Genocide.When you hear that word it reminds you of the holocaust, but many genocides have occurred in our history from the rwanda genocide to the Roman Empire.The most devastating genocides are the ones ignored by people leaving those in danger to die.This has happen more often like we have not learned and ignore a genocide even though most countries have said they would avoid a genocide from happening again after the holocaust being so inhumane with the burning and torturing of people.Saloth star most commonly know as Pol Pot was the leader of a group named the khmer rouge who were in power during the cambodian genocide that lasted about 4 years and killed about two million people(History).Pol pot and his group wanted to make Cambodia classless …show more content…
"Pol Pot and the Prosecution of the Khmer Rouge Leadership in Cambodia." History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide. Ed. Sonia G. Benson, Nancy Matuszak, and Meghan Appel O'Meara. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Student Resources in Context. Web. 24 Nov. …show more content…
Ed. Jennifer Stock. Vol. 2: Asia and Oceania. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. Student Resources in Context. Web. 4 Dec. 2015.
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Ever since the actions in Cambodia occurred, it has been debated whether it was an actual genocide. The general definition of genocide is the purposeful and methodical execution of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia demonstrated that a government can be guilty of genocide against its own nation. The radical communist party led by Pol Pot took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. After 1979, the Khmer Rouge left a traumatized Cambodian culture that continues to undergo the repercussions of the genocide. People over the age of forty in Cambodia have stories to tell of fear, cruelty, hunger and the loss of family members. However, the Cambodian government is not making an effort to recognize the negative occurrences that have posed itself in the history of their culture.
From the dawn of time to even now, genocides have been happening throughout history. Some earlier genocides have not even been recorded or documented. Genocides happen because one group wants complete control and absolute power of another. People can be killed for having different ideals or being different. Knowing this, one could see that genocides only end with senseless and brutal discrimination and death. From 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge carried out a genocide in Cambodia killing all people who seemed to oppose them and their communist government (“The Cambodian Genocide”).
Genocides typically occur during a civil revolution or political upheaval. Prince Sihanouk put into effect 2 policies that dealt a severe blow to Cambodia’s economy in his efforts to keep Cambodia independent, safe, and neutral during the Vietnam War. He cut off economic and military support from the United States and “nationalize all Cambodian imports and exports”. This predominantly helped him cut all diplomatic ties with the United States and remain in good favor with the North Vietnamese. By allowing North Vietnam to have troops in Cambodia, in Prince Sihanouk’s mind he was keeping his country safe because he thought that North Vietnam would win the war. Sihanouk’s policies allowed him
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.
Adolf Hitler was a dictator who killed about eleven million people in the Holocaust. He was a murderer, the leader of the Nazis, and the man behind a genocide. Pol Pot and Hitler also had similar beliefs purifying or perfecting their country. Pol Pot was a murderous man, because he killed about 1.7 million people, was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, and was behind the Cambodian genocide.
On the one hand, Youk Chhang was a survivor when the Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia. One of his opinions was “Some Cambodians are anxious to forget and forgive. Others are angry and searching for justice” (Hyde 2). Chhang lost everything, and tells us this story. He was 13 years old when the Khmer
Parallel to the happenings of Night, victims of the Cambodian genocide also had to work for long hours, regardless of the weather and the condition they were in. “Sometimes, when I refused to work, they would torture me by wipping me and making me worked over time without rest of drink. I work like an animal during a hot sunny day which the temperature sometimes reached up to 120 degrees” (Shawn). Here, Shawn writes about the conditions he was forced to work under. He describes them as being cruelly hot and long. He also mentions that when he refused, he would be beaten. In both Night and the Cambodian genocide, victims were forced to work under harsh conditions and were beaten if they refused. To the leaders of the Cambodian genocide, it did
Cambodia, my small country bordering Thailand, has recently descended into a grisly crisis of outright genocide of innocent citizens, my innocent neighbors. This genocide is very different from any other genocide because it isn't driven by racial or religious reasons, but by poisonous ideology, the ideology of my own neighbors. As of today a little less than a million Cambodians have died either from starvation, torture, disease, execution, and even exhaustion from hard labor carried out by their own families, by my own neighbors.
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
Pol pot's had been taken over and many Cambodians suffered so much from the genocide during the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970. One out of Three of the population in Cambodia died during that time. It has been established that the Khmer Rouge targeted particular groups of people, among them were educated elites. The elites consisted of masters, Ph.D., professors, students, and international student. In addition, people who have survived from the Khmer Rouge (pol pot) lied about their education. If they knew that they lied, they would have died in the camp. The most sadness, memories ever which were, they had lost their friend, cousin and family. According to this two article "SCREAM BLOODY MURDER" by Jennifer Hyde, and "WHY THE ARTS ARE AS IMPORTANT
The Cambodian Genocide and Holocaust are two significant events remembered in history. During the Cambodian Genocide and the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot targeted minorities that had unique identities that would put them in danger and make them weak to resist. There were several planned events that led up to the occurrence of both genocides. Both Hitler and Pol Pot aimed to take control of their country by organizing ways to kill off multiple people at once. Hitler created concentration and extermination camps while Pol Pot had killing fields. These two leaders killed millions of lives because they practiced a religion that was disliked or had a job that made too much money for the leader’s liking.
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).
“During the three years, eight months and twenty days that the Khmer Rouge held power it is estimated that around 2 million people perished…from torture and execution or from starvation or untreated illness”. One may look at this figure, and automatically assume that these brutalities committed by the Khmer Rouge, fit the definition of genocide. Through a critical appraisal of a variety of sources, one may discover two very contradictory arguments towards this statement. One perspective illustrates that because the Khmer Rouge targeted specific groups, such as the Cham Muslims, Vietnamese and Buddhist monks it can be considered, ‘clear cases of genocide’. However, there is a great degree of counter arguments revealing that the actions of the
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
The Cambodian Genocide happened between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge, a guerrilla group, over threw the government and started a regime to bring Cambodia back to year zero . The Khmer Rouge called this the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea . Their aim was to purify society from the influence of the west, and to create a communist country . The Khmer Rouge started this by destroying what was left of the old society and executing the wealthy, educated and military people. They banned all outside languages and religion. An estimated figure of 1.7 million Cambodians where killed during this period by the Khmer Rouge .