Recording
Clip from Interview with Melanie Lim
Clip from Interview with Melanie Lim is an excerpt from a 2009 video interview in which Melanie Lim recalls life under the Khmer Rouge.[1] It belongs to the Cambodian American Community of Oregon Oral History Project and is held in Special Collections at the Portland State University Library.[1]
About the recording
In the clip, Melanie Lim speaks about the most disturbing things she witnessed. In 1977 she was working in a mobile team when the Khmer Rouge began killing soldiers, teachers, government workers and students. She saw them tie up a family in a line, the young children too, and beat people badly before they were killed.[1][2]
She tells of a rule under which stealing food carried the death penalty and every mistake was met with zero tolerance. A boy in her mobile team took rice from her at night, and soldiers beat him until he died.[1] She was kept at work in the mobile team even when she was sick and lying on the ground. Her parents and brothers were taken away and killed.[1] Of the three years and eight months under the regime, she says: "Everyday in my life at that time, for three years and 8 months, it was a dark day."[2]
The collection
The Cambodian American Community of Oregon developed the project to record the experiences of survivors of the Cambodian genocide of 1975 to 1979. Youth interviewed elders so that heritage could pass from the generation that migrated to young people born in the United States, and storytelling was used to help narrators heal from wartime trauma.[3]
The interview is one of 17 video oral histories recorded in Portland, Oregon, in the spring of 2009. Each lasts about one hour, and the narrators spoke in English as a second language. In early 2014 the organization's leaders agreed to donate the materials to the Portland State University Library.[4]
Credits
Melanie Lim is the narrator and Lauro Lim conducted the interview on May 29, 2009. Patricia Schechter transcribed it on September 5, 2014. The clip runs from 22:47 to 27:23 in the full interview.[1]
Access
The library offers the digital access copy as streaming media for personal, educational and non-commercial use within fair use under United States copyright law. It may not be reproduced, distributed or screened for commercial purposes.[1] As of 2026, Special Collections at the Portland State University Library answers questions about the recording at specialcollections@pdx.edu or (503) 725-9883.[1]