The Khmer Rouge
Genocides have been committed in numerous parts of the world as far back as the biblical times. Genocide has three definitions, a legal definition, common definition, and general definition. The common definition of genocide is the intentional killing of people because of a group identity. Generally genocide is the act of violent crimes against a group of people due to their race, ethnicity, or religion. (Rummel, p. 8)The genocide that occurred in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 was one of the worst genocides in modern history, killing between 1.7 million to 2 million Cambodians.The Khmer Rouge’s killing of the Cambodian people was the worst event in Cambodia’s history, affecting them physically and psychologically.
In 1943, Polish-Jewish scholar Raphael Lemkin coined the word genocide. ‘The term "genocide" is from the combination of the Latin words "gens, or gentis" meaning "birth, race, stock or kind", and -cidiummeaning “cutting or killing."’(Melpor, p.4)Before genocide actually occurs, groups of people become driven by someone with high power. These groups of people believe they are superior to the alternative group and begin to humiliate and dehumanize them, therefore; resulting in the beginning of genocide.
Born SalothSaron May 19, 1928, Pol Pot was born near AnlongVeng, Cambodia. He was from a well-known family and was educated by Buddhist monks at a private catholic school in the capital city of Phnom Penh. He later attended a technical school in Kompong Chan to learn carpentry. While in technical school he received a government scholarship to study radio and electrical technology in Paris where he learned of communism. Instead of focusing on his work he became so intriguedthat he later involved himself with the communist party which led him to bring the idea back to Cambodia.(world biography)
Pol Pot was against the Cambodian government and the ruling of Prince Norodom Sihanouk. In 1954 after Cambodia won its independence from the French, Pol Pot became involved with the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP). Here was when his hatred for intellectuals grew. In 1960 Pol Pot and a couple of his followers founded the Worker’s Party of Kampuchea where former front president TouSamouthbecame secretary general. After mysteriously disappearing, Pol Pot became secretary general in 1963. For the next couple years Pol Pot isolated himself from the public view and escaped to Beijing, China to receive organizational training in order to run his party. He returned into the public eye in 1966 and changed the name of his communist party to the Communist Party of Kampuchea.(world biography)
In April 1975 Phnom Penh fell to the communist parties and leaders struggled for power.
In response to the take over by Pol Pot, many Cambodians fled to nearby countries like Thailand and the Philippines. Pol Pot was reelected in 1976 as secretary general and later became premier. After being challenged of his authority by the Vietnamese, he began to remove those who may rise against him including political leaders.(Chandler, p. 25)
After the first two years of the Khmer Rouge regime, no one knew who was running the country. They thought it would be best if little was known in order to keep rule. Pol Pot and 4 other people ruled as Angka. Their names were never mentioned in order to keep its curiosity effective.
After taking over, Pol Pot wanted to convert modern Cambodia into an Agrarian Collectivization. He despised educated people and wanted simplicity. He moved those living in the cities out to the countryside to work on collective farms and labor projects hoping to restart civilization at “Year Zero”. Pol Pot’s main goal was to build a new Cambodia that would have agricultural success: “to build socialism in the fields” (Chandler, History of Cambodia, p. 214) Pol Pot and the Red Khmer developed a four-year plan in which the Khmer people working the fields would produce 1.4 tons of rice per acre. They knew that this was close to impossible so to make it possible they forced workers to work 12 hour shifts with out food or rest. Since many of the farmers were new, they were not used to the working conditions and became ill and eventually died. Those who did not die were taken into the woods. They would dig up their own graves and be killed by the Red Khmer.(Carvin, p. 2)With the Khmer people working the fields, they suffered from malnutrition and poor medical care which lead to many deaths. In addition to the number of deaths by malnutrition and poor medical care, thousands more were killed by disease and execution killing up to 20% of the Cambodian population. When the workers were not working in the fields, they were being lectured by the Khmer Rouge in daily meetings. These meetings acted like propaganda sessions so they can be convinced into Angka’s communist ideals. At these meetings, people had the “opportunity to confess their past political and ideological sins, as well as to rat out fellow Cambodians” (Carvin, p. 7) If someone confessed they were rewarded with applause but would later be taken out the camp quietly and executed. The Cambodian people saw this as an opportunity to confess their pasts and thought that they redeemed themselves to the Red Khmer. Unfortunately, it did not. (Kiernan, p. 174)
The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot and The Khmer Rouge sent Cambodians to the killing fields for minor crimes. Any sign of education would land you a ride to the killing fields. If one spoke French, was educated, or even wore glasses, they would be killed. Those who were educated, monks, officials, or business people had to cut ties of their past and pretend they were illiterate in order to survive. If they were caught, they were killed.
