I normally teach courses on how to rebuild states after war. But today I've got a personal story to share with you. This is a picture of my family, my four siblings -- my mom and I -- taken in 1977. And we're actually Cambodians. And this picture is taken in Vietnam. So how did a Cambodian family end up in Vietnam in 1977? Well to explain that, I've got a short video clip to explain the Khmer Rouge regime during 1975 and 1979.
平时我讲述关于 如何进行战后重建的课程 但是今天我有一个亲身经历的故事与您们分享 这是我全家的照片 我的兄弟姐妹,母亲和我在1977年的照片 实际上我们是柬埔寨人 但这是一张在越南拍摄的照片 为什么1977年时一个柬埔寨家庭会在越南呢 为了更好地说明,我带来了一个短片 来解释1975年到1979年之间的 红色高棉统治政权
Video: April 17th, 1975. The communist Khmer Rouge enters Phnom Penh to liberate their people from the encroaching conflict in Vietnam, and American bombing campaigns. Led by peasant-born Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge evacuates people to the countryside in order to create a rural communist utopia, much like Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution in China. The Khmer Rouge closes the doors to the outside world. But after four years the grim truth seeps out. In a country of only seven million people, one and a half million were murdered by their own leaders, their bodies piled in the mass graves of the killing fields.
视频:1975年4月17日 共产主义者红色高棉 进入金边市解放他们的人民 从而摆脱越南的侵犯冲突 以及美国的轰炸 在农民出生的波尔布特的带领下 红色高棉将人民撤退到农村地区 这是为了创造共产主义的乌托邦 与毛泽东在中国进行的文化大革命类似 红色高棉关闭了通往外部世界的大门 但是四年之后残酷的现实摆在人们眼前 在仅有700万人口的国度里 150万的人民被他们的领导所杀害 他们的尸体被横放在杀戮场的万人坑中
Sophal Ear: So, notwithstanding the 1970s narration, on April 17th 1975 we lived in Phnom Penh. And my parents were told by the Khmer Rouge to evacuate the city because of impending American bombing for three days. And here is a picture of the Khmer Rouge. They were young soldiers, typically child soldiers. And this is very normal now, of modern day conflict, because they're easy to bring into wars.
索帕尔.伊尔:所以,尽管这是70年代的现实 在1975年4月17日时 我们住在金边 红色高棉通知我的父母 立即撤出此城市因为美国即将进行三天的轰炸 这是一张红色高棉的照片 他们都是很年轻的士兵,主要是孩子兵 这在现代的冲突中很常见 因为很容易就能将他们卷入战争
The reason that they gave about American bombing wasn't all that far off. I mean, from 1965 to 1973 there were more munitions that fell on Cambodia than in all of World War II Japan, including the two nuclear bombs of August 1945. The Khmer Rouge didn't believe in money. So the equivalent of the Federal Reserve Bank in Cambodia was bombed. But not just that, they actually banned money. I think it's the only precedent in which money has ever been stopped from being used. And we know money is the root of all evil, but it didn't actually stop evil from happening in Cambodia, in fact.
他们所给的关于美国轰炸的理由并不那么充分 我的意思是在1965年到1973年间 大量的炸弹落在了柬埔寨的上空 甚至比二战时的日本还要多 这里还包括了1945年8月 两枚原子弹的轰炸量 红色高棉并不相信金钱 所以他们炸毁了在柬埔寨 相当于联邦储备银行的机构 并不仅仅如此,他们实际上还禁止金钱流通 我认为这是历史上唯一一次 金钱流通被禁止的案例 我们知道金钱是罪恶的来源 但是事实上这并没有阻止罪恶在柬埔寨的发生
My family was moved from Phnom Penh to Pursat province. This is a picture of what Pursat looks like. It's actually a very pretty area of Cambodia, where rice growing takes place. And in fact they were forced to work the fields. So my father and mother ended up in a sort of concentration camp, labor camp.
