TAKEO DOCUMENTATION CENTER REPORT ON CLASSROOM FORUM ON THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING A HISTORY OF DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA (1975-1979) – TOPIC: KHMER ROUGE FORCED EVACUATION. Report: Pheng Pong-Rasy 30 students (20 females) from Hun Sen Ang Ta Saom High School in Tram Kak District, Takeo Province attended a weekend class forum organized by Takeo Documentation Center on January 19, 2024. The forum aims to enhance the memory of the history of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) and discuss some of the necessary ways to prevent future violence or genocide. To achieve the above objectives, this weekend classroom forum carried out a number of activities, such as a discussion of historical content related to the "Forced Evacuation" event, from April 17, 1975, to the end of 1977, exploring stories of KR survivors of forced evacuation during the Khmer Rouge regime, discussion of specific ways to prevent violence or genocide, and establishing an intergenerational dialogue with survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime. This report illustrates each activity that took place during the forum, challenges, and students' reflection of the forum. Activities After the students visited the permanent photo exhibition on the Khmer Rouge regime, Pheng Pong-Rasy started his classroom forum following his lesson plan below: 1) The teacher tells the objectives of the lesson Pheng Pong-Rasy presented the objectives of today's lesson to the students so that the students know the purpose of their learning today. The objectives are: 1) Students learn about the Khmer Rouge forced evacuation from April 17, 1975 to the end of 1977. 2) Students understand how and why the forced evacuation happened, and 3) Students express sympathy for the survivors' experience of forced evacuation. 2) Students already know about Forced evacuation Pheng Pong-Rasy asked the students, "What do you know about the Khmer Rouge forced evacuation?" Rasy gave the students 5 minutes to answer this question. Five to six students said they were aware of the difficulties of people during the evacuation, murder, family breakdown and homelessness. Other students showed similar knowledge. 3) Students want to know about forced evacuation "What do you want to know about the Khmer Rouge's forced evacuation?" Rasy asked. Pheng Pong-Rasy gave the students 15 minutes to think about what they want to know, and then write them down on a piece of paper. Next, the students handed over the piece of paper to the teacher. Here below are the students' questions: 1. What were the KR’s benefits from the forced evacuation? 2. How was this forced evacuation carried out? 3. What did the Cambodian people suffer when the Khmer Rouge forcibly evacuated them? 4. What happened when people were forcibly evacuated? 5. Why did the Khmer Rouge evacuate people? 6. During the evacuation, did the Khmer Rouge abuse the people? 7. What are the reasons for forced evacuation? 8. Where did the Khmer Rouge evacuate people from and to? 9. What was the Khmer Rouge's punishment during the forced evacuation? 10. What happened during the Khmer Rouge era? 11. What were the consequences of the Khmer Rouge's forced evacuation? 12. How many days did the Khmer Rouge forcibly evacuate people? 13. Who created the forced evacuation? 14. If people refuse to evacuate, what happens to them? It should be noted that all 30 students asked more than 30 questions, but most of the students' questions were the same, focusing on the curiosity of "how and why the forced evacuation happened". The above 14 questions will be addressed in the last part of the forum. 4) Explanation of key words of the lesson Pheng Pong-Rasy explained some of the key words used in the presentation of the Khmer Rouge's "forced evacuation" lesson. The key words are evacuation, forced evacuation, six KR Zones, new people, old people, cooperatives, worksites, liberation zones, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. Rasy provided some examples to make students easier to understand the key words. 5) Presentation on forced evacuation Pheng Pong-Rasy presented a short presentation on the two phases of the Khmer Rouge’s forced evacuation and the evacuation of people from the Eastern Zone to the Northwest Zone in late 1977 and early 1978. The presentation focused on how and why KR forced people to leave their homeplaces, the number of people to be evacuated, and the number of people to be killed during the evacuation. However, the events of the forced evacuation before April 17, 1975, were also mentioned to let students know that the Khmer Rouge forced evacuation took place after March 18, 1970. 6) Screening of a short documentary film on forced evacuation After the presentation ended, Pheng Pong-Rasy asked the students to watch a short video on the evacuation on April 17, 1975. This video describes the forced evacuation of people from Phnom Penh immediately after the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh in the morning of April 17, 1975. Here is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IuYp40wJn4&t=4s&ab_channel=BouChantha 7) Testing the students' knowledge after presentation Teacher gave the students 7 minutes to review and rewrite what they have recently learned about forced evacuation in the first and second steps. The teacher then invited some students to read or recite their memories of the lesson and have the other students verify their memories of the lesson with the students who recite or read. As a result, students have a good memory and can describe the evacuation events fluently. 