Pol Pot And The Khmer Rouge: The Cambodian Genocide

Until 1975, the Khmer Rouge were popular. Originally, they had promised to raise the living standards of the poor, thus assuring the support of the people. When they took over they collectivized everything: cattle, buffalo, plates, everything (Kiernan 185). Pol Pot wished to set up an agrarian utopia inspired by Mao Zedong. Like Mao Zedong, Pol Pot implemented a policy similar to the Great Leap Forward declaring "Year Zero" in an attempt to purify society of all Western influences including "capitalism, Western culture, city life, religion, and all foreign influences" and transform Cambodia into a peasant - Communistic state (Cook). "The CPK [Communist Party of Kampuchea] attempted to distract people's attention from their situation by informing the peasants that life in Cambodia was superior to that in Vietnam, where people were reduced to eating chaff, while Chairman Mao's socialism was bringing progress in China" ensuring that Cambodia would soon follow (Kiernan 185). Pol Pot insisted that Cambodia would not be independent until the economy and society grew collectively. "To achieve our independence, domestic peace, and unity, we must mobilize the people's forces to build an egalitarian society without rich or poor...if the economy grows, society grows too..." (Ponchaud 74). During Pol Pot's stay in power, Marxist books became widespread, including the Communist Manifesto. Libraries had reopened and shared these communist books with lycées (Ponchaud

The Cambodian Genocide took place from 1975 to 1979 in the Southeastern Asian country of Cambodia. The genocide was a brutal massacre that killed 1.4 to 2.2 million people, about 21% of Cambodia’s population. This essay, will discuss the history of the Cambodian genocide, specifically, what happened, the victims and the perpetrators and the world’s response to the genocide.

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 .

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.

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, genocide is defined as “ the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political or cultural group.” When most people think of the word genocide, often the Holocaust comes to mind. What the world seems to fail to realize is that many genocides, just as tragic have and continue to occur. The Cambodian Genocide is an important event to understand and research because it is one of the lesser-known genocides and can be analyzed for future genocide prevention.

Genocide has been around for many centuries. One of the most known happened in 1915 when residents of the Ottoman Empire were told to leave upon orders from the government. Due to the long and harsh travels, there was an enormous amount of disease trapped in the concentration camps. With that alone, there was an estimated amount of one million Armenians killed. Another example of genocide is when the Khmer Rouge took control of the Cambodian government in 1975. Citizens who were suspected of receiving an education were tortured at the Tuol Sleng prison. In four years, approximately two million Cambodians died in the “Killing Fields.” A Civil War in Rwanda aroused tension between the Tutsi minority and Hutu minority. When the Rwandan president’s plane was shot down, there was no doubt that a war was about to break out. The two minorities found themselves in the center of the conflict; in the end, the “outbreak” claimed the lives of an estimated 100,000 people. About a decade ago, the Sudan government showed an act of genocide when they murdered 300,000 Darfuri citizens and displacing two million. In addition to that, Native Americans died from colonial conflict, disease, and discrimination devastated their population. Within this time period, over nine million Natives died

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.

Pol Pot could be described in many different ways. For example the man or master mind behind the Cambodian genocide. Also the leader of the resistance movement, known as the Khmer Rouge. He was also known as dictator and murderer. Pol Pot is a man that you can not compare many people to, but one person you can relate to Pol Pot is a man we know as Adolf Hitler.

When Pol Pot came to power the civil and political rights, were immediately abolished, leaving all Cambodians unsafe and very easy to target. This made it easier for Pol Pot’s soldiers to take over the country and made it easier to kill and discriminate innocent people. People in cities were taken away from their homes, not knowing where they were going, these people were brought to fields to work, many people there died of exhaustion and starvation. Pol Pot’s way of thinking, was to not like anything modern, therefore he made people work the way how farmers work and not in factories, these people had to maximize the production in the country, but Pol Pot did this by making everyone a farmer. Pol Pot disliked city people because they were too modern for him, he gave them the lower hand, such as receiving less food or the soldiers would be mean to them.

