Chum Mey

Chum Mey

Born 1930 (age 86–87)
Nationality Cambodian
Occupation Mechanic
Known for Survivor of the Tuol Sleng prison camp
The exterior of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Phnom Penh
Chum Mey signing books at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh (January 2015).

Chum Mey (born c.1930) is one of only seven known survivors[1] of the Khmer Rouge imprisonment in the S-21 Tuol Sleng camp, where 20,000 Cambodians were sent for execution.[2] He survived two years of torture and fear in a Khmer Rouge death camp, sustained by thoughts of his pregnant wife and unborn child. His life was only spared because of his high level of competence in machine repairing for Pol Pot's soldiers.[3]

Marched at gunpoint into the provinces by his fleeing Khmer Rouge jailers following the Vietnamese invasion, he had a chance encounter with his wife and the young son who was born a few weeks after he was sent to the infamous Tuol Sleng prison in early 1977.

For two days they travelled together to an isolated hamlet with a group of other prisoners. On the second evening, as the family rested beside a pagoda, the guards ordered them to walk into a rice field before suddenly opening fire with their AK-47 assault rifles.

"First they shot my wife, who was marching in front with the other women," he said. "She screamed to me, 'Please run, they are killing me now'. I heard my son crying and then they fired again, killing him. When I sleep, I still see their faces, and every day I still think of them".[4]

In 2003 he appeared in the Rithy Panh documentary S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine along with Cambodian artist Vann Nath where they were reunited and revisited the former prison, now known as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. They meet their former captors – guards, interrogators, a doctor and a photographer – many of whom were barely teenagers during the Khmer Rouge era from 1975 to 1979. Their appearances are in stark contrast to the two former prisoners, who are both elderly men. Vann Nath, who was made to paint portraits of prisoners, has a full head of white hair.

The guards and interrogators gave a tour of the museum, re-enacting their treatment of the prisoners and daily regimens. They looked over the prison's detailed records, including photographs, to refresh their memories.

Chum Mey giving evidence at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, 30 June 2009

In 2009, he gave evidence at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, the trial of surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime. On 9 November 2014 Mey appeared on BBC's The Mekong River with Sue Perkins.

Chum Mey at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh (March 2015)
Chum Mey is signing his book Survivor for visitors at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh (March 2015)

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/c/chandler-voices.html
  2. ↑ BBC - History - Into the Heart of Darkness: Extracts from a Film Diary
  3. ↑ "Survivor rises to bear witness from the killing fields". The Age. Melbourne. 2004-01-07.
  4. ↑ "Pol Pot survivor prepares to tell horrific tale". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2004-01-07.
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