Gathering held on Chicago's North Side for Cambodian Day of Remembrance

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Fifty years ago, a culture and its people were nearly lost to a genocide.

On Thursday night, Chicago-area Cambodians gathered on the city's Far North Side for a day of remembrance and to mark a grim chapter in the nation's history and honor the millions of lives lost decades ago.

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It's been 50 years since the fall of Phnom Penh to Khmer Rouge, effectively ending the Cambodian Civil War. The Cambodian Genocide followed the war, lasting for four years between 1975 and 1979.

The genocide is considered one of the worst mass killings of the 20th century.

The commemorative event took place at the Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Field Memorial in the city's Ravenswood neighborhood.

It featured a candlelight ceremony where survivors of the genocide lit seven candles, symbolizing the seven days of the week in which lives were lost.

Attendees also got to hear firsthand from those survivors, whom organizers say are only able to share their stories now, decades after living the trauma and fleeing their homeland.

The event not only marked five decades of survival, but it also hoped to preserve the stories of a culture and pave the way for healing and hope for the future.

"We never want this to happen again," said Laura Ouk, President of the National Cambodian Heritage Museum. "The 'never again' of wanting to be able to remind our younger generations of the importance of educating ourselves to know this has happened in the past and just being able to take a moment to reflect on what has happened and using that history to move us forward."

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial is the only museum of its kind in the country dedicated to Cambodian heritage and genocide awareness.