NIU students contributed to a new exhibit and memorial at the Cambodian American Heritage Museum, 2831 W. Lawrence Ave. in Chicago.

The exhibit, “Remembering the Killing Fields,” documents the stories of survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide who now live in the Chicago area, said Elizabeth Denius, communications manager for NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

“This kind of project is an important project because it gives NIU students an opportunity to participate in an oral history of one of Cambodia’s most historic events,” said James Collins, director for the Center of Southeast Asian Studies. “It’s something that the center very much supports.”

The project began five years ago with NIU Anthropology professor Judy Ledgerwood and a group of students who taped interviews with 48 Cambodians now living in Chicago. The Cambodian Association of Illinois provided the contacts for interviews, Danius said. The transcripts of these interviews were then translated from Khmer to English by three Cambodian graduate students. From these transcripts, themes emerged that would provide the skeleton for the exhibit.

Lauren Bell, Southeast Asian Studies graduate student, worked on the project.

“My involvement started with an independent studies course,” Bell said.

Bell analyzed the transcripts to find the themes, and was selected for an internship in which she videotaped survivors telling their stories. Bell also spent the past summer studying abroad in Cambodia.

“[The experience] changed what I decided I wanted to do with my major,” Bell said. “Getting involved with the stories of the genocide swayed me in that way.”

Denius said the exhibit opened Thursday.

“The exhibit was very full of people,” Denius said.

Speakers included a representative from mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office and keynote speaker Elizabeth Becker, a journalist with a specialty in covering Cambodia.

“A number of survivors walked with people through the exhibit, so you could ask people directly about what it was you were seeing, which made for a very emotional experience for people, I’d say,” Denius said. “It’s quite extraordinary to be standing with and speaking with people who survived this.”

Ledgerwood will speak on the exhibit at noon Sept. 30 in the Campus Life Building Room 110.

The exhibit is open to the public on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or on the weekends by appointment.

Bell attended the opening night and walked through the exhibit with a few of the survivors, listening to their stories.

“It gave them a way to talk about it,” Bell said. “You take courses in college, you can read a bunch of books on things, but you don’t get to speak to people who survived the things you’re reading. I was hearing firsthand accounts versus scholars’ versions of things.”