Baylor University Institute for Oral History

Sichan Siv

Baylor University Institute for Oral History
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00:00:20 - Early memories in Cambodia

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Subjects: Siv's book "Golden Bones: An Extraordinary Journey from Hell in Cambodia to a New Life in America," father and brother being part of the police force, working for the national airlines in Cambodia, travelling to China during the peak of the Cultural Revolution, Phnom Penh, Khmer Rouge

Hyperlink: Phnom Penh
00:03:21 - Life after the death of his father 00:04:18 - Intense schooling

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Subjects: French rule of Cambodia, visit of Vice President Richard Nixon, examinations

00:06:13 - Being official mourner of the family

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Subjects: Buddhists, cremation, building a funeral temple

00:07:37 - Helping provide for his family

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Subjects: collecting water, cooking with his mother

00:08:49 - Life in a village

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Subjects: listening to the radio, Cambodian broadcasts, Voice of America, finishing primary schooling in 1961, college, lycée, baccalaureate deuxième partie

00:10:58 - Desire to be a diplomat

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Subjects: working as a flight attendant, going to law school and liberal arts school in the evenings, Singapore, Indonesia

00:12:55 - Political climate in the 1960s

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Subjects: peaceful, stable, gaining independence from France, grandes écoles, Nixon's visit to Cambodia, Viet Cong, North Vietnamese attack Cambodia

00:14:47 - Becoming aware of political instability

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Subjects: Viet Cong attacking Cambodian airport in 1971, terrorism, rockets, CARE relief organization helping refugees from the war torn countryside

00:16:43 - Khmer Rouge using anti-French sentiment

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Subjects: desire to go to France to get a diploma, Khmer Rouge, brainwashing young people

Hyperlink: Khmer Rouge
00:20:05 - Decision to work for CARE

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Subjects: École normale supérieure, becoming a teacher in Cambodia, Phnom Penh, CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere), NGOs (non-governmental organizations)

00:22:57 - Working with CARE 00:24:07 - Rising danger of the Khmer Rouge 00:26:45 - Deciding to miss the last helicopter out of Cambodia

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Subjects: United States Embassy, meeting with governor of Kampong Speu, road being cut by the North Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge

00:28:35 - Khmer Rouge overtaking Phnom Penh

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Subjects: writing for the New York Times, "Last Breakfast in Cambodia," Red Cross, Hotel Le Royal as a international Red Cross neutral zone, finding his brother in the chaos, French Embassy, interpreting for the Red Cross, Europeans, Asians

00:32:55 - Securing safety

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Keywords: "No matter what happens, never give up hope."

Subjects: Leaving his family, family heirlooms (his mother's wedding ring, a scarf, and a bag of rice)

00:34:57 - Fleeing after the Khmer Rouge took power

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Subjects: travelling to his father's village, Thailand, Vietnam

00:36:10 - Biking towards Thailand

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Subjects: using falsified documents to get through Khmer Rouge checkpoints, throwing away his glasses, avoiding speaking French, Parrot’s Beak region in Cambodia

00:38:46 - Capture by the Khmer Rouge

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Subjects: truck driver saving his life, transfer to a slave labor camp, Killing Fields

00:39:50 - Work in the Labor Camp

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Keywords: "There were only two kinds of people under the Khmer Rouge; those who had died and those who would die."

Subjects: rice fields, digging irrigation canals, planting and harvesting rice, demolishing and building houses, building barracks

00:42:29 - Working close to the Thai border

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Subjects: 1976, picking up timber along the Thai border, operating a crane, escape, being caught in a booby trap

00:45:48 - Escaping to Thailand

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Subjects: jailed in Thailand for illegal entry, blessing by Buddhist monks

00:47:21 - Life in the refugee camp

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Subjects: Teaching English classes in the refugee camp, depression, UNHCR (United Nations refugee agency)

00:49:00 - Process of being transferred out of refugee camp

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Subjects: Australia, New Zealand, UK, France, Sri Lanka, Connecticut family sponsoring Siv's journey to the U.S., learning of the death of his entire family

00:51:32 - Coming to America

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Subjects: Utilizing his English skills, apple picking in Connecticut, cooking burgers, scooping ice cream, driving a taxi in New York, statistician

00:56:08 - Rising to work at the White House

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Subjects: Scholarship to Columbia University, meeting the Reagans, involvement in President's Bush campaign, service as deputy assistant to the president (liaison between the president and the American people), George H.W. Bush's loss to Bill Clinton

01:01:46 - Working as and ambassador to the U.N.

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Subjects: language abilities, 911 attack, work with the United Nations, thankfulness, faith, family, friends, and freedom

01:07:06 - Thoughts on the International Tribunal in Cambodia

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Keywords: "Victims become victimized again."

Subjects: International Tribunal, French, Australians, Japanese, expense of the tribunal, crime against humanity

01:11:04 - Returning to Cambodia

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Subjects: Returning to Cambodia in 1992 as a U.S. official, bringing his wife to Cambodia in 1994, impunity and injustice still stirring in Cambodia, violence surrounding elections, gap between the rich and the poor, corruption breeding poverty

01:13:46 - Sharing his story

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Subjects: "Golden Bones" his autobiography, gratification, satisfaction, dream to be a diplomat