8) Studying to understand the story of the KR survivors Students were then divided into three groups to study three topics on life through forced evacuation during the Khmer Rouge regime. Pheng Pong-Rasy divided the students into the following groups: The first group (consisting of 10 members) studied the story of the survivor Yim Sovann [excerpted from Chapter 4 of A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979)] and answered five questions below: • How did the Khmer Rouge tell Sovann's father the reason for his evacuation from Phnom Penh? • How did Sovann describe the presence of the Khmer Rouge in front of him? • Describe the brutal scene of Khmer Rouge soldiers during the evacuation of people from Phnom Penh? • If you were in such a situation, how would you deal with it? • How do you feel about life after the evacuation on April 17, 1975? The second group (consisting of 10 members) studied the story of Oum Sokha, a survivor (excerpted from DC-Cam's book on forced evacuation during the Khmer Rouge regime, page 14) and answered six questions below: • How did Sokha's family travel from his hometown to Phnom Penh and continue to Battambang? • Describe the situation of Sokha's family on the way to Battambang during the evacuation? • If you were in such a situation, how would you deal with it? • Who did Sokha lose during the evacuation? • Describe Sokha's return to his hometown after the Khmer Rouge collapse? • How do you feel about life going through such an evacuation? The third group (consisting of 10 members) studied the story of the survivor, Hang Polin (from DC-Cam's book on forced evacuation during the Khmer Rouge regime, page 16) and answered five questions below: • Where did the Khmer Rouge evacuate Polin and his family in 1976? Why? • After attending political studies with the Khmer Rouge, what happened to Polin and her husband? Why? • Who did Polin meet in Battambang province? And what happens after meeting? • If you were in a situation like Polin, how would you deal with it? • How do you feel about life going through such an evacuation? 9) Q&A for students Pheng Pong-Rasy examined all the students' questions and solved all the available questions. Of the more than 40 questions, only those related to how and why the forced evacuation happened were the most frequently asked by students. This is what all the students learned the most. Answering students' questions also provides additional explanations regarding the Khmer Rouge's four-year plan, the background of the Khmer Rouge regime, and the implementation of the Khmer Rouge's eight principles. 10) Presentation of genocide prevent strategies Starting from the purpose of the classroom forum, presenting some specific strategies to prevent the return of the regime is necessary to familiarize students. Rasy first explained the definition of genocide. Then Rasy showed how to prevent violence at the individual, family or community and national levels. Last Rasy instructed all students to practice these strategies in their living condition nowadays. Study tour for students In the afternoon of the same day, Pheng Pong-Rasy led a group of students to visit two places: the former Kraing Ta Chan KR security office and the Memorial Stupa in Tram Kak District, Takeo Province. At the site of the former Kraing Ta Chan prison and massacre site, the students learned more about the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime, such as the mass-grave sites and the over a thousand skulls stored in the memorial stupa. Students also learned more about the experience of a 71-year-old survivor, Yin Soeun, living in Prey Ta Khap village, Kus commune, Tram Kak district. The students also asked Yin Soeun many questions about his experiences during the Khmer Rouge regime. Soeun described the care of all the skulls after 1979 to the students before the study tour ended. At Tuol Theat in Ta Phem commune, students viewed two anti-genocide slogans, which led the students to think of reconciliation, tolerance, and prevent the genocide. Students also visited a stupa near the two slogans, which were built as a common shrine for all villagers to use to hold the remains of relatives who lost lives during the Khmer Rouge regime. Challenges Due to the busy schedule was set and the answer to the student’s questions were more than haft an hour, the forum continued until 12:30 for the morning program, which caused some students to show tiredness and exhaustion. Another challenge was found. It was the poor communication between high school principals and the teacher who led the group of student to join the forum, which leads to a lot of discussion during the teacher's presentation. The student leader apologizes for the inconvenience.