KAMPUCHEA DEATH AND REBIRTH
- Lucky Lucan
- K440 Knight Captain
- Reactions: 761
- Posts: 22525
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:24 pm
- Location: The Pearl of the Orient
KAMPUCHEA DEATH AND REBIRTH
Walter Heynowski and Gerard Scheumann from East Germany made this documentary in early 1979. I believe they were the first film makers from the west to to capture the devastation of post Democratic Kampuchea Phnom Penh, there was a Yugoslavian crew who captured the emptiness during the regime. The images and footage in this documentary were reused many times, I believe John Pilger's monumental Year Zero included some of their footage but I might be mistaken.
4
4
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
-
- OneTrickPony
- Reactions: 64
- Posts: 1640
- Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 12:48 pm
In my lowly opinion, everyone who is interested in a potted history of 20th century Cambodia should watch this video after reading these two books;
A History Of Cambodia
Brother Number One: A Political Biography Of Pol Pot
Both by David P Chandler
But I would be very interested in which two books you would choose, LL?
A History Of Cambodia
Brother Number One: A Political Biography Of Pol Pot
Both by David P Chandler
But I would be very interested in which two books you would choose, LL?
Up the workers!
- Lucky Lucan
- K440 Knight Captain
- Reactions: 761
- Posts: 22525
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:24 pm
- Location: The Pearl of the Orient
I've read both. The Pol Pot biography is a bit on the light side content wise.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
I was scrolling on my Khmer only facebook account a few days ago and watched a short video of the KR here in Siem Reap in January of 1975...it was a patriotic pro KR film showing their march towards PP...I often compare where I was and what I was doing during the years of Pol Pot. I was barely 17 and about to graduate from highschool in May 1975.
In Kampong Cham I have many friends and relatives of my wife who survived these times and it fills me with wonder as to what they had to do to get through it.
I have learned a lot about life in my few years here. The struggles continue as the tourist season was a bust and the rains are becoming more frequent.
I have been studying the history of the Khmer Empire and Champa lately.
I have read books on Pol Pot and watched as many documentaries as possible. I think you have to go back to Hitler invading France and Vichy then to the defeat of Japan and how this created opportunities for various factions to rise and others to be pushed aside.
I do enjoy reading as many perspectives as possible and not just the accounts of the victors....
In Kampong Cham I have many friends and relatives of my wife who survived these times and it fills me with wonder as to what they had to do to get through it.
I have learned a lot about life in my few years here. The struggles continue as the tourist season was a bust and the rains are becoming more frequent.
I have been studying the history of the Khmer Empire and Champa lately.
I have read books on Pol Pot and watched as many documentaries as possible. I think you have to go back to Hitler invading France and Vichy then to the defeat of Japan and how this created opportunities for various factions to rise and others to be pushed aside.
I do enjoy reading as many perspectives as possible and not just the accounts of the victors....
Read Michael Vickery's book "Cambodia: 1975-1982" for a very different perspective.
It gets a bad wrap as a "Pol Pot denier" kind of book, but it's absolutely not. It does, however, question a lot of the typical standard views on life in DK and what was DK policy and what was not. I find it fascinating.
It gets a bad wrap as a "Pol Pot denier" kind of book, but it's absolutely not. It does, however, question a lot of the typical standard views on life in DK and what was DK policy and what was not. I find it fascinating.
- Lucky Lucan
- K440 Knight Captain
- Reactions: 761
- Posts: 22525
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:24 pm
- Location: The Pearl of the Orient
Sure, I read it many years ago. It is one of the best studies of the period in my opinion. It doesn't change the narrative of empty cities and destruction shown in the film.hongkongy wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:23 pmRead Michael Vickery's book "Cambodia: 1975-1982" for a very different perspective.
It gets a bad wrap as a "Pol Pot denier" kind of book, but it's absolutely not. It does, however, question a lot of the typical standard views on life in DK and what was DK policy and what was not. I find it fascinating.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
- sounds_never_seen
- I live above an internet cafe
- Reactions: 5
- Posts: 248
- Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:56 pm
I always liked Hinton's books and articles for their cultural/anthropological view.
This one e.g
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520241 ... -they-kill
This one e.g
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520241 ... -they-kill
1
1
"Brothers In Arms" is an interesting read although much of the 1st half of the book details the DK bureaucracy and related buildings in PP instead of the Chinese assistance for which the book is titled.
