The Genocide Carried Out by Pol Pot

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 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.

In the late 70’s, nearly 2 million Cambodians died of overwork, starvation, torture, and execution in what became known as the Cambodian genocide. A group known as the Khmer Rouge took control of the country in April 1975. Over the course of

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 .

The definition of genocide, according to the United Nations, was the attempt to destroy “a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group” by killing members, causing mental or bodily harm, harsh living conditions, prevention of births, and separating children from their families. There are four patterns of genocide, which do not always occur in every genocide since they’re not all the same. The four patterns include persecution, which is hostility and ill-treatment, especially toward a specific race, political, or religious belief done by the ruler or government. Next is displacement or when a group of people is forced to leave their native country. Continuing, public humiliation is another pattern that freely shows off a group of people being tortured or persecuted in plain sight. Finally when selective groups of people face at terrible fate while another group is spared the same fate as them is selective murder. Those were the four, very cruel and unfair, patterns of genocide.

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 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

In Cambodia, a genocide was carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979 in which an estimated one and a half to three million people died. The KR had planned to create a form of agrarian socialism which was founded on the ideals of Stalinism and Maoism. The KR policies of forced relocation of the population from urban centres, torture, mass executions, use of forced labor, malnutrition, and disease led to the deaths of an estimated 25 percent of the total population . The genocide ended following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. At least 20,000 mass graves, known as the Killing Fields, have since been uncovered.

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.

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.

Pol Pot largely governed from behind the scenes because he was one of the founders behind the Khmer Rouge. He became the Prime Minister which gave him the power to control. Under Pol Pot, the state took control and majorly changed everyone's aspect of life. Many were put to work and during the Cambodian genocide and scholorists were especially targeted , the bones of millions of people who died from malnutrition, overwork, or inadequate health care filled mass graves across the country.

In 1975, the Communist Party of Kampuchea, led by Pol Pot, invaded Phnom Penh and overthrew Lon Nol’s U.S. supported military dictatorship. The Communist Party of Kampuchea, otherwise known as the Khmer Rouge, was a Cambodian political party that based its ideals on nationalism, communism, and agrarian socialism. The Khmer Rouge first gained attention during communist movement that emerged from the anti-colonial struggle against France. During French rule, Cambodia was under the influence of western ideas and culture. Because Cambodia had been a French Protectorate since 1863, many aspects of Cambodian culture and identity were lost within French colonial rule. After seizing power over Cambodia in 1975 and it was renamed as Democratic Kampuchea. The Cambodian genocide occurred because a radical idea of nationalism and ended up wiping out one-third of Cambodia’s population. A debate surrounding Cambodian nationalism has been argued while investigating the history of the Khmer Rouge. Michael Vickery, the author of the book Cambodia 1975-1982, argued that the Khmer Rouge was inspired by the peasants to create a nation in which everyone had the same living standards.Ben Kiernan, director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, argued that by favoring the peasants, the Khmer Rouge destroyed the working class. Kiernan also argues that “Pol Potism” rose from the idea of Cambodian nationalism. In 1976, Pol Pot created the “Four Year Plan” to build socialism in

Pol Pot was born in Prek Sbauv, a small village in 1925. This village was approximately 100 miles north of Phnom Penh, the Cambodian Capital. His family was a little more than middle

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