In Memory of Dith Pran
Posted by StormWarning on 30 Mar 2008 at 10:04 am | Tagged as: Commentary, Current Affairs
One of the most memorable films in my opinion was the Killing Fields. It told of the genocide in Cambodia at the hands of the Khmer Rouge used as a backdrop to relate the story of Sidney Schanberg and his Cambodian friend, Dith Pran who later became a photographer for the NY Times. Here is the New York Times story on Mr. Dith’s passing.
He had been a journalistic partner of Mr. Schanberg, a Times correspondent assigned to Southeast Asia. He translated, took notes and pictures, and helped Mr. Schanberg maneuver in a fast-changing milieu. With the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, Mr. Schanberg was forced from the country, and Mr. Dith became a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian Communists.
Many people reading this are too young to remember the horrific images of the Killing Fields. His story and his discussion of the Khmer Rouge titled “The Last Word: Dith Pran“ is shown here. Few actually know the story of friendship, dedication, and bravery of Schanberg and Dith.
At his death, Mr. Dith was working to establish another, still-unnamed organization to help Cambodia. In 1997, he published a book of essays by Cambodians who had witnessed the years of terror as children.
Dr. Ngor, the physician turned actor who had himself survived the killing fields, had joined with Mr. Dith in their fight for justice. He was shot to death in 1996 in Los Angeles by a teenage gang member.
“It seems like I lost one hand,” Mr. Dith said of Dr. Ngor’s death.
Mr. Dith nonetheless pushed ahead in his campaign against genocide everywhere.
“One time is too many,” he said in an interview in his last weeks, expressing hope that others would continue his work. “If they can do that for me,” he said, “my spirit will be happy.”
Yes, one time is too many. One holocaust is one too many. Yet, we had the Holocaust during World War II, we had the Killing Fields, Bosnia and Rwanda, and we now have Darfur.
The point of all of this is perspective. Do you cry for humanity because of the inhumanity that it has perpetrated? I cry everyday. Never forget those who have perished in the Holocaust, never forget those who died in the Killing Fields, and never forget those who have died and will die in the holocausts beyond Dith Pran’s imagination.
Dith Pran, Khmer Rouge, Killing Fields, Pol Pot, Sidney Schanberg
I agree, I don’t think any film struck such a chord with me. What a brave person. What an example he was and will continue to be, even after death.
I think that Shanberg’s statement…the possibility of forgetting is more real than not. With all of the statements that I hear about humanism and religiosity, I believe that we forget alot more easily than we remember.