to the end of hell | surviving the Khmer Rouge

On April 22 the PCR Project and The Institute for Inclusive Security hosted a book event at CSIS: to the end of hell, with author Denise Affonço, moderated by award-winning journalist and author of When the War Was Over, Elizabeth Becker. The book is Denise Affonço’s personal story of survival and despair after the Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia in April 1975.  A French citizen, Affonço had the option to flee the country but decided to remain with her family and husband, an ideologically committed Chinese communist, in Cambodia.  The family was deported to the countryside, where they endured nearly four years of forced labour, sickness, and famine.   Affonco’s nine-year-old daughter, Jeannie, starved to death. Audio from the event is available thanks to Voice of America (VOA) Khmer.  VOA Khmer also translated the audio into Khmer and broadcast the event in Cambodia.  See the event summary, Memoir Takes Readers ‘to the end of hell’ by Sothearith Im, for VOA Khmer. Flikr photo of Denise Affonço by Reportagepress.