Kim Khem, 80, Takeo, January 24, 2013

Kim Khem, 80, Takeo, January 24, 2013 is a life-story interview with Kim Khem (គឹម ខែម), a woman who survived a Khmer Rouge killing field. It was recorded on January 24, 2013, for the Cambodian Women's Oral History Project.

Recording details
Collection	Cambodian Women's Oral History Project
Recording type	Oral history
Narrator	Kim Khem
Interviewer	Theresa de Langis
Recorded	January 24, 2013
Language	Khmer; English translation
Subjects	History & Remembrance; Gender & Sexuality; Religion & Spiritual Life
Creator pages	Theresa de Langis

About the recording

Kim Khem speaks of the disappearance of her husband and the separation of her family under the Khmer Rouge. When her mother died, she asked permission to give her a Buddhist funeral. The cadres refused and told her to throw the body away, but she persuaded them to let her go and bury her mother. She was arrested at two in the morning for mourning her mother's death. With her thirteen-month-old son, she was taken with 11 other women to a killing field southeast of Tierieng, in the middle of Preyloer, and beaten on the way until she could barely walk.

The cadres killed the 11 women and ordered her into the pit. She fell into it with her baby beneath her, a tree branch fell on her and she lost consciousness, and the cadres left, believing she was dead. She climbed out of the grave, but a security guard found her and took her to a prison that held more than 600 people, with nothing to eat or drink. Her account tells that her son was later killed by cadres in the prison. She still carries the scars of her ordeal.

The research team interviewed her at her home in a rural area about 30 minutes from Takeo's provincial capital, inside the house she shared with her daughter. It was the team's first interview in the field. She wore her traditional Khmer silk skirt, and she often repeated whole sentences for emphasis and rhythm.

Public testimony

In October 2012, at age 80, Kim Khem spoke at the Truth Forum in Phnom Penh, organized by the Cambodian Defenders Project. It was the first time she had told her story in public, which she said was painful but necessary. "I speak on behalf of the dead women," she said. She told how women were taken from detention by soldiers and did not return, and said she heard their screams, although she did not see the rapes. She said she witnessed sexual torture in the prison in southern Takeo province and that soldiers burned her own arms, which still bear the scars. Her testimony formed part of a wider effort to record sexual violence under the Khmer Rouge, which had received little attention.

The collection

The project gathers life stories from Cambodian women about their own experiences under the Khmer Rouge regime, including sexual and gender-based violence. Its website carries short transcript excerpts chosen by the narrators themselves. The project presents the testimonies as stories of trauma and tragedy and asks audiences to care for themselves as they respond. Kim Khem's story and those of the other women in the project serve as tributes at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

Credits

Kim Khem is the narrator. Theresa de Langis was lead researcher, You Sotheary was project assistant, and Taing Samrach was the student volunteer who took English notes during the interview. The field notes give the volunteer's name as Taing Samrich. The interview is in Khmer with an English translation.

Access

The material may not be used, published or copied without permission from the research leader. The full testimonies are archived at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. No item number or duration is published.

References