Senior class of the Applied High School, Phnom Penh, 1972-73. Chan Samoeun: bottom row, second from the left; Chea An: bottom row, second from the right; But Bunroat: back row, middle (sixth from the left )

Chan Samoeun with high school classmates, 1972-73. Taken on the south side of the Independence Monument, Phnom Penh. Chan Samoeun: back row, third from the right; Chea An: bottom row, first from the right.

A cyclo driver takes a rest, Phnom Penh, ca 1998 †

Khmer Rouge soldiers enter Phnom Penh along Pracheathipatay (Monivong) Blvd on 17 April 1975

Khmer Rouge soldiers enter Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 *

The mermaid statue and roundabout at the Phsar Daeum Thkov neighborhood in 2022, looking northwest. † 

A closer view of the golden mermaid at Phsar Daeum Thkov in 2022 †

The Phsar Daeum Thkov Health Center (formerly Preah Suramarit Dispensary) in 2023 †

Road 490, where Chan Samoeun's family lived beside the lake of Boeng Trabek before the revolution; now a modern city street in 2022 †

The exodus from Phnom Penh in April 1975 *

Evacuees carry their things by any means available, April 1975 *

The last of the old football fields on the grounds of Boeng Trabek High School in 2022. The author's family camped here on the night of 18 April 1975. †

The original school building, Boeng Trabek High School, in 2022. The highrise buildings behind did not exist prior to 2014.  †

The modern football field that has been built on the grounds of Boeng Trabek High school, looking south, in 2022. The author's family camped here on the night of 18 April 1975. †

Refugees on the move *

The grounds of Wat Chroy Ampil, outside Phnom Penh, in 2022. Many refugees camped here, including the author's family, in April 1975. †

The pagoda at Wat Chroy Ampil in 2022 †

Prek Eng Market on National Highway 1, Cambodia, in 2022. The author's family was separated from their father at this place on April 1975. †

Koki Market on Highway 1 in 2022 †

The front gate and temple at Wat Mulyisovann aka Tamol, Highway 1, in 2022 †

The temple inside Wat Slaket in 2022 †

Old stairs and pond behind Wat Slaket in 2022 †

The pond behind Wat Slaket in 2022 †

Tuol Ampil village from the other side of Don Duong Lake looking west, from behind Wat Slaket, in 2022 †

A traditional Khmer phkeak knife †

Don Duong Lake from Tuol Ampil village in 2022. Wat Slaket is on the other side. The structures visible on the shore are stupas memorializing the deceased family members of wat patrons, build on an expanding shoreline of dirt fill. †

Site of the former elevated monks' dining hall (formerly located where the cement pad is; the new dining hall is shown to the right) at Wat Kien Svay Krau in 2022. The author's family anxiously collected rice rations from the Khmer Rouge at this site in 1975. †

The train tracks (photographed in the dry season, 2006) where the evacuees camped in Pursat waiting for the train north in October 1975  §

The same stretch of train tracks photographed in the rainy season, 2023 †

Spean Thom, spanning the Rumduol River, mostly obscured by foliage, in 2022. Chan Samorn is standing on the top, beside the road that crosses the bridge †

Spean Kmeng in 2022 †

The main crossroads in Phnom Srok looking southwest in 2022; site of the Phnom Srok District Revolutionary People’s Hospital, in houses along both roads. The roundabout fountain was not present in the 1970s. †

Chan Samoeun in front of the hospital house where he convalesced in Phnom Srok in 1976, south of the crossroads, still extant in 2006 ‡

Chan Samoeun in front of the hospital house where he convalesced in Phnom Srok in 1976, still extant in 2006 ‡

Chan Samoeun in front of Father Suk and Mother Lam’s traditional Khmer-style house in Paoy Snuol village, still extant in 2006. His family lived on  a lumber pile under this house for a time in 1976-77. ‡

Looking west across the rice fields from Paoy Snuol in 2022 †

Ancient stone railing of Spean Reap in 2006. The southern dam of Trapeang Thmor Reservoir stretches directly ahead (due west), and the beginning of the eastern dam is visible on the right.  §

Workers hauling dirt with shoulder yokes and bangky baskets at a Khmer Rouge reservoir site  *

Cambodian workers digging at a Khmer Rouge canal site *

Cambodian workers constructing a canal

Cambodian workers constructing a canal

Looking south along the canal flowing from the first water gate at Trapeang Thmor Reservoir in 2022 †

Looking south along the canal flowing from the seccond water gate at Trapeang Thmor Reservoir in 2022 †

The second water gate at Trapeang Thmor Reservoir in 2022 †

Trapeang Thmor Reservoir in 2022, looking northeast toward the eastern dam from the second water gate. Comrade Tuch inspected Comrade Ly’s cheek in a hut near this spot. †

Cham Samoeun at the first water gate at Trapeang Thmor Reservoir in 2006. The eastern dam is visible in the background. ‡

Cham Samorn at the first water gate at Trapeang Thmor Reservoir in 2006; looking west §

Chan Samoeun at the ruins of Prasat Pram in 2022 †

Rice fields looking west from the road near the former Kok Kakah (no longer extant, erased by rice fields) in 2022 †

The approximate site of the rundown hut where Oun and Ol lived in Paoy Snuol before their deaths, photographed in 2022 †

Looking due west from the road in front of the former site of Oun and Ol's hut in Paoy Snuol, just before the road bends north through Paoy Char subdistrict †

Chan Samoeun at the brick-kiln pond, Trapeang Thmor, in the dry season of 2006. The brick kiln was once at the approximate location of the photographer, but is no longer extant. ‡

The brick-kiln pond at Trapeang Thmor in the rainy season, 2022 †

Bodhi tree north of the brick-kiln pond in 2022; former site of the dining pavilion where Comrade Tuch first met Comrade Ly in 1978 

The gate of Wat Trapeang Thmor in 2022 †

A Bodhi tree along a road marks the former location of Paoy Trach, former Khmer Rouge execution grove in Phnom Srok district, now largely erased by rice fields in 2022. The author’s brother Samorn and sister Oun were likely killed here, as well as countless others. †

Veal Saen Khyal in 2022, from the causeway looking south, with the trees of Highway 6 and the three mountains visible on the horizon. Phnom Tralok is the smaller-looking one on the right among the trees.

A rice field ripe and nearly ready to harvest, turning golden and heavy with grain †

Brothers Chan Samorn and Chan Samoeun together in 2022, the only two members of their whole family to have survived the Khmer Rouge revolution. They are wearing krama scarves. †

The stupa erected by Chan Samoeun in 2002 over the grave of his father Pen Doeuk at Kor Ko, Tuol Tnaot village, in 2022 †

Front view, from the lake edge, of the stupa erected by Chan Samoeun in 2002 over the grave of his father Pen Doeuk at Kor Ko, in 2022 †

Plaque on the stupa over Pen Doeuk's gravesite. It reads: "Erected by Mr. Oum Sambath (Chan Samoeun) and Ms. Nuth Vanna, 17.7.2022"  †

an ansam cake †

pkheak and khvaev knives †

bangky baskets †

the five volumes of the first Khmer edition of Prisoners of Class (1999-2000), with the second edition (2006) †

Some of the original school notebooks in which Chan Samoeun wrote the original text of Prisoners of Class in1979-80 †

A sample of the original manuscript of Prisoners of Class, written in 1979 or 1980 †