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On April 17th, 1975, 42 years ago today, the communist Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia — leading to years of terror, starvation and bloodshed.

 reported from the refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodia border and produced a documentary on what he saw — titled 

Barron spent about two weeks on the border, filing telephone interviews at night, returning to the camps — which he described as "a sea of despair" — during the day.

After reporting on the strife at the refugee camps, Barron returned to America, and for a time the story seemed over. 36 years later, he realized only part of the story had been told. 

Despite the widespread illness and death he had encountered on the border, after interviewing other survivors from that era it became clear that those at the camps were the lucky ones. So, he updated the story in his new documentary, 

While it was happening, the rest of the world was unaware of the scope of the Khmer Rouge's devastation. After taking control in Cambodia, it oversaw the death and starvation of about 2 million people — by 1979 an estimated one in every three Cambodians had died during the regime, maybe more.

The 1975 arrival of Khmer Rouge fighters in Battambang was swift. The city had been celebrating the new year, relieved that the Cambodian civil war, which had started in the '60s, was finally over. But those feelings were quickly replaced by fear. Khmer troops began forcing people from their homes, and it became clear that the fight was just beginning.

"Almost immediately, Cambodia was a country without. Without schools, without freedom of speech, without property, without communication," Barron said. Skilled workers, military officers and government officials were all killed.

About one-half of Cambodia's population was forced into the countryside. Capitalism and the institutions that supported them were to be purged to make way for a communist utopia — nothing else would be tolerated. "It would be year zero," he added.

To listen to the documentary, click the audio player above.

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MPR's Greg Barron reported from the refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodia border and produced a 1979 documentary titled, "Trampled Grass." He revisits that story in his new documentary, "Follow the Moon."

A story half told: Looking at the genocide in Cambodia 42 years later

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