H. Res. 1109 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
May 6, 2008. 
Whereas Dith Pran was born on September 23, 1942, in 
Siem Reap, Cambodia, a provincial town near the ancient 
temples at Angkor Wat; 
Whereas Mr. Dith, a photojournalist and human rights advo-
cate, became the face of the atrocities in Cambodia car-
ried out by the Khmer Rouge; 
Whereas Mr. Dith learned French and English in school and 
became a translator of Khmer for the United States 
Armed Forces and visiting film crews while he worked as 
a receptionist at a hotel near Angkor Wat prior to the 
escalation of the Vietnam War; 
Whereas, during much of the early 1970s, Mr. Dith was a 
guide, interpreter, and friend of Sydney H. Schanberg of 
the New York Times; 
Whereas the friendship and partnership between Mr. Dith 
and Mr. Schanberg became the basis for the 1984 film, 
‘‘The Killing Fields’’, which showed the brutality per-
petrated by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979 under 
Pol Pot; 
Whereas nearly 2,000,000 Cambodians died from 1975 to 
1979 at the hands of the Khmer Rouge;
•HRES 1109 EH 
Whereas Mr. Dith saved Mr. Schanberg and other Western 
journalists from being executed by persuading Khmer 
Rouge soldiers that they were journalists sympathetic to 
the Khmer Rouge cause; 
Whereas Mr. Dith’s wife and children were able to leave 
Cambodia for the United States through Mr. Schanberg’s 
connections, but Mr. Dith was unable to obtain a pass-
port or visa to leave the country; 
Whereas, for four years, Mr. Dith disguised himself as a 
peasant, worked in rice fields, and endured regular beat-
ings and harsh labor while living on a diet of a table-
spoon of rice a day because the Khmer Rouge would 
often kill anyone who appeared educated or even wore 
glasses; 
Whereas, in November 1978, Mr. Dith returned to his home 
of Siem Reap, and discovered that 50 members of his 
family had been killed; 
Whereas Mr. Dith fled 60 miles to the border of Thailand 
and arrived, on October 3, 1979, where Mr. Schanberg 
flew to greet him; 
Whereas Mr. Dith had an emotional reunion with his wife, 
Ser Moeun Dith, and their four children when he arrived 
in San Francisco; 
Whereas Mr. Dith moved to New York, New York, and was 
hired in 1980 as a photographer for The New York 
Times; 
Whereas Mr. Dith was a tireless activist speaking out about 
the Cambodian genocide and once stating, ‘‘I’m a one 
person crusade’’; 
Whereas soon after the release of the film ‘‘The Killing 
Fields’’, Mr. Dith became a United States citizen and a
•HRES 1109 EH 
goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Refugees; 
Whereas, in 1994, Mr. Dith worked to help pass the Cam-
bodian Genocide Justice Act of 1994, sponsored by 
former Senator Charles Robb of Virginia, which estab-
lished an Office of Cambodian Genocide Investigations at 
the Department of State; 
Whereas, on March 30, 2008, Mr. Dith, a resident of 
Woodbridge, New Jersey, passed away at the age of 65; 
and 
Whereas the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project was es-
tablished to create awareness about the Cambodian geno-
cide: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) honors the life and legacy of Mr. Dith for his 
commitment to raising awareness about the atrocities 
that took place under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia; 
(2) recognizes his courage and his endless pursuit 
for justice for the victims of the Cambodian genocide 
and all peoples around the world who have been victims 
of genocide; and 
(3) honors the memory of Mr. Dith by remembering 
his life’s work and continuing to acknowledge and re-