Cambodian Genocide Bystanders

The definition of genocide is killing a large group of people of a certain origin. The Holocaust was in Germany and started in 1933. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were in charge of the Holocaust. The Cambodian Genocide took place in Cambodia. Cambodia is in Southeast Asia (“Cambodian”). Pol Pot was the leader of Khmer Rouge and the group was in charge of the Cambodian Genocide (“Cambodian”). The Cambodian Genocide started in 1975 and ended in 1978 because Khmer Rouge was ended by Vietnam (“Cambodian”). The Holocaust and the Cambodian Genocide are similar in the administrations’ treatment of their victims and in the fact that their victims were desperate for a leader, but different in U.S. involvement and government motivation.

The Cambodian Genocide was the result of imperialism, ethnic supremacy, ultra-nationalism, anti-colonialism, a power grab, and religion. It began with the Cambodian people struggling against French colonization and grew in inspiration from Vietnam (end genocide). The French believed that Cambodia was a gateway into China to expand their trade with Southeast Asia. The French occupied southern Vietnam and wanted to expand their territory. There were many civil wars and invasions in Cambodia fought between the Vietnamese and Thai, and it greatly affected Cambodia. While the French did help Cambodia become independent and grew their infrastructure, while exploiting Cambodian labor, they failed to educate Cambodian people and establish a solid and effective judiciary system (Cambodia tribunal). Thus began their feelings of anti-colonialism. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. used Cambodia as a base to regroup, but also bombed the country to kill suspected Viet Cong targets. This began their feelings of imperialism and ultra-nationalism. The Khmer Rouge began feeling great animosity towards the West for their influenced corruption to Cambodian land and its people. Between January and August of 1973, 300,000 Cambodians were killed by American bombers that had joined forces with Lon Nol, head of the Khmer Republic.

The Cambodian Genocide has the historical context of the Vietnam War and the country’s own civil war. During the Vietnam War, leading up to the conflicts that would contribute to the genocide, Cambodia was used as a U.S. battleground for the Vietnam War. Cambodia would become a battle ground for American troops fighting in Vietnam for four years; the war would kill up

It’s hard to imagine that people would support and act upon plans to kill millions of innocent human beings. The Holocaust and Cambodian genocide were two of the most horrific genocides in the history of civilization. The Holocaust and Cambodian genocide has not only similarities but also differences. How they treated their victims, USA involvement, and that they both killed millions of people are some things they share. Differences they include are the people they targeted, how the two leaders took office and lastly where these to genocides took place.

In the late 70’s, nearly 2 million Cambodians died of overwork, starvation, torture, and execution in what became known as the Cambodian genocide. A group known as the Khmer Rouge took control of the country in April 1975. Over the course of

Elie Wiesel struggles to fight through the concentration camp he must deal with many unfriendly encounters. “I had watched it all happening without moving. I kept silent. In fact, I thought of stealing away in order not to suffer the blows. What’s more, if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn't he have avoided Idek’s wrath? That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me…” (pg. 54). Elie wrestles with the idea of how to respond and even if he should react he debates that if he does respond then he will get beat, but if he does not respond then he must watch his father be beat so he thinks to himself what would be more painful? By the end of the beating it is kind of ironic how Eliezer is more

In Elie Wiesel's memoire, instincts of self-preservation overwhelm all other human emotion. While at Auschwitz Elie and his father were transferred to new barracks were Elie's father was beaten by a gypsy inmate who was in charge for politely asking were the bathroom was. Elie describes his reaction of standing petrified and thinking "What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal's flesh. Had I changed that much? So fast? Remorse began to gnaw at me. All I could think was: I shall never forgive them for this. My father must have guessed my thoughts, because he whispered in my ear: 'It doesn’t hurt.' His cheek still bore the red mark of the hand." (3.117-120)Elie's lack of reaction showcases how the environment of the concentration camp was already conditioning Elie to put his needs of survival ahead of his human identity. Weasels description of the events show how the brutality of the camps have changed Elie's actions and thoughts because Elie knows that interfering in the encounter would mean sacrificing basic survival; love and human emotions are no longer a priority.

