Dith Pran

2025-09-27T11:00:31Z

2600:4040:A2CC:5800:81B2:726F:A73D:8A84:

{{Short description|Cambodian-American photojournalist (1942–2008)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dith Pran
| native_name = {{nobold|ឌិត ប្រន}}
| image = Dith Pran.jpg
| caption = Dith in 2007
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|9|27}}
| birth_place = [[Siem Reap]], [[French protectorate of Cambodia|Cambodia]], French Indochina
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|3|30|1942|9|27}}
| death_place = [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]], U.S.
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| citizenship = {{ubl|Cambodia (until 1986)|U.S. (from 1986)}}
| education =
| occupation = [[Photojournalist]]
| employer = ''[[The New York Times]]''
| height =
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| boards =
| children = 4
| parents =
}}

'''Dith Pran'''{{efn|{{langx|km|ឌិត ប្រន|Dĭt Prân}}, {{IPA|km|ɗɨt prɑːn|pron}}}} (September 27, 1942 – March 30, 2008) was a Cambodian-American [[photojournalist]]. He was a refugee and survivor of the [[Cambodian genocide]] and one of the subjects of the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]–winning film ''[[The Killing Fields (film)|The Killing Fields]]'' (1984), in which he was portrayed by [[Haing S. Ngor]], a fellow survivor.

==Early life==
Dith was born in [[Siem Reap]], Cambodia. His father worked as a public works official.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news | last = Martin | first = Douglas | title = Dith Pran, "Killing Fields" Photographer, Dies at 65 | work=The New York Times|date = March 31, 2008 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/nyregion/31dith.html}}</ref> He learned French at school and taught himself English.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

The [[United States Army]] hired him as a translator but after his ties with the United States were severed, Dith worked with a British film crew for the film ''[[Lord Jim (1965 film)|Lord Jim]]'' and then as a hotel receptionist.<ref name=nyt/>

==Cambodian genocide==
In 1975, Dith and ''[[New York Times]]'' reporter [[Sydney Schanberg]] stayed behind in Cambodia to cover [[Fall of Phnom Penh|the fall]] of the capital [[Phnom Penh]] to the Communist [[Khmer Rouge]].<ref name=nyt/> Schanberg and other foreign reporters were allowed to leave the country, but Dith was not.<ref name=nyt/> Due to the persecution of intellectuals during the genocide, he hid the fact that he was educated or that he knew Americans, and pretended that he had been a taxi driver.<ref name=nyt/> When Cambodians were forced to work in labour camps, Dith had to endure four years of starvation and torture before [[Cambodian–Vietnamese War|Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge]] on January 7, 1979.<ref name=nyt/> He coined the phrase "killing fields" to refer to the clusters of corpses and skeletal remains of victims he encountered during his {{convert|40|mi|km|sigfig=1|adj=on}} escape. His three brothers and one sister were killed in Cambodia.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Dith returned to Siem Reap where he learned that 50 members of his family had died.<ref name=nyt/> The Vietnamese had made him village chief, but he feared they would discover his US ties, and he escaped to Thailand on October 3, 1979.<ref name=nyt/>

==Career in the United States==
After Schanberg learned that Dith had made it to Thailand, he flew halfway around the world, and they had a joyful reunion there. Schanberg brought Dith back to the United States to reunite him with his family, and in 1980 Dith joined his paper, ''The New York Times'', where he worked as a photojournalist.<ref name="Brown" /> He gained worldwide recognition after the 1984 release of the film ''[[The Killing Fields (film)|The Killing Fields]]'' about his experiences under the Khmer Rouge. He was portrayed in the film by first-time actor and fellow survivor [[Haing S. Ngor]] (1940–1996), who won an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for his performance.<ref name="Brown" /> He was a recipient of an [[Ellis Island Medal of Honor]] in 1998 and the Award of Excellence of the International Center.

Dith campaigned for recognition of the Cambodian genocide victims, especially as founder and president of the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project.<ref name="Brown" /> The organization was founded in 1994.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite book|title=Britannica Book of the Year 2009|date=March 2009|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|isbn=9781593392321|page=124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IaecAAAAQBAJ&q=Dith+Pran+Holocaust+Awareness&pg=PA124|language=en}}</ref> In addition to its main mission, it keeps photographic records to help Cambodians who are searching for missing family members.<ref name="Brown"/><ref name="Bartrop">{{cite book|last1=Bartrop|first1=Paul Robert|title=A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide: Portraits of Evil and Good|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313386787|page=74|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BleF7tl_rbUC&q=Dith+Pran+Holocaust+Awareness&pg=PA74|language=en}}</ref> Dith Pran headed the organization until his death in 2008, when his widow Kim DePaul assumed that position.

==Personal life==
In 1986, he became a U.S. citizen with his then wife Ser Moeun Dith, whom he later divorced. He then married Kim DePaul but they also divorced.<ref name=nyt/>

==Death==
On March 30, 2008, Dith died, aged 65, in [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]], having been diagnosed with [[pancreatic cancer]] three months earlier.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=July 30, 2019|title=Dith Pran: Survivor of the 'Killing Fields'|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dith-pran-survivor-of-the-killing-fields-803136.html|date=April 1, 2008|website=The Independent}}</ref><ref name="Brown"/> He was living in [[Woodbridge, New Jersey]].<ref name=nyt/><ref name=pyle>{{cite news |last=Pyle |first=Richard |title="Killing Fields" survivor Dith Pran dies. |publisher=[[The Associated Press]] |date=March 31, 2008 |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080330/ap_on_re_us/obit_dith_pran}}</ref>

==Works==
*{{cite book|title=Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields|last1=Pran|first1=Dith|last2=DePaul|first2=Kim|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|date=1997|isbn=0300078730}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="Brown">{{cite news|first1=Kerry|last1=Brown|title=Obituary: Dith Pran|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/01/cambodia.pressandpublishing|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=2008-03-31|issn=0261-3077|via=www.theguardian.com|access-date=2019-07-30}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*{{Find a Grave|25633354}}
*{{cite web | title=Dith Pran Biography|url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pe-Pu/Pran-Dith.html| access-date=March 31, 2008}}
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227144325/http://dithpran.org/ |date=February 27, 2009 |title=The Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project }}
*[https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/multimedia/20080320_DITH_PRAN_LAST_WORD_FEATURE/index.html ''The Last Word of Dith Pran''] New York Times. March 30, 2008. Video Interview of Dith Pran.
*Obituaries:
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20090515134317/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3659803.ece ''The Times'', 31 March 2008]
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20080409002331/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2008/03/31/db3101.xml ''The Daily Telegraph'', 1 April 2008]
{{Cambodian genocide}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dith, Pran}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century journalists]]
[[Category:Cambodian genocide survivors]]
[[Category:Cambodian journalists]]
[[Category:Cambodian photojournalists]]
[[Category:Cambodian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:The New York Times visual journalists]]
[[Category:People from Siem Reap]]
[[Category:People from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in New Jersey]]

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Dith Pran