我的家庭从金边搬到了普萨省 这是当时的普萨的照片 实际上这是柬埔寨很漂亮的地方 也是有名的稻米产地 事实上他们被强制进行田间劳动 我的父母被安排在了 类似于集中营的劳工营中
And it was at that time that my mother got word from the commune chief that the Vietnamese were actually asking for their citizens to go back to Vietnam. And she spoke some Vietnamese, as a child having grown up with Vietnamese friends. And she decided, despite the advice of her neighbors, that she would take the chance and claim to be Vietnamese so that we could have a chance to survive, because at this point they're forcing everybody to work. And they're giving about -- in a modern-day, caloric-restriction diet, I guess -- they're giving porridge, with a few grains of rice.
当时我母亲从乡长 那里得到了一点信息 当时越南人正在准备 将他们的人民撤回到越南 而她因为从小与越南朋友长大 能够说一点越南语 因此她决定,尽管她的邻居有异议 她决定利用这个机会 承认自己是越南人 从而我们将会有机会生存下来 因为在这个时候他们正在强迫所有人劳动 而他们所提供的 我想仅仅相当于现在的低热量食品 以及含少量大米的粥
And at about this time actually my father got very sick. And he didn't speak Vietnamese. So he died actually, in January 1976. And it made it possible, in fact, for us to take on this plan. So the Khmer Rouge took us from a place called Pursat to Kaoh Tiev, which is across from the border from Vietnam. And there they had a detention camp where alleged Vietnamese would be tested, language tested.
在那个时候 我的父亲得了重病 并且他不会说越南语 因此他在1976年去世了 所以事实上这让我们 有可能采用这项计划 所以红色高棉将我们 从普萨省带到岛盖蒂埃夫 这是横跨越南边境的地区 并且他们在此设立了拘留营 来对自称的越南人进行越南语测试
And my mother's Vietnamese was so bad that to make our story more credible, she'd given all the boys and girls new Vietnamese names. But she'd given the boys girls' names, and the girls boys' names. And it wasn't until she met a Vietnamese lady who told her this, and then tutored her for two days intensively, that she was able to go into her exam and -- you know, this was a moment of truth. If she fails, we're all headed to the gallows; if she passes, we can leave to Vietnam. And she actually, of course -- I'm here, she passes. And we end up in Hong Ngu on the Vietnamese side. And then onwards to Chau Doc. And this is a picture of Hong Ngu, Vietnam today. A pretty idyllic place on the Mekong Delta. But for us it meant freedom. And freedom from persecution from the Khmer Rouge.
但是我母亲的越南语很差 为了让我们的故事更加可信 他给我们所有的兄弟姐妹取了越南名 但是她给男孩取了女孩名 给女孩取了男孩名 这直到她后来遇到一位越南女士 告诉她这些,并对她进行了两天的突击学习 才成功通过了测试 你知道,这是残酷的测试 如果她失败了,我们都得上绞刑架 如果她成功了,我们将会去越南 因为我现在在这里出现,所以她成功了 我们来到了属于越南的闳嗯蛊 之后向朱笃前进 这是一张今日越南闳嗯蛊的照片 位于湄公河三角洲,田园诗般美丽的地方。 但是对我们来说它意味着自由 这是逃离了红色高棉统治的自由
Last year, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, which the U.N. is helping Cambodia take on, started, and I decided that as a matter of record I should file a Civil Complaint with the Tribunal about my father's passing away. And I got word last month that the complaint was officially accepted by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. And it's for me a matter of justice for history, and accountability for the future, because Cambodia remains a pretty lawless place, at times.
去年,由联合国协助柬埔寨成立的 红色高棉法庭开庭了 我决定作为事实的纪录 将陈述一系列关于我父亲过世的资料 并将资料递交给法庭 上个月我得到了消息 我的申请得到了红色高棉法庭的官方认可 这将会为我赢得历史的公正以及未来的问责 因为柬埔寨现在仍然是法制淡薄的国家
Five years ago my mother and I went back to Chau Doc. And she was able to return to a place that for her meant freedom, but also fear, because we had just come out of Cambodia. I'm happy, actually, today, to present her. She's here today with us in the audience. Thank you mother.
五年以前我母亲和我回到了朱笃 并且她也回到了那个曾经 对她意味着自由以及恐惧的地方 因为那时我们刚刚逃离了柬埔寨 今天我非常高兴能够向大家介绍她 她也来到了现场 感谢我的母亲
(Applause)
(鼓掌)