The Cambodian Genocide and the Armenian Genocide have similar methods of how the victims were killed. They similarly murdered their victims, starved their victims and targeted government officials. They were different in that the Armenians were deported but the Khmer Rouge targeted Cambodians based of their class and had re-education camps.

No matter how many times history repeats itself, people still have the tendency to not learn from their mistakes. This statement is relevant when discussing the topic of genocide. When a person hears the word genocide they think of the Holocaust. But really there are multiple genocides with at least an equal to greater impact on the world today. Most people don't even know what the most devastating genocide wads. It was the Native American Genocide. Another example of deadly genocides is the Cambodian Genocide. This was an attempt to form an utopian society. More so it was a ethnic cleansing of the entire Cambodian population. This essay will compare and Contrast the Native American Genocide to the deadly Cambodian Genocide.

The Nazi’s not only dehumanized Eliezer, but they reduced his father from a human being into a “thing” that was merely a nuisance. The Nazi’s believed that they were on a higher level than the Jews, so they tried to take whatever dignity the Jews had remaining. Wiesel proves this when stating “he slapped my father with such a force that he fell down and then crawled back to his place on all fours” (Wiesel 39). The instant that the officer hit Eliezer’s father, Eliezer was in utter shock. His

At the end of his last couple of days at Auschwitz, a family member called Stein came looking for Eliezer and his father. He was hoping to hear good news about the survival of his wife. “Yes my mother had news from your family, Reziel is very well. The children too” [Wisel 41] Eliezer was counting his blessings. Elie never knew he had a cousin in fact he had no idea he had any family in Auschwitz. What goes around comes around, Elie’s father always gave him hope to continue living and Elie forthwith did the same thing to this so called “cousin” . Meanwhile Elie also gives himself a reason to continue surviving through the most horrific years of his life. This is how survivors become rescuers instead of victims, there is always others they are helping instead of

As a child growing up in Sighet, Eliezer and his family looks much like an ordinary and close knit family today. That is until they were “taken away” where all control over life is striped away and as a result has his destiny chose by chance (Wiesel 22). During his time in Auschwitz, he has no choice of what he does. His only choice is to fight to survive. Eliezer simply does what he is told, when he is told, so he is not punished.

In the camps, Elie had decreased his universe of obligation to include only his father and himself. Similarly, in an Electric Shock Therapy Experiment performed by psychologist Stanley Milgram, “about 65% of the people that he studied, who were normal volunteers, actually gave the maximum number of volts”(Milgram). During the experiments the volunteers knew that by flipping the switch in front of them they were hurting the “test subjects”. Instead, they decided that following the orders of their superiors was the easier choice to make, rather than fighting against them. This directly mirrored the situation presented to the nazis during the Holocaust era. The nazis found it much easier to go along with the plans of their superiors even if they knew it was wrong to kill off an entire race.

Despite having a prominent amount of similarities, these genocides are also very unique. As gruesome as it is to think about, one of the main differences is the reason for extermination. In other words, why the people who were killed were killed. The Holocaust had somewhat of a regimented list or criteria that had to be met before they killed anyone. Most of the people killed were practicing Jews who Hitler believed to be holding the German culture back from progressing as a society. However it is less common knowledge that Hitler and the Nazis also persecuted gypsies, homosexuals, and anyone who didn’t fit his description of the perfect race. The perfect race to Hitler was deemed the Aryan race (blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin) and the purpose of the holocaust was to kill the Jews and anyone else who might prevent the Aryan race from prospering (“Holocaust”). In the Cambodian genocide, people were killed for a multitude of reasons. One being that they opposed Pot’s new communist approach to running the government. Another being that they

Many times we may hear but not respond, we see and don’t move and having the ability to take action we don’t even move a finger until the situation is out of control. It’s amazing how ignorant and stubborn the human race can be. This is exactly the response of many nations when it comes to genocide. Genocide is the systematic killing of all the people from a national, ethnic, or religious group. Two of the most recent genocides in history are the genocide of Rwanda and the genocide of Cambodia.