Vann Nath

Vann Nath with a copy of the judgment in the trial against Kaing Guek Eav , August 12, 2010

Vann Nath (born January 7, 1946 in Wat Sopee , Battambang Province , † September 5, 2011 in Phnom Penh ) was a Cambodian painter and one of the few people who survived the Tuol Sleng torture prison (S-21) in Phnom Penh.

Life

Early years

Vann Nath's parents were very poor, so when he was 14 or 15, instead of going to school, he had to work in a factory. He spent several years as a Buddhist monk in the 1960s - a phase in the life of young men that is quite common in Cambodia. In 1965 he was taught fine arts at a private regional school in Battambang Province. During this time he was mainly inspired by French painting, and Impressionism in particular made a great impression on him. After two years of training, he was able to establish himself as a painter. Before the first civil war, he painted movie posters, signs, and portraits. From 1971 he was married to Kith Eng. With her he had three other children, all of whom were born after his captivity.

During the dictatorship of the Khmer Rouge

After the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, he was selected and forced to work 12 hours a day in a cooperative . On December 30, 1977, he was admitted to the Wat Samrong Buddhist temple in Battambang , which had been converted into a prison . He was accused of violating the Angkar organization's moral code and of being a CIA agent. A week later, exactly on his 32nd birthday on January 7, 1978, he was transferred to S-21. He was placed in a mass cell with 50 other people, with all prisoners chained.

After about a month, he was suddenly called to see the director of the Tuol Sleng Torture Center, Kang Kek Leu (or Dëuch), and asked if he recognized a certain male person in a photo. He denied this because, like almost all Cambodians at the time, he had never heard of the so-called "Brother No. 1", the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot . Eventually he was told that he and a few other artists should now make paintings by Pol Pot for propaganda purposes. His portraits were hung in party offices and in public buildings. His situation in prison improved as he was given a solitary cell and more food. Despite this, he was not spared torture during the further course of his detention and continued to be tortured with electric shocks.

On January 7, 1979, the Vietnamese People's Army brought down the Pol Pot regime . On that day, he had to go to the courtyard of the prison, where Dëuch and other Tuol Sleng employees had gathered. All were armed and Vann Nath feared he would be shot. But things turned out differently, the guards fled from the advancing Vietnamese, and he regained his freedom. While his wife also survived the Khmer Rouge regime, his two sons died as a result of the coercive measures taken by the Khmer Rouge against the civilian population.

1979 until death

That same year, the new government of Cambodia asked him if he could paint depictions of the torture methods in the S-21. These pictures can now be seen in the Tuol Sleng, which has been converted into a museum and, together with the torture instruments and photos exhibited there (including the pictures of the Vietnamese war photographer Ho Van Tay , which show the last mutilated victims, show the Vietnamese army members inspecting the torture prison after the Invasion of Phnom Penh) gave visitors to this museum an idea of the immense agony the inmates of the S-21 had to endure.

Vann Nath was very close to the filmmaker Rithy Panh , in whose documentary S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine he is confronted with former members of the S-21 staff.

Vann Nanh was involved as a victim representative and supported the Khmer Rouge tribunal . As one of the seven surviving inmates of the S-21 torture center, he was a key witness in the 2009 trial against Kang Kek Leu , the former prison chief.

Vann Nath died on September 5, 2011 as a result of longstanding kidney disease.

literature

Vann Nath: A Cambodian Prison Portrait. One Year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21 ; 1998, ISBN 974-8434-48-6 .
Hans Christoph Buch : "Sorry, very sorry" . . In: Die Zeit , No. 10/1999.

Web links

Commons : Vann Nath - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Amit May: An interview with Mr. Vann Nath: One of only two artists who survived the Khmer Rouge. In: amitmay.com. April 1, 1997, archived from the original on March 16, 2003 .; accessed on September 5, 2021

Individual evidence

^ Artist Vann Nath died at the age of 66. In: Focus Online . September 5, 2011, accessed September 5, 2021 .
↑ Lor Chandara, Kevin Doyle: Survivor: Faded Photographs Hold KR Prisoner's Memories. In: Cambodia Daily. February 2, 2003, archived from the original on February 2, 2003 ; accessed on September 5, 2021 (English).
^ Christiane Amanpour: Survivor recalls horrors of Cambodia genocide. In: CNN . December 10, 2008, accessed September 5, 2021 .
↑ ^a ^b Vann Nath: Court mourns key witnesses in the genocide trial. In: Zeit Online . September 6, 2011, archived from the original on November 22, 2011 ; accessed on September 5, 2021 .

personal data
SURNAME	Vann, Nath
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Cambodian painter, survivor of the Tuol Sleng Torture Prison
BIRTH DATE	January 7, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wat Sopee , Battambang Province
DATE OF DEATH	September 5, 2011
PLACE OF DEATH	Phnom Penh

[1] Artist Vann Nath died at the age of 66. In: Focus Online . September 5, 2011, accessed September 5, 2021 .

[2] Lor Chandara, Kevin Doyle: Survivor: Faded Photographs Hold KR Prisoner's Memories. In: Cambodia Daily. February 2, 2003, archived from the original on February 2, 2003 ; accessed on September 5, 2021 (English).

[3] Christiane Amanpour: Survivor recalls horrors of Cambodia genocide. In: CNN . December 10, 2008, accessed September 5, 2021 .

[Tod-4] Vann Nath: Court mourns key witnesses in the genocide trial. In: Zeit Online . September 6, 2011, archived from the original on November 22, 2011 ; accessed on September 5, 2021 .