The Cambodian Genocide and the Holocaust: Exceptional Similarities and Differences

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 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 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.

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 Democratic Kampuchea, in 1975, the radicalistic Khmer Rouge party formed under the communist leader Pol Pot, who was inspired to create a political nation that followed the footsteps Stalinism and Maoism. Compared to the Holocaust, which was singlehandedly the worst genocide in the 20th century in my opinion, Pol killed a believed 1.7-3.0 million Cambodians.

The Khmer Rouge forces took over Cambodia, and evacuated the nation's cities. They emptied schools, hospitals, factories and abolished all forms of money and wages. Religion, popular culture, and all forms of self expression were forbidden. They were forced into the countryside to do forced labor, and got less than 90 grams of rice a day. Where most people died from fatigue, disease, execution, and starvation. Now people of Cambodia are exchanging this terrible genocide for healing. Trying to find peace and a resolution for all those who have lost loved ones, or encountered this terrible genocide

The formation of the United Nations at the end of the Holocaust in 1945, was intended to prevent further genocides and to achieve world peace and security, but it did not stop the Cambodian Genocide by the Khmer Rouge. The mass murder of any group of people, known as a genocide, is strictly prohibited by the United Nations. If this is correct, how was the Khmer Rouge able to get away the murder of 3 million people from 1975 – 1979? Although both the Holocaust and Cambodian Genocide seem to have similarities in the murder of innocent people, they are vastly different.

The Cambodian genocide was one of the worst atrocities in the twentieth century. Innocent civilians living in Cambodia were targeted by a communist group called the Khmer Rouge. Victims such as Cham Muslims, Buddhist Monks, Christians, and anyone who was considered a threat to the ultimate goal of the perpetrators were extensively tortured or brutally murdered. Year Zero was a society that the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, wanted Cambodia to adapt. In order to do carry out his plan, he made everyone become farmers and started the genocide by evacuating the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. On April 17th, 1975, the Khmer Rouge Army stormed into Phnom Penh and forced two million people to the countryside. They ruled Cambodia until 1979

Genocide is the mass killing of a specific group of people, mainly targeting people with certain ethnic backgrounds or religious groups. The Pol Pot genocide in Cambodia was endorsed by the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. The Cambodians were under the control of Pol Pot during this time and the regime killed approximately 1.5 to 3 million Cambodian citizens, both children and adults. The Khmer Rouge was a communist party who began to make a move after seeing French colonization in Cambodia begin to struggle. The Khmer Rouge wanted to create the best community they could be, they started by killing and enslaving many Cambodians those who were educated and high up the social ladder (Sites.google.com, 2013). But there was one main perpetrator, Pol Pot who was a member but later on become the leader of the Khmer Rouge communist party.

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.

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.

Although in the eyes of Pol Pot he knew he was doing the right things no matter how tragic it was. Also it was Ethnic cleansing if the citizens of cambodia didn't

Pol Pot, a man who valued Mao’s Chinese communist way of living, saw the cities as the heart of capitalism and therefore it had to be eliminated (“The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot Regime”). With the help of the Khmer Rouge guerrilla Army, the survivors of the Cambodian Genocide are left to deal with their traumatic past and seek hope for a better future.

Sadly, they only received a chance at justice almost 10 years after their country was tortured. People throughout the country and the world have varying views on how these trials affected them either positively or neutrally and that it wasn’t enough. People felt as if the trials were a step in the right direction, but not the finish line. Others were happy that the trials occured and felt as if it was what they needed to find peace in knowing the men who tried to ruin their lives, were now sitting it jail the rest of their lives. Looking from an outside perspective, the world around the little country of Cambodia stepped in to help find peace. Instead they caused conflict over whether it was the right action to be taken and whether it positively affected and helped the country. Today in Cambodia, people are still suffering and struggling to be able to live normal lives. People lost all family members and friends and now have to start all over. Youk Chhang writes about his country and their efforts to unite and heal as one. “The job of the whole nation is to pick up all the little pieces to put back together," said Chhang. Cambodians, can "be proud of the genocide that we have lived through." "I'm proud to tell you that I have survived genocide and can tell you the story. I am no longer a victim," (Youk Chhang: Picking up the Pieces in Cambodia). In his interview with stanford, he talks about spreading the