Image: Rama family.

July 11 2019
Ate Hoekstra,
Phnom Penh


A new book illustrates the risk one Cambodian family took to keep valued photographs out of the Khmer Rouge's clutches

"Compiled by Charles Fox, a British photographer who has been working in Cambodia since 2005, Buried gives a unique view of the journey the Rama family had to go through."

"It was a risky bet because the pictures would easily reveal that the family was privileged; for 15 years Vira Rama's father worked as a banker at the Banque Khmere Pour Le Commerce. "

"Vira Rama remembers clearly how the pictures survived. "My parents wrapped them in plastic and buried them under our hut," he recalls over Skype from his home in Los Angeles. "When we moved to a new village, we would dig them up, hide them and later bury them again. We knew that if they found them it would be evidence that we were privileged. But they were so valuable that my parents risked it."

"Other Cambodians managed to keep their family pictures away from the Khmer Rouge, sometimes by going to great lengths. A lady who now lives in Seattle told Fox that she hid the negatives between cracks of bamboo in her home."

""Of course, every person is unique, but as a trend it's very similar for the Cambodian diaspora," he says. "All had to work really hard to get where they are now."

"An exhibition of the Rama family pictures will open at Meta House, Phnom Penh, on July 14. The book 'Buried' will be available to buy during the exhibition and can also be ordered online through Catfish Books. On July 16 Meta House will hold a panel discussion about the 'Buried' project."

Full https://international.la-croix.com/news ... ures/10510#

At that time, some people had gold, which they also buried. A lot of people were killed, so they never went back to collect it. There is a lot of gold buried in Cambodia.

I wonder if the KR pulled gold teeth like the nazi's did?

About 10 years ago I was sitting at Wat Phnom reading a news paper when a old Cambodian guy walked past, stopped and asked me where I was from . He had been living in Melbourne since the KR days and this was his first trip back to Cambodia. His was traveling by himself and his family in Melbourne had not wanted him it come.
We talked for quite a while and he told me he had just been to look at the big house he and his now deceased wife had lived in . Cannot remember if he said Noridom or Monivong . He told me they knew the KR were coming at the time so he buried all money , photos , documents and important paper from his business under the floor of the shed on his property.
He was surprised to find that it was his neighbors son, who he never liked, who came to tell them they had to leave and he was pointing a gun at them threatening them to go.

To cut the story short,,, When he revisited his old house to see if it was still standing he was scared and looked through the gate only to see a car with a military plate and a old guy who he recognized as the next door neighbors son from pre KR days.

It reads like a new book title. "Buried gold amidst the landmines".

phuketrichard wrote:I wonder if the KR pulled gold teeth like the nazi's did?

Nazis didn’t bother to pull teeth in the end as part of the final solution. People were simply melted in the ovens. Gold and silver sank to the bottom and were collected. German efficiency at its (horribly) finest.

Depends. Some camps the teeth were pulled before burning by slaves.
Most of the dead were exhumed and burnt later to try and hide the atrocities and some gold was found after.

Duncan wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:20 pm About 10 years ago I was sitting at Wat Phnom reading a news paper when a old Cambodian guy walked past, stopped and asked me where I was from . He had been living in Melbourne since the KR days and this was his first trip back to Cambodia. His was traveling by himself and his family in Melbourne had not wanted him it come.
We talked for quite a while and he told me he had just been to look at the big house he and his now deceased wife had lived in . Cannot remember if he said Noridom or Monivong . He told me they knew the KR were coming at the time so he buried all money , photos , documents and important paper from his business under the floor of the shed on his property.
He was surprised to find that it was his neighbors son, who he never liked, who came to tell them they had to leave and he was pointing a gun at them threatening them to go.

To cut the story short,,, When he revisited his old house to see if it was still standing he was scared and looked through the gate only to see a car with a military plate and a old guy who he recognized as the next door neighbors son from pre KR days.

Far out! Good thread here, and that is a hell of a yarn.

I found a half buried pair of glasses wrapped in a 10 Riel note near some bomb craters once. Some old guys said the note was pre-KR. I sometimes wonder if people threw their glasses away. Is it true people wearing glasses were killed? Surely they recognised that some people just need glasses to see, and weren't necessarily a threat to the revolution?

anyone wearing glasses, got rid of them FAST>