After long negotiations and an international tour, former King Norodom Sianouk took over the country in 1960, he was overthrown in 1970. The Lon Nol regime, supported by the Americans, succeeded him but was short-lived.
The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of May 9, the day of the genocide of the Cambodian people by the Khmer Rouge, will take place in 2025. It will pay tribute to the scarred and broken families, victims of the Khmer Rouge regime (the Khmer word means people). The apolitical collective Fragments #KH 50 is committed to paying tribute to all those who had to rebuild their lives with bravery and determination and offer their descendants a better life. Its motto is: Understand, Commemorate, Transmit.
Indeed, during the Angkar regime under Pol Pot between April 17, 1975 and January 7, 1979, nearly 2 million people died, according to the UN. Currently, there are only a few places paying tribute to the victims, particularly for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
What is the Fragments #KH 50 project?
Led by the association Fragmentis Vitae Asia, and its president Sun Lay-Tan, the project brings together fragments of personal stories of families who had to flee Cambodia around unifying projects 50 years after the civil war between 1970 and 1975 and the beginning of the genocide and mass crimes perpetrated by Angkar (1975-1979). Today, there are only a few witnesses left, consequences of the disappearance of 2 million lives (parents, grandparents and relatives), or 1/3 of the population, and of a forced exile.
The project followed by a scientific committee composed of researchers working on subjects related to memory and migrations, was supported by 3 pillars:
– The Embassy of Cambodia
– The President of the France-Cambodia and Laos friendship group in the Senate, Vincent Eblé,
– The Vice-President of the National Association Hadrien Ghomi
– A Cambodian personality.
It expresses the need for memory of the young generation, born at the time of the flight, who are looking for answers to questions about this time. It enlightens future Khmer, Franco-Khmer generations and anyone with a link to Cambodia, strengthening the cultural and memorial development of France and Cambodia. It is also supported by the East and Southeast Asian Migrations in France (MAF) research network.
The different phases of the project
1. The creation of a monument to pay tribute to the victims of the genocide and crimes in Cambodia, a monument dedicated to the victims of the genocide and mass crimes in Cambodia which will be erected in Lognes, a town in Seine-et-Marne where a large community of Cambodian origin resides.
2. Supporting the younger generation and the future generation in their quest for self-discovery, knowing that the elders who experienced this tragic period between April 1975 and January 1979, rarely share their journey, out of modesty and protective instinct. This involves revealing anecdotes and moments that marked their existence, influencing the second generation because this period of the 20th century is part of the history of France and must prevent the tragedies of the past from ever happening again. This initiative expresses gratitude to France, which has become a welcoming land for the elderly. It is a bridge between the elders whose memory is gradually fading, and the children who are building themselves.
The Fragments #KH 50 project also plans to unite generations and free their words:
– The production of a documentary film retracing the exodus of survivors, the journey of families and their outcome through the intergenerational portrait of an entire people. From the perspective of the authors who went there to follow the journey of their parents, this will be an opportunity to collect testimonies in the form of a legacy. Each of them is a fragment of the history of this people and that is why the project is called “Fragments #KH 50”. The end of the film will collect success stories, testimonies of generations who have managed to rebuild and build themselves in their host country and internationally.
– The establishment of an online platform to host and consult the testimonies of refugee survivors. It will be a digital place in web3 that will host the dematerialized NFT version of the monument. Families will also be able to discover the genesis of the project and a metaverse where different journeys of families through different countries allow to understand what were the paths that families took to arrive at their final host land. These fragments of testimonies and history will be linked to the monument and will allow families to interact, to be able to reconstruct the fragments of life and their family stories.
3. The expression of gratitude and the sense of belonging of the descendants of refugees from Cambodia towards France. The descendants of many families from Cambodia have found refuge in France for a better future. To do this, the Fragments #”KH 50″ project organizes gatherings for the new generations to express their sense of pride and belonging to France.
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