Comparison Of Night And The Cambodian Genocide

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 occurred in the late twentieth century in Cambodia; the Holocaust took place in the beginning of the twentieth century in Germany and Eastern Europe. In the Cambodian Genocide and the Holocaust, individuals experienced a lack of allies because people were more concerned about self-preservation than they were about the other party. Bystanders, such as the United States and characters in Night, did not help because they valued their own safety over the safety of others. Allies were only motivated to help if they were sure it would disadvantage them.

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.

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.

Dead bodies everywhere you turn. The smell of gunpowder, filth, and death choke your lungs. You wonder everyday whether it will be your last. All your body feels is pain; all your heart feels is emptiness. One might think this is how life was for Jews during the Jewish Holocaust. In reality, this is how life was for many Cambodians during the reign of Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979. This event, known to many as the Cambodian genocide, left a profound mark on the world around us.

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.

Throughout the course of history, mankind has had a desire to become rich and powerful. Infamously, men have tried nearly every tactic to acquire such goals. Concentration camps, massacres, and famines are just simply some of the tactics used. As seen in both the Cambodian, and Rwandan Genocides, manual labor, along with malnutrition were primarily the cause of death amongst the captives.

In between 1975-1979 during the Khmer Rouge’s reign in Cambodia, a total of roughly 2 million people were killed.  A significant amount of these people were victims of execution enforced by the regime (Cambodia’s Brutal Khmer Rouge Regime). By killing this amount of people in such a short period of time, millions of families were forced into a state of emotional turmoil and grievance without some loved ones alive. Also, the current population suffered an immediate blow with the loss of all of these people, especially a scarce amount of doctors and lawyers during the regime’s rule. According to a teacher who broke the regime’s law of no travelling, she was taken with 19 others in the back of a truck enroute to their deaths. She said, "One

From the dawn of time up to current day, genocides have been happening throughout history. Some earlier genocides have not even been recorded or documented. Most genocides also share similar reasons for occurring. Genocides happen because one group wants complete control and absolute power over another. For instance, people can be killed for having different ideas or not being similar to to the opposing group. It is clear that genocides only end with senseless and brutal discrimination which results in many deaths. 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”).

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

Before 1970, the biggest minority ethnic groups in Cambodia were the Vietnamese, the Chinese and the Muslim Cham. They composed about 15% of the Cambodian population, but the Khmer Rouge regime claimed that they only represented about 1% of the total population (Kiernan, 80). The group statically had written them off. The Vietnamese community was totally eradicated during the genocide. Around a hundred thousand people were driven out of Cambodia during the first year after the civil war in 1975 (Kiernan, 80). The ones who stayed in Cambodia ended being killed. In 1979, it was almost impossible to find a Vietnamese person who survived in Cambodia. Many witnesses of the genocide describe it as being a systematic racial extermination (Kiernan,

Cambodia is a country in Southeast Asia which is about half the size of California and was ruled by the French until the Japanese could win the war. Cambodia borders the Gulf of Thailand, Thailand,Vietnam and Laos. Japan on the other hand surrendered the war so then the French took over in 1945. This time around the French allowed the Cambodians to have political parties and a constitution. Then in 1949 Cambodia was semi-independent according to a treaty. The French finally gave Cambodia their independence on November 9, 1953. King Sihanouk formed his own political movement in favor of his father from 1955-1970 then when his father died he named his movement the Buddhist Socialist which was not really socialist at all. In 1968 is when 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,

The trial against the two surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge charged in Case 002 is about to deal with the ‘regulation of marriage’. This is the name given by the ECCC to the Khmer Rouge-instigated marriages also known as ‘red weddings’ or ‘forced marriage’. In this symbolically laden case, the charges relating to the marriages stand as the only alleged crime of sexual and gender-based violence after no charges were brought for the many rapes committed in security centres and work cooperatives. As such, the charges have been described as ‘the Court’s best last chance to contribute to the ever-evolving body of law aimed at better responding to perpetually neglected sexual and other gender-based crimes in times of conflict and atrocity’.

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