Sophal Ear: Escaping the Khmer Rouge

Translator: Mikkel Kinch-Jensen Reviewer: Solveig Vendelbo

I normally teach courses on

Jeg underviser normalt i,

how to rebuild states after war.

hvordan man genopbygger stater efter krig.

But today I've got a personal story to share with you.

Men i dag har jeg en personlig historie, som jeg vil dele med jer.

This is a picture of my family,

Dette er et billede af min familie,

my four siblings -- my mom and I -- taken in 1977.

mine fire søskende, min mor og jeg, taget i 1977.

And we're actually Cambodians.

Og vi er faktisk cambodjanere.

And this picture is taken in Vietnam.

Og dette billede er taget i Vietnam.

So how did a Cambodian family end up in Vietnam in 1977?

Så, hvordan endte en cambodjansk familie i Vietnam i 1977?

Well to explain that, I've got a short video clip

For at forklare det har jeg et kort videoklip,

to explain the Khmer Rouge regime

der forklarer De rødes Khmerers regime

during 1975 and 1979.

fra 1975 til 1979.

Video: April 17th, 1975.

Video: Den 17. april, 1975.

The communist Khmer Rouge

De kommunistiske Røde Khmerer

enters Phnom Penh to liberate their people

indtager Phnom Penh for at befri deres folk

from the encroaching conflict in Vietnam,

fra den omsiggribende konflikt i Vietnam,

and American bombing campaigns.

og fra amerikanske bombe-fremstød.

Led by peasant-born Pol Pot,

Ledt af bondesønnen Pol Pot

the Khmer Rouge evacuates people to the countryside

evakuerer De røde Khmerer folk til landige områder,

in order to create a rural communist utopia,

med henblik på at skabe et landligt kommunistisk utopia,

much like Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution in China.

i lighed med Mao Tse-tsungs kulturrevolution i Kina.

The Khmer Rouge closes the doors to the outside world.

De røde Khmerer smækker dørene til den omkringliggende verden i.

But after four years the grim truth seeps out.

Men efter fire år siver den grimme sandhed ud.

In a country of only seven million people,

I et land med kun syv millioner indbyggere,

one and a half million were murdered by their own leaders,

blev halvanden million myrdet af deres egne ledere.

their bodies piled in the mass graves of the killing fields.

Deres lig blev samlet i massegrave der, hvor de blev dræbt.

Sophal Ear: So, notwithstanding the 1970s narration,

Sophal Ear: Så, til trods for 1970´ernes fortællestil,

on April 17th 1975

levede vi, den 17. april 1975

we lived in Phnom Penh.

i Phnom Penh.

And my parents were told by the Khmer Rouge

Og mine forældre fik at vide af De røde Khmerer,

to evacuate the city because of impending American bombing for three days.

at de skulle forlade byen i tre dage på grund af forestående amerikanske bombninger.

And here is a picture of the Khmer Rouge.

Og her er et billede af De røde Khmerer.

They were young soldiers, typically child soldiers.

De var unge soldater. Typisk børnesoldater.

And this is very normal now, of modern day conflict,

Og det er meget normalt nu, i nutidens konflikter.

because they're easy to bring into wars.

Fordi de er lette at bringe ind i krig.

The reason that they gave about American bombing wasn't all that far off.

Forklaringen med de amerikanske bombninger var ikke helt ved siden af.

I mean, from 1965 to 1973 there were

Jeg mener, fra 1965 til 1973 faldt der mere

more munitions that fell on Cambodia

sprængstof over Cambodja

than in all of World War II Japan,

end der gjorde over Japan under hele 2. verdenskrig,

including the two nuclear bombs

inklusiv de 2 atombomber

of August 1945.

i august 1945.

The Khmer Rouge didn't believe in money.

De røde Khmerer troede ikke på penge.

So the equivalent of the Federal Reserve Bank

Så det der svarer til Nationalbanken

in Cambodia was bombed.

i Cambojia blev bombet.

But not just that, they actually banned money.

Men ikke bare det; de forbød faktisk penge.

I think it's the only precedent in which

Jeg tror det er det eneste tilfælde i historien, hvor

money has ever been stopped from being used.

pengebrug er blevet stoppet.

And we know money is the root of all evil,

Og vi ved jo at penge er roden til alt ondt,

but it didn't actually stop evil from happening in Cambodia, in fact.

men det forhindrede ikke onde ting i at ske i Cambodja.

My family was moved from Phnom Penh to Pursat province.

Faktisk blev min familie flyttet fra Phnom Penh til Pursat-provinsen.

This is a picture of what Pursat looks like.

Dette er et billede af Pursat.

It's actually a very pretty area of Cambodia,

Det er faktisk et meget kønt område af Cambodja,

where rice growing takes place.

hvor man dyrker ris.

And in fact they were forced to work the fields.

Faktisk blev de tvunget til at arbejde i markerne.

So my father and mother ended up in

Så min far og mor endte i

a sort of concentration camp, labor camp.

en slags koncentrationslejr, arbejdslejr.

