the atrocities in Cambodia, hoping that the Khmer Rouge will be brought to justice.

According to the Web site, cambodian.com, “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, Pran escaped to Thailand and to freedom.”

The Web site added, “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.”

Pran later founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project, Inc., which aims to continue to educate American students about the Cambodian genocide which occurred from April 17, 1975, to January 7, 1979. Pran, who presents lectures to colleges, high schools, world affairs councils and other interest groups, explains, “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.”

Read The New Jersey Herald article (April 13, 2006) about Dith Pran’s visit to Blair Academy: http://www.njherald.com/342159109585942.php

Updated 4/13/06

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