BTW, anyone ever seen a map of where all the different K and S buildings stood around town?
BTW, anyone ever seen a map of where all the different K and S buildings stood around town?
1
1
- Lucky Lucan
- K440 Knight Captain
- Reactions: 761
- Posts: 22525
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:24 pm
- Location: The Pearl of the Orient
What are K and S buildings?
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
Going from memory cause I'm away from home where the book is, but the different DK government buildings were designated with a K, S, and a couple other letters.
K-18 was the telegraph building, currently the Fish & Wildlife Offices at the corner of Norodom & Mao Tse Tung. This was the US Embassy in 1975 and you can still see the visa windows in the building today.
K-25 was the propaganda printing office (Tung Padevat and others) near Olympic stadium. Not sure if the building is still there.
The S buildings were prisons or detention centers a la S-21.
1
1
- Stokely
- Least Likely to be a Moderator, ever !
- Reactions: 183
- Posts: 787
- Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2019 10:19 am
Hey barangPP. I've always wondered where the infamous Office 870 was. It’s location was mentioned by a witness at the UN trails, but was redacted in the write up.
I suspect it was in the now Russian Embassy, but there is a story it was in the area opposite Naga 2 (where the police and military now use.
Any ideas?
I suspect it was in the now Russian Embassy, but there is a story it was in the area opposite Naga 2 (where the police and military now use.
Any ideas?
"Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the notion that white people can give anybody their freedom." Stokely Carmichael
K-1 was the "K" designation for 870. The only description of its location I've found is in the "Brothers in Arms" book. Page 25 "Pol Pot regularly lived and worked in a location referred to as K-1, just across from the Russian Embassy near the riverfront." So it seems the Embassy was already there.
Standing on St #3 looking at the Russian Embassy...Aeon Mall and Sofitel are to the right which, as I understand it, was a school property and a mostly open field and the location of Operation Eagle Pull. So 870 seems to be to the left of the Embassy on that block with the current day Chinese restaurants and spas.
What I've read makes it sound like 870 wasn't just 1 office, but a series of 2 small buildings with a security wall around a small compound. Seems there should be a photo somewhere, but I've never found one.
Standing on St #3 looking at the Russian Embassy...Aeon Mall and Sofitel are to the right which, as I understand it, was a school property and a mostly open field and the location of Operation Eagle Pull. So 870 seems to be to the left of the Embassy on that block with the current day Chinese restaurants and spas.
What I've read makes it sound like 870 wasn't just 1 office, but a series of 2 small buildings with a security wall around a small compound. Seems there should be a photo somewhere, but I've never found one.
- Lucky Lucan
- K440 Knight Captain
- Reactions: 761
- Posts: 22525
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:24 pm
- Location: The Pearl of the Orient
If it's the same triangular block I'm thinking of there were no permanent buildings on that block before the current ones. It was open ground that eventually got covered in slums, and these burned down about 2003.barangPP wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2020 3:36 pmStanding on St #3 looking at the Russian Embassy...Aeon Mall and Sofitel are to the right which, as I understand it, was a school property and a mostly open field and the location of Operation Eagle Pull. So 870 seems to be to the left of the Embassy on that block with the current day Chinese restaurants and spas.
This 870 is likely to have been at a few sites to keep it secret. I have read that Khieu Samphan and other central commitee members lodged at Le Royal for some time. The old governor's palace on Sisowath was used by Pol Pot for greeting VIPs but I'm not sure if he lived there.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
- Stokely
- Least Likely to be a Moderator, ever !
- Reactions: 183
- Posts: 787
- Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2019 10:19 am
Yes the old governors building was definitely used for visiting foreign dignitaries, and I believe was where Pol Pot lived and was interviewed. But, I don't think that's the location of Office 870.
The witness at the UN trail did describe it as 1km south of the Royal Place and that it was lightly guarded to try to hide its real purpose. My own feeling is it was either within the now Russian Embassy or somewhere between there and the Palace.
My older Khmer friends strongly believe that it was within the now closed off triangle between where Sisowath Quay slits, where the military gas station is.
The witness at the UN trail did describe it as 1km south of the Royal Place and that it was lightly guarded to try to hide its real purpose. My own feeling is it was either within the now Russian Embassy or somewhere between there and the Palace.
My older Khmer friends strongly believe that it was within the now closed off triangle between where Sisowath Quay slits, where the military gas station is.
"Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the notion that white people can give anybody their freedom." Stokely Carmichael