If they were not slowly dying in the rice fields, some were being interrogated inside the Khmer Rouge interrogation centers. The most known interrogation center is S-21 which is an abandoned high school in Phnom Penh. It was known as “the place where people go in but never come out” (Carvin, p. 1) The purpose of these interrogation centers was to get confessions from political prisoners before they were taken away for execution. As time went on Angka became more and more paranoid and started to blame some of their loyal followers for Cambodia’s disasters. They rounded up fellow communists and sent them to S-21 in order to get a forced confession out of them. Whether they were confessing or not, most of them were killed.Once someone arrived to S-21 their rights remained clear with a set of 10 rules and regulations that had to be followed. A set of rules are provided below:
1. You must answer according to my questions-Don’t turn them away
2. Don’t try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that. You are strictly
prohibited to contest me
3. Don’t be a fool for you are a chap who dare to thwart the revolution
4. You must immediately answer my questions without time to reflect
5. Don’t tell me either about your immoralities or the essence of the revolution
6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all
7. Do nothing sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet.
When I ask you to do something, you must do it without protesting
8. Don’t make pretext about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your secret or
traitor
9. If you don’t follow all the above rules, you shall get many lashed of electric
wire
10. If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or
five shocks of electric discharge (Carvin)
The methods that were used to extract confessions out of the prisoners were inhumane. Prisoner were whipped with electric wire, they were tortured with battery powered electric shocks, hot metal prods were put up against their bodies, and knives were used as well. There was a large wooden frame used by students in the courtyard of the former high school for gymnastics. The Khmer Rouge used it to hang prisoners. The plan was to never kill prisoners easily. The plan was to torture them as much as they could to get what ever kind of information was needed. At least 20, 000 people entered S-21, but only 6 made it out. (Haivenue)
It Is questionable how Pol Pot wanted to come into power. From the perspective of some people, the United States may be to blame for the Khmer Rouge. Because the United States was at war with Vietnam, they did everything in their power to win. Cambodia was torn apart due to constant internal problems and war with its neighbors. The Ho Chi Minh trail ran along the border of Cambodia and Vietnam and entered Cambodia in some areas. The Americans knew of the trail and needed to prevent the Vietnamese from running so a secret bombing campaign was put up. In order to stop them, they bombed the trail and areas that they could be escaping to, like Cambodia. They bombed the whole eastern and northeastern side hoping to stop the Viet Cong. The bombings eventually forced the Cambodians to flee the country or join the Khmer Rouge. Eventually the Cambodians wanted to regain control over its government which eventually led us to the rise of communist groups like that of Pol Pot’s.
Decades after this traumatic event, five Khmer Rouge officials are finally being put to trial.KaingGuekEav, the commander at TuolSleng was the first to be tried. After a little over a two month trial, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity.During the Khmer Rouge he was present for the most of the executions and brutal acts. He admitted to guilt but said he was only following orders from the higher powers. Those following the trial, mostly Cambodians, were relieved of the sentence but were not satisfied. (Northam, p. 3, 4) The other four leaders who are waiting to be tried are NuonChea, a former acting prime minister, LengSary, a former deputy prime minister of foreign affairs, his wife LengThirith, a Shakespearean scholar and a government minister, and KhieuSamphan, a former head of state. Not knowing how long these trials may take, many hope that they are all tried and justice will be served. (Barta, p. 3, 4)
With between 1.7 million to 2 million people dead, The Khmer Rouge systematically wiped out all of the Cambodian society and came close to successfully changing Cambodia. Pol Pot finally acknowledged the world that Cambodia was fully communist. That was until Vietnam successfully took over Phnom Penh and drove out Pol Pot and the Red Khmer. The Vietnamese set up a new government called The Peoples Republic ofKampuchea. After the genocide ended, those who survived went back to their villages and hoped that there was something or someone left. In many cases people returned to nothing. Their homes would be destroyed, their possessions missing, and worst, their relatives gone.Every single person who lived in Cambodia during this time lost at least one family member or were injured in some way by the Khmer Rouge’s influence over the country. The impact of the Killing Fields and S-21 still remains so large that some refuse to believe that the Khmer Rouge ever happened. The devastation that was felt kept people from speaking about it and their experiences during this time period. The Khmer Rouge’s killings of the Cambodian people was the worst event in Cambodia’s history, affecting them physically and psychologically
Works Cited
Barta, Patrick “Khmer Rouge Figures Indicted”2010
Carvin, Andy “From Slideshowto Genocide” 1999
Chandler, David P. “Brother Number One: A political biography of Pol Pot” 1999
Ford, Andrea “A Brieft History of Genocide” Dec 29, 2008
Haivenue “The horror of the ‘Killing Fields’” 2010
Kiernan, Ben “The Pol Pot Regime” 2008
Northam, Jackie “Khmer Official sentened to 35 years in Prison” 2010
R.J. Rummel “Genocide” 2002
Scaruffi, Piero “Wars and Genocides of the 20th Century” 2009
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