Pol Pot's Draconian Khmer Rouge

After they seized power in Cambodia in April 1975, Saloth "Pol Pot" Sar and the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the death of 1.5-3 million Cambodian's and were perhaps one of the most ruthless regimes of the 20th century. The aim of this investigation is to evaluate Pol Pot's means of maintaining power from 1975 to 1979. An account of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's drastic internal reforms including the slaughter of millions, economic reorganization, political restructuring, and the cultivation of social/ethnic groups will appear in section B. External forces including funding from China and the United States and repressive measures such as censorship, torture, and execution will be assessed. This

Later that same year, Pot and the Khmer Rouge took control over Cambodia. Pot wasted no time in starting his mission to reconstruct Cambodia. He thought that all the educated people needed to be killed (Melicharova). Also he thought that all noncommunist aspects of Cambodia needed to be wiped out. All rights you had were now gone. Religion was banned and if you were any kind of leader among the Buddhist monks, you were killed instantly (Melicharova). All kids were taken away and sent to work in the fields (Melicharova). If anyone was currently working and had a job, they were immediately killed along with their family members. It got so bad that you could be killed for just laughing, crying, and knowing another language. The Khmer Rouge motto was “To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss” (Melicharova). If you were lucky enough to escape death, you were put into the fields working usually from 4am to 10pm unpaid (“Pol”). From lack of food and sleep, people often became very ill which sadly led to death.

April 17th, 1975; the day that Loung Ung’s life changed forever. The Khmer Rouge marched through the city of Phnom Penh, ordering the evacuation of all those they believed to be “corrupted”. Loung and her family fled when she was only five years old, and thus their new life of terror, starvation, and hard labor began. It would have been easy for her to give in to the fear and despair, yet even as a young girl she showed great resilience. While planting rice in the fields of a child labor camp, Loung feels leeches crawling between her toes.

The 20th Century was an era marked by growing turmoil in the world stage. As countries fought for hegemony, it was often groups of people who were most affected by the political turbulence of the times. Throughout this era, many of these oppressive states existed, yet none quite like Nazi Germany and Khmer Rouge Cambodia. Told by the young voices of Elie Wiesel in Night and Chanthity Him in When Broken Glass Floats, each author tells their story of what it meant to grow up as a victim of these regimes. And through the analysis of their experiences are we able to observe the similar tactics two radical government groups imposed and how these tactics-both similar and different- advanced the politics of the aggressors.

His intentions may have been admirable or respectable in wanting to create an equal agrarian society, but the ways that he carried out these plans are considered to be some of the worst human rights violations of the twentieth century. In order to create an agrarian society, Pol Pot forced all people in the city Phnom Penh, into the countryside and out of their homes, in what is known as Year Zero (“Khmer Rouge”). All non-agricultural workers were forced to leave their jobs and homes, and work in the countryside, to accomplish the goal of a country comprised of only workers. But, the majority of the population was not simply forced to leave their homes, and change their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced into slave labor camps and concentration camps, where they eventually died from starvation, exhaustion and disease. Eventually, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge turned to straight executions of first his former allies, and then of anyone who portrayed the former Cambodian society. It became a complete purge of anyone, citizen, enemy or even ally of Pol Pot, that did not show the new ideals of the Khmer Rouge. In the end, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge had executed hundreds of thousands, but had caused the death of over one million of his own people through labor camps, starvation, exhaustion and disease. Lastly, Pol Pot executed political, social, and ideological experiments on his

There were many steps in choosing my NHD topic. I had to keep in mind the theme, Explore, Encounter, and Exchange. I thought of many different things such as the African American Rights, World War I. And then I thought about the Holocaust. That topic really intrigued me to think about, it was a awful event that changed our history forever. I started doing more and more research on different genocides that have occurred in our history. I saw so many different genocides, that I haven’t really heard about. I decided that the Cambodian Genocide seem the most interesting to me. My family is Vietnamese and therefore my dad talks to me a lot about when he lived in Vietnam and lots about his different experiences there. My dad told me a lot about what the Cambodian Genocide was about, and I found it more and more interesting. This topic affects me in a personally way, which intrigued me to know more about it.

The aftermath of this mass genocide made Cambodia known for its infamous “Killing Fields” during the time of Pol Pot and his men. Last but not least, the genocide nearly exterminated the population of two million Cambodians out of six millions (Yale University, 2003).

