Summary Of Cambodian Genocide

The genocide’s process and method of killing was through prisons and killing fields. The urban city dweller population was evacuated to the countryside, those who were elderly, frail, disabled, basically incapable of making the journey, and those who seemed to be against the new regime were killed on the spot. When the rest of the people reached the countryside they were forced to do farm work in an effort to put society back to an agrarian society starting at year zero. Many people would also die of starvation, malnutrition, and disease or for committing supposed crimes. Prison were also used, such as the now infamous prison S-21, that was once a high school that was used for some of the most brutal and gruesome killings. It was used to interrogate people and force people into admitting to having committed crimes. It was used from mid1975 to 1979. Approximately 17,000 people were killed here. People were forced into admitting to crimes through torture techniques, such as hanging, drowning, electric shock, and other methods. The prisoners were well documented,

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.

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 .

In Cambodia the families were controlled. Anybody that tried to go against the communist group, Khmer Rouge and the leader Pol Pot were killed, “Anyone who protested or tried to run away was tortured and/or killed”. They did not tolerate any of that. The Khmer Rouge forces made sure that people were terrified of them. They were so cruel, “ just killing those who did not agree with them was not enough, as member of the Khmer Rouge took great delight in torturing individuals using cheap yet horribly effective methods to ensure that people truly fear them”. The people were tortured and the Khmer Rouge forced used “boiling water, simulated drowning, use of leeches, electrocution and skinning” just to ensure that people were afraid of them. People were forced to farm in fields by the Khmer Rouge. There's only a few that seem to have survived. Sadly, “One detention center, S-21, was so notorious that only seven of the roughly 20,000 people imprisoned there are known to have survived”. The people were also pushed around, “People were forced onto collective farms, where lived in communal barracks with insufficient sanitary facilities. They were forced and “This means that food was scarce and diseases were rampant”. All that led to illnesses and even more people getting killed because of the diseases that were passed

Genocide is a mass killing of a people or group (Simpson 46). The Cambodian genocide was a phenomenon in which millions died due to starvation, torture, and neglectance. This came to be because of the Cambodian Communists who began to overrule the country after their victory from the Cambodian Civil War (Tyner 277). They began to hold all power over the entire country of Cambodia. The Cambodian Genocide was an unfortunate event in the history of modern men.

From the time humans began to exist in this world, hatred seemed to be a superior attribute that one comes accustomed to. This inevitable emotion has the ability to provoke people to engage in acts without thinking; but it is the acts that are premeditated that should be be classified as evil and brutal. This appalling endeavor is known as genocide, the deliberate destruction of a particular national, racial or religious group. Between the years of 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge party leader, Pol Pot seized power of Cambodia and forced civilians of urban regions into rural lands for labor in order to build his own agrarian utopia. Over the course of these four years, the Cambodians and other minor ethnic groups suffered through labor camps, starvation, and torture which all led up to their demise. As a result of these mass killings, the country 's population depleted by over 20 percent in just a few years. The country went through hardship during and even before the genocide began including wars, torment, and considerable numbers of deaths.

Defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, the term genocide is “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group” [1]. The tragic events that occurred in the nation of Cambodia in 1975 is an example of genocide due to the mass killings that took place. Khmer Rouge, an authoritative organization, was the main source towards the genocide that occurred due to their opinions on mass production, which led to the deaths of thousands of Cambodian citizens. The passion between Khmer Rouges ideas behind mass production was very resilient which led to controlled actions and intentions causing the genocide to take place. Scared Sacred by Velcrow Ripper stated that the Khmer Rouge group directed the younger generations to partake in the involvement of mass killings. Furthermore, Ripper also said that any refusal of these killings would lead to an immediate execution [2]. These acts by the Khemer Rouge are exemplified in Extraordinary Evil written by Barbara Coloroso, as she said that the “bully chooses the target because of the targets real or perceived race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or ethnicity, and which, when legitimized, institutionalized, and politicized, can progress to Genocide”[3]. This statement by Coloroso is related to the Khmer Rouge because as stated previously, the Khmere Rouge

The Khmer rouge cleared individuals into a rustic in which there were no rich individuals, no needy individuals and misuse. To accomplish this, they canceled cash, schools, private property, religious practices and conventional Khmer government structures were closed or some transform into penitentiaries, revised instruction camp and silos. Also, individuals all through the nation needed to were dark outfits which were their conventional progressive garments. Amid this time, individuals need to comply with their tenets. Individuals can't go outside their agreeable and have talks. In the event that they did or talk as a gathering of individuals, they could be captured or executed. Throughout the following 3 years, they executed countless intelligent people, city occupants, Cham, Vietnames and Chinese who blamed for being double crosser.