Numerous genocides have occurred throughout the twentieth century, beginning with the Turkish genocide against the Armenians. One genocide in particular, the Cambodian genocide, is considered by many to be one of the most ruthless genocides of the twentieth century. The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), better known as the Khmer Rouge, was led by a communist dictator known to the world as Pol Pot. His regime abused the Cambodian people at an unimaginable scale. His attempts to transform Cambodia into a classless society, where there would be no distinction between rich and poor along with no exploitation, resulted in the devastation of about one-fifth of the population due to starvation, malnutrition, torture, exhaustion, and even illness. To make matters worse, families were separated, young children were forced into labor camps, and people were left in the field to rot. Although relatively underexamined, the Cambodian genocide goes down as one of the most atrocious genocides of the twentieth century.

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.

Within day of the Khmer Rouge coming into power, Cambodia entered into the darkest time of its history. Two million people were forced to evacuate from the cities to the countryside in which they would undertake agriculture work. The Khmer Rouge’s goal was to create a rural, classless society and would force people to work in the fields for more than 12 hours a day without adequate rest or food. The Khmer Rouge placed a ban on family relationships and began an aggressive campaign to brainwash children and encourage them to spy on their parents. The children were taught to report their parents to authorities and turn in their parents as enemies of the state. Following their coming into power and the evacuations of the citizens, the Khmer Rouge turned its sights on the people in its own organization.

The Khmer Rouge was the name given to the people of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, in Cambodia. It was formed in 1968 and was also known as the "Vietnam People 's Army". It was the ruling party of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, It was lead by a ruler named pol pot who was ruthless and did not care what the people said. Some of Pol pots comrade 's icluded, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, and Khieu, These men worked together to help rule Cambodia.Its offical name was called the Democratic Kampuchua. Through there ruling the Khmer Rouge made freinds with North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and Pathet Lao during the Vietnam War against the anti-Communist.(www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian.../khmer-rouge-history/) This political party had been responisble for what is now known as the Cambodian Genocide. This was a result of its social engineering and policies. Cambodia had failed at trying to reform its agricultural stability it once had but it never succeeded, This failed attempt led to the widespread hunger in Cambodia . Cambodia had a supply of medicine and they miscalculated the amount of medicine a person needs and the medicine supply was not enough to supply all of cambodia leading to millions dying from diesese. A random act of executions and torture had been put on the innocent people of Cambodia. The party 's aim was to establish a classless state based on rural agricultural

Saloth Sar aka Pol Pot (19th May, 1925- 15th April, 1998) was a Cambodian revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge. He was the 8th of 9 children born into a moderately wealthy rice farming family. He grew up in Prek Sbauv, a small fishing village, where his family owned 50 acres of land or roughly 10 times the national average as well as several buffalos. Pol Pot was educated at several different schools in both Cambodia and France. In Cambodia, he attended a Buddhist monastery, Cloe Miche, a catholic school in Phnom Penh and briefly Lycée Sisowath, an exclusive school for academics. He then moved to Paris after gaining a scholarship and he studied radio technology. Upon Pol Pot’s return to Cambodia, the region was rebelling against the French colonial rule in order to gain independence, which they achieved a year later. Meanwhile, Pol Pot joined the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP), an underground Marxist- Leninist party. Between 1956 and 1963 Pol Pot became a taught history, geography and French literature whilst also plotting a revolution simultaneously.

Throughout the entirety of their regime, the Khmer Rouge, known initially as the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), perpetrated various crimes against humanity as well as war crimes; violating and depriving citizens from their most basic human rights. Influenced by a Communist agrarian utopia and dissatisfied with the economic situation in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge wanted to restart civilization, and create a "pure", rural, classless society. In the attempts to do so, they abolished all private property, free market, religion, education, clothing styles and culture. Torture, death, slave labor, disease, and mass starvation were, amongst others, some of the main crimes committed. Although not a legal document, these occurrences are, under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The group gained more control when Prince Norodum Sihanouk, was overthrown in a military coup in 1970 and came to the group for support. The Khmer Rouge took power over Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. In a matter of hours, they had taken over and forced approximately 2 million people to the countryside to work on labor camps. In 1976, the CPK would create the state of Democratic Kampuchea, and start the "Four-Year Plan", which placed high national attention to cultivating rice and transforming all private property into collective. Further violations and perhaps the most barbaric were the treatment civilians