Cambodia is a small country of Southeast Asia, less than half the size of the state of California (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian Genocide”). The Cambodian government in the mid 1970’s was unstable as Lon Nol, the Cambodian prime minister, and his forces were being stretched dealing with conflicts of Vietnamese communists, and a rising group of Cambodian communists called the Khmer Rouge Party. (Peace Pledge Union) As the government grew weaker and began to loose control, The Khmer Rouge Party overthrew the country. They began killing for their cause in 1975. The Khmer Rouge Party, under the rule of a man called Pol Pot, enforced a new way of life following values and rules similar to Maoist-Communism (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian Genocide”). The Khmer Party attempted, in simplistic terms, to nationally centralize the middle or farming class of Cambodia (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian

There have been many cases of mass genocide in history. One such case was Adolf Hitler was a dictator who was leader of the Nazi party in Germany. The Nazis committed a mass genocide of the Jewish people, and anyone else who they didn't see to be “perfect”. Hitler's goal was to reform Germany into a utopian, or perfect society. Similar is a Cambodian man called Pol Pot, who also committed a mass genocide in order to make the perfect society. He lead the communist group in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge using the people's fear and easily given trust. While the public's opinion of Pol Pot and the goals and impacts of the movement is important to know about, his overall life is more important to know about because it shaped his character which would cause the Cambodian genocide. Pol Pot had a privileged way of growing up compared to other Cambodians, which led him to think that he was superior to others. He was able to quickly gain power due to the people's already bad feelings towards the previous government. With that power Pol Pot made a lot of choices that would forever impact Cambodia, such as a mass genocide.

There is a Khmer word that describes the fate of two million people, about a quarter of the Cambodian population at the time – “Kamtech”, whose meaning is “to destroy with no traces left behind”. The responsible party is the Khmer Rouge, a political group who during the mid to late 1970s enacted a revolution according adopted the communist ideal of elimination of a social class system, and attempted to force that ideal on the population of Cambodia. Their leader was Pol Pot (born Saloth Sar), who promised that the policies set by the Khmer Rouge will bring the country to a state of utopia (Ly). If one were to look at film and pictures taken during the Khmer Rouge’s rule, there would be nothing to indicate that Pol Pot’s promises did not come to fruition: the surviving footage is almost entirely propaganda produced by the Khmer Rouge, and depicts Cambodia as the promised utopia (Panh). How can it be though, that in a country where the communist ideal has come to be, where everyone is equal and has their needs provided, that two million people are killed over the span of four years? Rithy Pahn, a film creator, tells the story of the missing people through his film The Missing Picture. In it, he tells stories of his experiences as an adolescent during the Khmer Rouge’s regime. The Missing Picture is ultimately about providing a replacement to the footage of Panh’s experiences (that was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge)—as a memorialization of the events that took place under the

The Communist Party of Kampuchea, also known as the Khmer Rouge, took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975, which lasted until January 1979. For their three-year, eight-month, and twenty-one day rule of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge committed some of the most heinous crimes in current history. The main leader who orchestrated these crimes was a man named Pol Pot. In 1962, Pol Pot had become the coordinator of the Cambodian Communist Party. The Prince of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, did not approve of the Party and forced Pol Pot to flee to exile in the jungle. There, Pol formed a fortified resistance movement, which became known as the Khmer Rouge, and pursued a guerrilla war against Sihanouk’s government. As Pol Pot began to accumulate power,

In 1976, after massacring hundreds of thousands of former government officials and supporters of the previous government, the Khmer Rouge began purging their own ranks. They utilized brutal tactics such as, “’the victory pole’ where four people would be tied together, their backs to the pole, facing opposite directions. Then a guard would shoot one in the head covering the others in blood and brains.” (Dunlop 87). They converted city schools into prisons and arrested people for any slight charge perceived against the revolution. Distrust with each other became so rampant among members inside the party that “vanquishing the enemies” became the most important task of the Khmer Rouge Regime. Food shortages occurred, electricity became scarce, and disease became a major problem for the population. Even the most useful resource for the Khmer Rouge executioners became scarce; they sometimes ran out of bullets after a heavy night of prison executions.

This is another painting created by Vann Nath, representing the torture by Khmer Rouge on displays in Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or S. This is the the example of obeying the unspoken rules of portraying the genocide. Khmer Rouge, which was also known as The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975 Khmer Rouge ruled the Cambodia for 3 years, 1976 to January 1979, by creating the state of Democratic Kampuchea in 1976. This Communist Party of Kampuchea was existed secret until 1977, and nobody who isn’t involved in this party knew the leader of the CPK (the leaders called themselves “Angkar Padevat”). While the Khmer Rouge was leading the Cambodia, they lead reign of terror which is policies that disregarded

There are many genocides that people are not aware of. One of them is the attempted genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was able to gain power and remain in control of Cambodia for years without interference because they isolated the country from any foreign influence. Other countries had no idea what was happening inside Cambodia until years later. The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, wanted to create their own ideal communist society. So how did The Khmer Rouge gain so much power and control? Some argue that Pol Pot was the only one responsible for the power and control gained by the Khmer Rouge. On the other hand, others say that the notion of social hierarchy was

Think about the soldiers that serve your country. They all go through tough challenges. Whether it’s an easy to go through challenge, or a challenge that is almost impossible to go through. Now, think of those grown up soldiers as children. By children, meaning younger than 18. In the past, there were groups of bad soldiers that recruited young children that are eighteen and younger. These children, who just wanted to live at least a semi normal life, were now killing to keep their own lives. They have to kill, even if they don’t want to. Whether it’s an innocent person, a bad person, or it might be their family that they have to kill. The group named The Khmer Rouge killed anyone who was in their way. Although some may argue otherwise, that