Recording
Khmer Oral History Project: Interview with Channy Som
The Khmer Oral History Project interview with Channy Som records the life of a woman from Battambang who survived the Khmer Rouge work camps.[1] It was recorded in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1992 for the Khmer Oral History Project.[2]
About the recording
Channy Som was living in Battambang with her family when the Khmer Rouge came to power. The family was made to leave home and live in the forest, and then they were separated and put into work camps. At the time of the interview she lived in St. Paul with two of her siblings and worked in catering. One sister was in a refugee camp in Thailand, and two others were still in Cambodia with their father.[1]
The collection
On June 9, 1990, the Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights Committee held a mock trial of the Khmer Rouge leadership for genocide at the Minnesota State Capitol. Members of Minnesota's Khmer (Cambodian) community served as witnesses and told of their own lives in 1975 to 1979, years in which, by the project's estimate, the Khmer Rouge-led government killed 1.7 million people. A panel of Minnesota public officials, sitting as an "International Court of Justice," found Pol Pot and his agents guilty of genocide.[2]
The mock trial led to the Khmer Oral History Project. Its 15 interviews, recorded on videotape in July and August 1992, cover the genocide years, the refugee camps and emigration to the United States. Together they run 16 hours and 24 minutes. Each interview has a transcript in English, and in Khmer where needed, for a total of 414 pages in English and 81 pages in Khmer.[2]
Credits
Channy Som is the narrator. The project gives its interviewers only as "various," and none is named for this interview. Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights holds the copyright.[1][2]
Access
- Minnesota Historical Society collections: Interview with Channy Som
- No item number, access restriction or online recording is published.[1]