Survival in the Killing Fields

“Nothing defines my life more than surviving Pol Pot’s regime. A survivor of the Cambodian Holocaust—that’s who I am.”

In 1985, former Cambodian doctor Heng Ngor won an Oscar for his portrayal of journalist Dit Pran in the biographical drama about the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. Ngor became only the second amateur actor in film history to win the award, and the key to his success on screen was his own horrific experiences in the labor camps of revolutionary Cambodia.

In a chilling memoir about life under the communist regime, Ngor describes his country’s slide into a hell beyond imagination: atrocities, ignorance, starvation, and mass executions in the so-called “killing fields.” His book is a moving eyewitness account of a dark and difficult time, but one that offers hope and an example of how the strength of the human spirit can overcome the most brutal trials. It is a book about a tragedy that must be remembered so that it cannot be repeated.