ANGKOR and I

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29 exhibits were well shielded, and no looting or plundering occurred there owing to the wartime turmoil. S.O.S. Angkor The Director of the Angkor Conservation Office Mr. Pich Keo had lost around 40 conservators under the Pol Pot regime, and the ruins moreover had now developed into a jungle. Hence, on seeing the forsaken Angkor ruins, he was totally devastated. This was to be expected, for the Angkor group of monuments constituted in truth evidence of the identity of the people, and in earlier days the conservators had all been zealously immersed in their conservation and restoration. All researchers of the EFEO returned home in 1971, when the political turmoil in Cambodia commenced. We cannot disregard people in need if they happen to stand before us. Angkor Wat being a symbol of unity for the Cambodians, I accordingly consulted Director Pich Keo about a plan of “Reaching out for the Relief” of the monuments. Seeing the grim situation in which they were placed, I felt I had to extend this hand of relief for them as early as possible. In addition, there had arisen within me a strong desire to do something for the repose of the souls of those Cambodian friends who had striven along with me, and who later went missing and perished in the Civil War. On returning to Japan, I felt it my mission to inform people of the world far and wide, that the Angkor monuments were confronting a catastrophic situation. One may say this visit of mine to Cambodia in 1980 was an initial survey for subsequent activities, and the strong feelings of the Cambodian people at that time became converted a few years later into the Sophia appeal (of April 20, 1985), of “S.O.S. Angkor.”