GS activity report

During the period of "Democratic Kampuchea" (Khmer Rouge) established by the Pol Pot regime from April 1975, 4 to January 17, 1979, Cambodia suffered from starvation, forced labor, neglect of disease, torture, and execution. , At least 1 million people died (estimated total population of 7 million as of 170), and those who did not follow the rules based on primitive communism were massacred by the Khmer Rouge.It is also reported that many of those who survived developed long-term traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to their experience of political terror.

This program was conducted over seven days with the aim of collecting basic materials for cross-cultural research while conducting fieldwork on the traumatic memories of Cambodian civil war survivors.

The 14 participating students first visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) and the Killing Fields to learn about the Cambodian Civil War.Although they should have learned about the Cambodian civil war in their pre-learning in Japan, many students were able to prepare themselves for the field survey from the next day after witnessing the harsh reality of the time, not as knowledge but as actual experience. The day has come.

The field survey was conducted in Takeo Province, a small rural area located 80 km south of the capital Phnom Penh and bordering Vietnam.In the field survey, 33 people who actually experienced the civil war told us about the situation at that time.The personal experiences of people who experienced the civil war collected in the field are extremely important, and I believe that participating students will be able to take them seriously through post-war study.As a witness who listened to the stories of those who experienced the civil war, I hope that they will make sincere efforts.

(Naoya Sakanaka, Yoshiyuki Mukuda, Kota Matsui)

At the ruins of Phnom Chisor

Interview with Civil War Veterans