And it was at that time that my mother got word

Og det var på det tidspunkt, at min mor fik at vide

from the commune chief

af kollektivets leder,

that the Vietnamese were actually asking

at vietnameserne faktisk bad

for their citizens to go back to Vietnam.

deres borgere om at vende tilbage til Vietnam.

And she spoke some Vietnamese,

Og hun talte en del vietnamesisk,

as a child having grown up with Vietnamese friends.

fordi hun var vokset op med vietnamesiske venner.

And she decided, despite the advice of her neighbors,

Og hun besluttede, i strid med naboers råd,

that she would take the chance

at hun ville tage chancen

and claim to be Vietnamese

og påstå at være vietnamesisk,

so that we could have a chance to survive,

så vi kunne få en chance for at overleve.

because at this point they're forcing everybody to work.

Fordi på dette tidspunkt tvinger de alle til at arbejde.

And they're giving about --

Og de giver omkring

in a modern-day, caloric-restriction diet, I guess --

- som i en moderne tids kaloriebegrænsende diæt -

they're giving porridge, with a few grains of rice.

de giver grød, med et par enkelte riskorn.

And at about this time actually

Og på omkring dette tidspunkt

my father got very sick.

blev min far faktisk meget syg.

And he didn't speak Vietnamese.

Og han talte ikke vietnamesisk.

So he died actually, in January 1976.

Så han døde faktisk, i januar 1976.

And it made it possible, in fact,

Og det gjorde det faktisk muligt

for us to take on this plan.

for os at iværksætte denne plan.

So the Khmer Rouge took us

Så De røde Khmerer tog os

from a place called Pursat to Kaoh Tiev,

fra et sted kaldet Pursat til Koh Tiev.

which is across from the border from Vietnam.

Hvilket ligger på grænsen til Vietnam.

And there they had a detention camp

Og der havde de en lejr,

where alleged Vietnamese would be tested, language tested.

hvor påståede vietnamesere blev testet, sprogtestet.

And my mother's Vietnamese was so bad

Og min mor talte så dårligt vietnamesisk, at hun,

that to make our story more credible,

for at få vores historie til at virke mere troværdig,

she'd given all the boys and girls new Vietnamese names.

havde givet alle børnene nye vietnamesiske navne.

But she'd given the boys girls' names,

Men hun havde givet alle drengene pigenavne,

and the girls boys' names.

og alle pigerne drengenavne.

And it wasn't until she met a Vietnamese lady

Og det var ikke før hun mødte en vietnamesisk kvinde,

who told her this, and then tutored her for two days intensively,

som fortalte hende om fejlen, og efterfølgende underviste hende intenst i to dage,

that she was able to go into her exam

at hun var i stand til at gå op til prøven.

and -- you know, this was a moment of truth.

Og det var sandhedens øjeblik.

If she fails, we're all headed to the gallows;

Hvis hun fejlede, ville vi alle blive hængt.

if she passes, we can leave to Vietnam.

Hvis hun bestod, kunne vi tage til Vietnam.

And she actually, of course -- I'm here, she passes.

og faktisk - selvfølgelig, jeg står her i dag - bestod hun.

And we end up in Hong Ngu on the Vietnamese side.

Og vi endte i Hong Ngu på den vietnamesiske side.

And then onwards to Chau Doc.

Og derefter videre til Chau Doc.

And this is a picture of Hong Ngu, Vietnam today.

Og dette er et billede af Hong Ngu i Vietnam idag.

A pretty idyllic place on the Mekong Delta.

Et temmelig idyllisk sted ved Mekong deltaet.

But for us it meant freedom.

Men for os betød det frihed.

And freedom from persecution from the Khmer Rouge.

Og frihed fra forfølgelse af De røde Khmerer.

Last year, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal,

Sidste år begyndte Røde Khmer Tribunalet,

which the U.N. is helping Cambodia take on,

som FN hjælper Cambodja med at iværksætte,

started, and I decided that as a matter of record

og jeg besluttede at jeg, for optegnelsens skyld,

I should file a Civil Complaint

burde indgive en civil klage

with the Tribunal about my father's passing away.

til tribunalet, angående min fars død.

And I got word last month

Og for en måned siden fik jeg det svar,

that the complaint was officially accepted by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

at klagen er blevet officielt accepteret af Røde Khmer Tribunalet.

And it's for me a matter of justice for history, and accountability for the future,

Og for mig er det et spørgsmål om retfærdighed i historisk perspektiv, og om ansvar med fremtidigt perspektiv.

because Cambodia remains a pretty lawless place, at times.

Fordi Cambodja til tider fortsat er et temmelig lovløst sted.

Five years ago my mother and I went back to Chau Doc.

For fem år siden tog min mor og jeg tilbage til Chau Doc.

And she was able to return to a place

Og hun fik mulighed for at vende tilbage til et sted,

that for her meant freedom, but also fear,

som for hende betød frihed, men også frygt,

because we had just come out of Cambodia.

fordi vi lige var kommet ud af Cambodja.

I'm happy, actually, today, to present her.

Jeg er faktisk glad for at kunne præsentere hende i dag.

She's here today with us in the audience.

Hun er med i publikum i dag.

Thank you mother.

Tak mor.

(Applause)

(Bifald)