Dith Pran ( km, ឌិត ប្រន; 23 September 1942 – 30 March 2008) was a Cambodian
photojournalist. He was a refugee and survivor of the
Cambodian genocide and the subject of the film ''
The Killing Fields
A killing field is a concept in military science.
Killing field may also refer to:
* Killing Fields, a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of ...
'' (1984).
Early life
Dith was born in
Siem Reap, Cambodia near
Angkor Wat. His father worked as a public works official.
He learned French at school and taught himself English.
The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
hired him as a translator but after his ties with the United States were severed, Dith worked with a British film crew for the film ''
Lord Jim
''Lord Jim'' is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in ''Blackwood's Magazine'' from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event in the story is the abandonment of a passenger ship in distress by its crew, ...
'' and then as a hotel receptionist.
[
]
Cambodian genocide
In 1975, Dith and ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reporter Sydney Schanberg
Sydney Hillel Schanberg (January 17, 1934 July 9, 2016) was an American journalist who was best known for his coverage of the war in Cambodia. He was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two George Polk awards, two Overseas Press Club awards, a ...
stayed behind in Cambodia to cover the fall of the capital Phnom Penh to the Communist Khmer Rouge.[ Schanberg and other foreign reporters were allowed to leave the country, but Pran was not.][ Due to the persecution of intellectuals during the genocide, he hid the fact that he was educated or that he knew Americans, and pretended that he had been a taxi driver.][ When Cambodians were forced to work in labour camps, Dith had to endure four years of starvation and torture before Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge on 7 January 1979.][ He coined the phrase "killing fields" to refer to the clusters of corpses and skeletal remains of victims he encountered during his escape. His three brothers and one sister were killed in Cambodia.
Dith travelled back to Siem Reap where he learned that 50 members of his family had died.][ The Vietnamese had made him village chief but he feared they would discover his U.S. ties and he escaped to Thailand on 3 October 1979.][
]
Career in the United States
After Schanberg learned that Dith had made it to Thailand, Schanberg flew halfway around the world, and they had a joyful reunion there. Schanberg brought Dith back to the United States to reunite him with his family, and in 1980 Dith joined his paper, ''The New York Times'', where he worked as a photojournalist. He gained worldwide recognition after the 1984 release of the film ''The Killing Fields
A killing field is a concept in military science.
Killing field may also refer to:
* Killing Fields, a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of ...
'' about his experiences under the Khmer Rouge. He was portrayed in the film by first-time actor Haing S. Ngor
Haing Somnang Ngor ( Khmer: ហាំង សំណាង ង៉ោ; ; March 22, 1940 – February 25, 1996) was a Cambodian American gynecologist, obstetrician, actor and author. He is best remembered for winning the Academy Award for Best Suppor ...
(1940–1996), who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He campaigned for recognition of the Cambodian genocide victims, especially as founder and president of the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project. He was a recipient of an Ellis Island Medal of Honor
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...
in 1998 and the Award of Excellence of the International Center.
Personal life
In 1986, he became a U.S. citizen with his then wife Ser Moeun Dith, whom he later divorced. He then married Kim DePaul but they also divorced.[
]
Death
On 30 March 2008, Dith died, aged 65, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer three months earlier. He was living in Woodbridge, New Jersey
Woodbridge Township is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is both a regional hub for Central New Jersey and a major bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area located within the ...
.
Works
*
References
External links
*
*
*
''The Last Word of Dith Pran''
New York Times. March 30, 2008. Video Interview of Dith Pran.
*Obituaries:
''The Times'', 31 March 2008
''The Daily Telegraph'', 1 April 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dith, Pran
1942 births
2008 deaths
Cambodian genocide survivors
Cambodian photojournalists
People from Siem Reap province
Cambodian emigrants to the United States
The New York Times visual journalists
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Cambodian journalists
Deaths from cancer in New Jersey
People from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
20th-century journalists