Resources for Teachers and Students on Dith Pran
Prepare: Cambodian Dith Pran is best known for the
movie based on his story, The Killing Fields. Having survived
the genocide of the Khmer Rouge, he has dedicated his life
to prevention of future genocides. Please view his online
biography.
Read:
Dith Pran wrote an original
essay for the Architects of Peace project. In it, he
briefly describes the ordeal of forced labor camps.
Explore: Dith Pran founded a project to educate
American students about the genocide that occurred in Cambodia
from 1975 until 1979. The content areas of the project's
website can be perused in a few short minutes, and
it contains excellent links for those who wish to deepen
their study of the Khmer Rouge atrocities.
Write: In his Architects of Peace essay, Dith Pran
claims, "We made a mistake because we didn't believe
Cambodians would kill Cambodians." How is it possible
that genocide continues to occur in the modern world? At
what point does regard for the sanctity of human life become
so low that mass killing becomes possible? Using a combination
of library and internet resources, compose a three-to-five
page research paper investigating these questions.
Extend: The screenplay for The Killing Fields was
adopted from a Sydney Shandberg report in the New York Times
Magazine called "The Death and Life of Dith Pran."
The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won
three Oscars. Copies of this film are still available in
libraries and video rental stores, and a review
can be found online.
Additional Resource: After the defeat of the Khmer
Rouge, over ten million landmines were left behind in Cambodia,
more than one for every citizen of the country. It is estimated
that it will take more than a hundred years to finally clear
the countryside of these mines. Those interested can view
up-to-date
reports on the progress of this project.
Biography of Dith
Pran