The Cambodian Genocide (1975-1979) was a period of complete chaos and destruction. In The Killing Fields, Eyewitness Accounts The Cambodian Genocide, and The Endurance of the Cambodian Family Under the Khmer Rouge Regime: An Oral History, Cambodia became controlled by the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge entered Cambodia on April 17, 1975 in preparation for a nationwide “liberation campaign” (Mam, 119). The Khmer Rouge’s goals were to create a communist revolution that would place power in the hands of the peasants to benefit the state. They wanted to increase agricultural production and transform the Cambodian society (Mam, 119). Before the Khmer Rouge rose to power, Cambodian class, family, and religion played a huge role in Cambodian identity. The family tried to remain strong through resistance, making it difficult for the KR to implement their harsh plans. However, the Khmer Rouge did implement horrific policies that caused many Cambodians to endure suffering that lasted until the Vietnamese forces liberated Cambodia in 1979.

“People are crying, people are dying, We had no idea where we were going or how long it would take.” The Khmer Rouge killed thousands of people including soldiers, and politicians who were considered not to be good people. The cities were

In April 1975, Cambodia history would be changed forever. This was the start of Cambodia genocide. Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, became the ruler of Cambodia. He did not like the idea of them influenced by other countries. Khmer Rouge persecuted all the educated citizens. They persecuted doctors, lawyers, police, and former military. They even prosecuted Buddhists, Christians and Muslims. Khmer Rouge then put all the citizens in living arrangements according to their trust. The “old citizens” were the most trust worthy. Then, the pro-west and city dwellers were called “new citizens”. The last groups were the “candidates” and “full right citizens”. Anybody that refused re-education were killed in the fields or at the prison camp Tuol Sleng Centre. Khmer Rouge killed over 1.7 million people. In January 1979, Khmer Rouge was removed from power by Vietnam communist. Ever since the genocide, Cambodia became one of the least developed countries in the world. According to United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking,” Poverty, lack of education, and employment opportunities have left many Cambodians, particularly women and children, in extremely vulnerable situations”. This would cause people to find many different ways to make money. Families would sell their daughters to brothels to pay off debts. Girls who are forced to work in brothels endure rape, abuse and torture.

The Cambodian Genocide started in 1975 and ended in 1979. During that period of time the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. About 1.7 million people died out of a total population of seven to eight million. People died of starvation, disease, overwork and or execution. Unlike in other genocides or conflicts, no one was immune from being branded an enemy of the country. Even if someone was on the right side that could change the next day. The Khmer Rouge attempted to socially engineer a classless peasant society. The Khmer Rouge targeted certain groups. People the leader of the Khmer Rouge Lon Nol thought was weak and different. The Khmer Rouge had a lot to do with what happened in Cambodia. The Cambodian Genocide was based of the Khmer Rouge and how they took over cambodia in 1975. The Khmer Rouge saw cities as the heart of capitalism and therefore they had to be eliminated. 1.7 million people died during the cambodian genocide. The Khmer rouge targeted certain people of class to pray on such as people of education, different race, ethnicity, and even people who wore glasses. The Khmer Rouge planned to create a form of agrarian socialism meaning they wanted them to be more of farmers and have more agriculture instead of a society where

Kiernan (2004) affirms that, “Khmer rouge burned down libraries, closed schools, murdered school teachers and other intellectuals.” Pol Pot executed Cambodians who were against his idea of communism. The Cambodians suffered much oppression by the violent murderers, the regime. Kiernan (2004) also claims, “half of the Cambodian population perished form diseases, over work, starvation, executions, and brutal/harsh treatments.” And Mydan (1996) states, “Those people were killed in Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh.”

There were many genocides in the 20th century, one of which was in Cambodia. Genocide is the intention of killing or destroying a national, racial, ethnic, or religious group. The term genocide was developed by a polish writer named Raphael Lemkin. He combined the Greek word ‘genos’, meaning race, with the Latin word meaning killing,’cide’.

The Khmer Rouge attempted to build a self sufficient, agrarian, communist society. In doing so they did horrible things to completely innocent men, women and children. They tried to reach their “perfect society” by taking everything away from the people. No religion, no ownership, no sense of self. Communism has never been effectively practiced in the course of human history, this instance in Cambodia was no