The Week - UK (2020-09-12)

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THEWEEK 12 September 2020

Obituaries

Inthe 19 90s,theIrish

photographerNicDunlop

madefrequenttripsto

Cambodia,andoneachone,

hecarriedinhispocketapictureofComrade

Duch–anotoriousex-leaderoftheKhmer

Rougewhohaddisappearedin1 97 9,following

thefallofthebrutalMaoistregime.Dunlop

neverreallythoughthe’dfindDuch,said

TheTimes,butin 19 99,hetravelledwitha

mineclearanceteamtoaremotecornerof

Cambodia’snorthwest,where,inavillage

neartheThaiborder,hemetasmall,wiry,

bespectacledman,wearingaWesternaid

group’sT-shirt.“Hewasgarrulous,friendly,

disarming.Hetoldmehewasahumanitarian

aidworkerandlaypreacher,converting

CambodianstoChristianity,”Dunloprecalled.

“Iknewimmediatelywhoitwas.”Dunlop

saidnothing,butreturnedwithajournalist

whohadonceinterviewedPolPot.Atthat

point,Duch,whohasdiedaged 7 7,realisedhe

hadbeenidentified,andconfessedtothedreadfulcrimeshe

committed atthenotoriousTuol Slengprison.

The son ofpoorChineseimmigrant parents,KaingGuek Eav was

borninthecentralCambodianvillage ofChoyaot. Prodigiously

clever,he overcamehis humble origins towin aplaceat anelite

lycéeinPhnomPenh, and becameateacher.Influencedby

meetings with Chinese communists, he joined the Khmer Rouge

in 1967 ,whenit wasstillajungleguerillagroup.Hetookhis

nameDuch(pronouncedDoik) fromabookaboutanobedient

schoolboy.“Iwanted tobe awell-disciplinedboy whorespected

the teachers and did good deeds,” he later said. Tasked with over-

seeingjungle prisons,hepickedupinterrogationmethods from

aFrenchpolicemanual–and refinedthem.Theregimeseized

powerin1975, andstartedtoforcemillionsofcity-dwellersinto

the countryside, aspart ofits mercilessquest tocreate anagrarian

economyandturn Cambodiaback to“YearZero”.Duch wasput

inchargeoftheTuolSlengprison(S-21)

inPhnomPenh.There,enemiesorperceived

enemiesoftheregimeweredetainedand–over

extendedperiods–torturedintoconfessing

theircrimesandimplicatingtheirfriends

andrelatives.Itstartedwithmembersof

theprofessionalclasses,andthosedeemedto

beintellectuals(oftenjustbecausetheywore

glasses),butastimeworeon,thenetgrew

widerandwider.Inmateswerebeaten,burnt,

hungupsidedownandsuffocatedwithplastic

bags.Theyhadtheirfingernailspulledout,

andtheirgenitalselectrocuted.Oncetheir

confessionsweredeemedtobecomplete,they

weresenttothe“KillingFields”,wherethey

werebludgeonedtodeath–or“smashed”,in

regimeparlance.Almostnoonedetainedinthe

jailsurvived.Intotal,sometwomillionpeople

arebelievedtohavediedduringtheKhmer

Rouge’sfouryearsinpower.

Duch’srecord-keepingwasmeticulous,

saidTheDailyTelegraph.Everyprisonerwasweighedand

photographed.Reports ofinterrogationscould runto200pages.

And hewasruthlesslyefficient.On alistof17 children andteens,

he scribbled thewords“killthemall”.Onanother, longerlist, he

wrote“Smash115. Keep 44”. In 1979 ,withVietnameseforces

advancing, hehadthelastprisoners killed –buthe didn’tdestroy

the archive, which containeddetailedfileson more than12,00 0

of theestimated 20,000prisoners held there.Hethenvanished.

In 2007,Duch becamethe firstleaderofthe KhmerRougetoface

justice. IntheUN-backedcourt, headmittedthatmost ofthose

detained atthejailhadbeeninnocentofthecharges againstthem.

He clai medtofeelremorseandbegged forforgiveness.But inhis

closingstatement,heaskedtobe acquitted.Heeventuallyreceived

alifesentence.Inareport compiledfor the court,psychologists

wrotethathe was “meticulous,conscientious,control-oriented,

attentive todetail and seeks recognitionfromhissuperiors”.

KaingGuek

Eav

1942-2020

JoeRuby, who hasdiedaged

87, wasthe co-creatorof

Scooby-Doo–thehapless but

big-heartedGreatDane whose

animatedadventures have delightedTVviewers

for morethan 50years.Rubywasoneofthe

head storymen at Hanna-Barbera Studios when

it wasasked to come upwith achildren’smystery

seriesfor theCBS network’s lucrative Saturday

morning slot,said The New York Times.CBS’s

Fred Silverman hadtold them that hewanted

the show to bescary, but non-violent, and gave

it th eworking titleWho’sS-S-Scared?

After sometoing andfroing, itwasdecided

scary wouldn’t work, and Rubyand hiscreative

partnerKenSpears insteadstartedtowritea

comedyabout four teenagesleuths (Fred, Velma, Daphne and

Shaggy) drivingaround California inthe“MysteryMachine”with

alarge cowardly dog;they’d produced severaldrafts before they

realised that thedog (which wasoriginallyasheepdogcalled Too

Much)should be the show’s star.Itwas Silverman whocame up

with itsname, afterhearing FrankSina tra’s“doo-be-doo-be-doo”

scatvocal at theend ofStrangersin theNight.Art directorIwao

Takamoto madeScooby comically big andclumsy,said The Daily

Telegraph,while DonMessick(the voice of Muttley onWacky

Races)decided to addmore comedy,by introducingrollingRs

intoScooby’sspeech pattern.“Ruh-roh, Raggy,”

the dogwouldyelp,asitjumpedintothe arms of

its dopeyowner,Shaggy.Thepairwould devour

hugemulti-layeredsandwiches, and feast ondog

biscuits called ScoobySnacks.

Scooby-Doo,Where AreYou!launchedin 1969.

“Wewere worried itwouldn’tlast but one

season,”Ruby recalled. In fact, it wasaninstant

hit. Itran until 1978–and has sincegenerated

countlessspin-offs,fromrebootedTVseriesto

live-action featurefilms,video games and comic

books. Billions have been madefrom Scooby-

Doomerchandise.ButRubyand Spearshad only

workedonthe first season, andsawverylittle

of theproceeds oftheir creation.

Joseph ClemensRubywas born in L os Angeles in1933,the son

of aneurolo gist. Hejoinedthe US navy afterleavingschool, and

servedinKorea.Havingloved drawing since histeens,hegot his

first job at Disney in the mid-1950s, working firstinanim ation,

andthen insound, beforemovingtoHanna-Barbera wherehe

metSpears. As wellas Scooby-Doo, they created Dynomutt,

Dog Wonder; Jabberjaw; and TheHoundcats. I nthe late 1970s,

the yfoundedtheir ownstudio, whichcreated Alvin andthe

Chipmunks,among otherseries.Heis survivedby hiswife,

Carole,whomhemarriedin1957, andtheir four children.

Joe Ruby

1933-2020

Ex-teacher who sent thousands to die in the Killing Fields

ComradeDuch:meticulous

Ruby: served in Korea

The animator who co-created Scooby-Doo

©N

EW YORK TIMES/REDUX/EYEVINE