I would think that most if not all of us who are so interested in Cambodia that we moved there (or have visited frequently) have an ongoing fascination (for lack of a better word) of the events of April 12, 1975 and the ensuing murderous madness brought about by the KR victors. Of course the entire region was in serious chaos well before '75, but you know what I mean.

How do the locals commemorate that day? With the 40th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh approaching very soon, are any official memorial services observed on that day? Is it an event at all? I know it's right before the big Khmer New Year, so that probably overshadows the day itself. I assume its like America with 9-11 memorials...that the anniversary of the tragedy becomes slightly less significant year by year and maybe not understood or appreciated much at all by the younger folks. Maybe they are just sick and tired of talking about it and want to move on.

I know our business manager, who comes from an educated family and is in his mid 20s, claims to have no knowledge of the Genocide Museum, and had never been to S21 until I sent him there on a fact finder for tours. I take him to be reasonably indicative, so I'd have to wonder if the anniversary will get any formal acknowledgement at all.

John Bingham wrote:
By the way, those are not Khmer Rouge in the photo, they're Monatio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONATIO

I was wondering what that flag was.

Cambodians commemorate the so-called "Day of Hatred," now called the "Day of Remembrance" on May 20. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Rem ... ambodia%29

On that day, there are reenactment scenes of the murderous acts of the Khmer Rouges that take place in Choeung Ek.


Source: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/


Source: https://whatstheday.wordpress.com

^Ah, so there is some annual somber commemoration of the KR period in general, but not any particular event. Thanks for that.

edit: after reading that wikipedia article, I see the May 20th date has some significance for KR atrocities.

Joon wrote:Cambodians commemorate the so-called "Day of Hatred," now called the "Day of Remembrance" on May 20. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Rem ... ambodia%29

On that day, there are reenactment scenes of the murderous acts of the Khmer Rouges that take place in Choeung Ek.


Source: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/


Source: https://whatstheday.wordpress.com

Wow, that sounds like it could be really traumatizing or really cathartic, depending on one's personality type, to go to the reenactments. But probably more traumatizing. Do you know any Cambodians who go and what their reasons are?

It's so close to Khmer New Year that everybody is immersed in family time. Like Christmas, New Year, American Thanksgiving, summer vacation and family reunion all rolled into one. Mid April, that's all anyone's thinking about. Family.

Next door, a couple weeks later, is 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. That will be huge this year. Celebrated by the government and quietly mourned by millions who were not too fond of Uncle Ho.

MekongMouse wrote:Wow, that sounds like it could be really traumatizing or really cathartic, depending on one's personality type, to go to the reenactments. But probably more traumatizing. Do you know any Cambodians who go and what their reasons are?

I don't know of any Cambodian friends who attend the commemoration. But according to the blog and article I linked to, the performers are fine arts students, so I guess that they both consider it a hands-on practice/experience and a way of contributing to the devoir de mémoire (duty to remember). We are not really aware but there have been claims that a significant portion of young Cambodians do not believe the Khmer Rouge atrocities happened and they would dismiss their grandparents or parents' stories as exaggeration.

Also, I have noticed that people who survived the Khmer Rouge and remained in Cambodia often do not have as strong a trauma as those who survived and left the country. It seems that the people who lived through the KR, escaped the regime and were sheltered at refugee camps in Thailand before being resettled in another country keep a more traumatizing memory of the regime.

Joon wrote:

MekongMouse wrote:Wow, that sounds like it could be really traumatizing or really cathartic, depending on one's personality type, to go to the reenactments. But probably more traumatizing. Do you know any Cambodians who go and what their reasons are?

I don't know of any Cambodian friends who attend the commemoration. But according to the blog and article I linked to, the performers are fine arts students, so I guess that they both consider it a hands-on practice/experience and a way of contributing to the devoir de mémoire (duty to remember). We are not really aware but there have been claims that a significant portion of young Cambodians do not believe the Khmer Rouge atrocities happened and they would dismiss their grandparents or parents' stories as exaggeration.

Also, I have noticed that people who survived the Khmer Rouge and remained in Cambodia often do not have as strong a trauma as those who survived and left the country. It seems that the people who lived through the KR, escaped the regime and were sheltered at refugee camps in Thailand before being resettled in another country keep a more traumatizing memory of the regime.

Interesting. Why do you think that is?