Veil lifting on cadres’ unwanted weddings
There are
no reliable statistics on how many couples were forced to marry. Only one
photograph of a forced-marriage ceremony – a union between two Khmer Rouge
cadres – is known to exist.
But in
present-day Cambodia, the effects of the marriages are still far-reaching, and
multigenerational.
“It was a
widespread policy,” explained Farina So, a researcher at DC-Cam. “It didn’t
take place in one area. It happened everywhere.”
Marriages
frequently involved violent rape under the threat of punishment from cadres,
who spied on couples on the first night, So said. The trauma was long lasting,
and women especially were reluctant to speak about it.
In 2013, an
independent researcher, Theresa de Langis, began recording Cambodian women’s
stories as part of a larger project on sexual violence under the Khmer Rouge
regime, the Cambodian Women’s Oral History Project. She was often struck by
forced-marriage narratives in particular.
“The stories
are not easy stories, and they are not typical stories,” De Langis said. “They
are very distinct.”
Oral
history, she said, provided a unique means to capture them in survivors’ own
words and on their own terms – a contribution of personal narrative to expand
upon the “accepted history” of the genocide.
Through
this work, De Langis was brought on as a technical adviser at Tuol Sleng
Genocide Museum, training its staff in oral-history methodology. Next week, 21
of her interviews will be deposited in the museum’s collections, for
researchers and future generations.
At the same
time, seven stories of forced marriage will go on public exhibition at Tuol
Sleng – the first of its kind in the Kingdom, both in topic and in execution.
Focusing on the impact on women
The
exhibition, Sorrows and Struggles: Women’s Experience of Forced Marriage during
the Khmer Rouge Regime, was not initially part of Tuol Sleng’s schedule for
2016, according to museum director Chhay Visoth.
The idea
emerged from a meeting last September with the Women’s Association of the
Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, spurring a focus on female stories at the
museum.
The only known wedding photo from the Khmer Rouge period shows
the head of the re-education centre at Prey Sar (known as S-24), Nun Huy aka
Huy Sre (left) marrying Prok Khoeun, aka Prak Samuth, an official at S-24 and
later deputy of an interrogation team at Tuol Sleng. Huy is believed to have
been executed by the regime after a comrade escaped. Photo supplied BY DC-CAM
