Cambodian Holocaust

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Cambodian Holocaust
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http//www.countrywatch.com/cw_country.asp?vCOUNTR
Y030
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Who is responsible for the Cambodian Holocaust?
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Pol Pot (Soloth Sar)

• lived in Buddhist monastery for six years
• leader of the Khmer Rouge guerrillas
• tried to turn Cambodia into a self-sufficient,
  agrarian utopia
• took control of Cambodia in 1975

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What did Pol Pot want to do?
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Pol Pots Goal

• Create a Self-sufficient, agrarian, utopia (true
  communism)

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How did Pol Pot do this?
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He Started Over Year Zero

• Eliminate all knowledge of the past!!!!

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How did he intend to pull this off?

• By enlisting the youth (9,10, 11 year old kids)
  of the country in his new army known as the Khmer
  Rouge (the young are easy to influence).
• By wiping the country clean of traces of the past
  (killing those with knowledge of the past).
• By controlling all aspects of the country
  (politically, economically and socially)

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• By forcing all citizens into collectives to work
  according to age, gender and skill.
• By holding indoctrination sessions every evening
  to remind them all of the wonderful rewards of
  communism.
• By publicly murdering anyone that questioned the
  Khmer Rouge.

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Who are the Khmer Rouge?
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Khmer Rouge

• The Communist Khmer Rouge came to power in this
  small Southeast Asian nation in 1975 as part of
  the vast upheaval caused largely by the spilling
  over of the Vietnam War.
• The Khmer are communist followers of Pol Pot
• Most are young and enjoy their new power

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When the Khmer took over

• The populations of Cambodia's cities were forced
  to evacuate the cities, move to the countryside
  and engage in agricultural labor.
  Communes/Collectives/Cooperatives

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• They closed most institutions (schools, banks,
  government buildings, churches) and vowed to
  provided for their needs in the countryside.
• They required absolute obedience from all
  Cambodians.

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Khmer Slogan

• Keeping new people is no benefit, losing them is
  no loss.

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What type of person was the most threatening to
the Khmer Rouges power?
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Who was murdered?
People with glasses People who could speak
another language People whom had
traveled Foreigners Counter-revolutionaries
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Educated Prisoner

• Intellectuals and anyone else seen as standing in
  the way of the new social order were mercilessly
  killed, while many of those who escaped execution
  died from overwork and starvation.

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S-21Prison (Interrogation Center)(a former high
school)
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S-21 Prison

• This building is now a museum devoted to helping
  those impacted by these events.
• Many Cambodians travel here to try to understand
  what happened to their families and friends.
• http//www.downtheroad.org/Asia/Photo/2Cambodia_Pi
  ctures/9Tuol_Sleng_Genocidal_Crime.htm

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So what brought an end to all of this?

• The Vietnamese invaded and took over Cambodia
  ousting the Khmer Rouge from power.
• The country remained communist for some time but
  not in such extreme conditions.
• Pol Pot fled into the jungle and remained in
  hiding until his death.
• Pol Pot denied that he had ever done anything
  wrong and truly believed he held the future of
  Cambodia in his hands.

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The Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979, eliminated
approximately 1.7 million people (21 of the
country's population)
A Killing Field
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• According to Yale Universitys Cambodian Genocide
  Program
• There were over 200 killing sites
• 9,500 mass grave pits

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http//www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/june97/cambodi
a_6-18a.html
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So what is Cambodia like after Pol Pot falls from
power?

• DUMB literally!!!!
• For four years all they have learned about is
  communism they have been shut out from the rest
  of the world. They farmed and read Maos Little
  Red Book. Generations of people are dead.

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http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/78988.stm
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Who is responsible for the Cambodian Genocide?

• Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (communists)

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Where and when did this occur?

• Cambodia
• At the end of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam
• 1975 - 1979

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Why and How?

• The communists wanted to purge the country of
  traces of the past and start over.
• They used young minds and brutal treatment to
  enforce their ways.

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Want to see a great movie on this historical
event?

• The Killing Fields