By Lauren Crothers
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
When Khmer Rouge soldiers entered Phnom Penh and began emptying it out, setting in motion leader Pol Pot’s vision of returning Cambodia to "Year Zero," French photographer Roland Neveu was one of the few foreigners present to bear witness.
Forty years later, the body of work from that event and the days surrounding it have been reprinted and exhibited in a show that opened in Phnom Penh this week.
Speaking to The Anadolu Agency, Neveu described the rise of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge and subsequent devastation of the country as a terrible "accident of history," which resulted in the deaths of at least 1.5 million people through overwork, starvation and execution.
Among the rolls of 35mm film he shot on April 17, 1975, there is one that he considers a favorite and also features on the cover of a book with the same name as the exhibition.
It features the initial jubilance that accompanied the triumphant arrival of battle-weary Khmer Rouge soldiers into the capital after defeating soldiers from the U.S.-backed Lon Nol regime.
Crowds fill a boulevard as a truck laden with joyous Khmer Rouge cadre and civilians rolls down the street, with a sign that says "Howdy" behind it in the distance.
"It provides a glimpse into the mid-morning," Neveu said of the picture. "It looks like a funny revolution."
But as the day wore on and cadre began stockpiling weapons, urbanites were being forced to leave in their thousands.
Images show the chaos of families making their way out of the city, carrying only what they could grab at short notice and at gunpoint. Others show the incredulousness of the soldiers as they make eye contact with Neveu and his camera.
"I stopped taking pictures after this one guy began to really look at me -- I thought my luck was running out," Neveu said.
After hearing that other photographers were having their film taken off them in searches, he carefully wrapped his rolls in black paper and stashed them in another bag.
Neveu was able to stay with other foreigners at the French Embassy, before eventually being transported out of the country to Thailand.
Survivor Yim Sovann, who was one of those evacuated from Phnom Penh, told the audience at the exhibition’s launch Tuesday of the weeks she spent walking, of bodies littering the streets and families who had been shot in their homes before they could leave Phnom Penh.
"We were discriminated against," she said of urbanites driven into the provinces to work. "They always called us their enemies."
