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.
我通常是在課堂上 講解如何進行戰後重建, 但是今天我要告訴各位我自己的故事。 這張是我的家庭照片, 我的四個兄弟姐妹,我母親和我,1977年拍攝的。 我們是柬埔寨人, 但這張照片是在越南照的。 一個柬埔寨家庭怎麼會在1977年出現在越南呢? 要回答這個問題,我就得給你們看一段 介紹1975年至1979年 赤柬政權的短片。
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.
影片:1975年4月17日, 屬於共產黨的赤柬軍 進入金邊, 解放了因越南入侵 及美軍轟炸而受苦的人民。 赤柬軍由農人出身的波布領導, 將人民撤離至鄉間, 以建立共產農村烏托邦, 就像毛澤東在中國所進行的文化大革命。 赤柬關閉了與世界溝通的管道。 但在四年之後,冷酷的事實逐漸顯露。 在一個只有七百萬人口的國家裡, 有一百五十萬人民遭到執政者殺害, 他們的屍體成堆地疊在行刑場上。
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.
Sophal Ear: 雖然這是1970年代的報導, 但在1975年4月17日, 我們確確實實住在金邊。 赤柬軍告訴我的父母 要撤離城市居民,因為美國即將對金邊連續進行轟炸三天。 這是赤柬軍的照片, 他們都是年輕的軍人,典型的娃娃兵, 這在近代的戰爭裡很常見, 因為他們很容易被說服參與戰爭。
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.
他們之所以會說美軍即將進行轟炸,是因為這個理由很容易讓人採信。 我是說,從1965年到1973年間, 落在柬埔寨的炸彈總數, 比二次大戰期間在日本所投下的炸彈還多, 還包括在1945年八月 所投下的二顆原子彈。 赤柬軍並不相信金錢, 所以在柬埔寨類似聯邦準備銀行的機構, 就被他們炸毁了。 不只這樣,他們還廢止了金錢。 我想這大概是人類歷史上 首度有人廢止金錢的使用吧。 我們都知道金錢是萬惡的淵藪, 但是柬埔寨的惡行並沒有因此而消失。
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.
我們全家就從金邊搬到了普薩, 這是普薩的照片, 那的確是柬埔寨一塊很美的地方, 那裡種植稻米。 但我的父母被迫在農地裡從事勞動, 他們就像被關進 集中營和勞改營裡一樣。
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.
就在那時候,我的母親 從公社領導人那裡得知, 越南政府希望接回 在柬埔寨的越南僑民。 而她會說一些越南話, 因為她小時候和一些越南人住在一起。 所以她決定,不管鄰居怎麼勸阻, 她要利用這個機會, 假裝我們是越南人, 好讓我們有機會活命。 那時赤柬軍強迫每一個人去工作, 但只提供很少的糧食-- 我猜以現在的說法就是減重飲食-- 他們只提供稀飯,只有一點點的米飯在裡面。
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.
就在那同時, 我的父親開始病得很重, 而他不會說越南話。 他在1976年一月份過世。 這反而讓我們這項計畫 變得可行。 赤柬軍把我們 從普薩帶到科帖, 就在越南邊境, 他們在那裡設了一個拘押營, 對那些自稱來自越南的人進行測試,語言上的測試。
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.
我母親的越南話說得很差, 但為了讓赤柬軍信服, 她幫我們都取了新的越南名字。 但她幫男孩取了女孩的名字, 女孩則取了男孩的名字。 直到她遇到一位越南女士, 才告訴她這個錯誤,然後這個越南女士幫她惡補了整整二天, 她才能參加測試, 那真是緊張的一刻。 如果她沒有通過,我們全都會被送上斷頭台, 如果她通過測試,我們就可以去越南了。 當然,因為我在這裡,所以她通過測試了。 然後我們到了越南的洪努, 再轉輾來到橋達。 這裡有一張越南洪努現在的照片, 那是在湄公河三角洲上的美麗田園, 但對我們來說,那裡代表著自由, 讓我們得以逃離赤柬軍的迫害。
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,在聯合國的協助下, 柬埔寨終於開始運作赤柬法庭, 而我決定要在歷史上留下記錄, 我打算對赤柬提出告訴, 為我死去的父親做些事情。 就在上個月,我接到消息, 赤柬法庭已接受了我的告訴。 對我來說,這雖然是為過去伸張正義,但也是為未來舖路, 因為柬埔寨現在偶爾還是缺乏法治觀念。
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.
五年前,我和母親一同回到橋達, 回到那個曾經讓她 同時感受到自由與恐懼的地方, 因為那是我們離開柬埔寨後居住的地方。 我很高興,今天能為各位介紹我的母親。 她今天也在聽眾席裡, 謝謝你,母親。
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