Pol Pot - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google Pol Pot: The Early Years Saloth Sar, better known by his nom de guerre Pol Pot, was born in 1925 in the small village of Prek Sbauv, located about 100 miles north of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. His family was relatively affluent and owned 50 acres of rice paddy, or roughly 10 times the national average. In 1934 Pol Pot moved to Phnom Penh, where he spent a year at a Buddhist monastery before attending a French Catholic primary school. His Cambodian education continued until 1949, when he went to Paris on a scholarship. While there, he studied radio technology and became active in communist circles. Did You Know? An estimated 1.5 million people living in Cambodia were killed during the brutal regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Their bodies were buried in mass graves that became known as “killing fields.” When Pol Pot returned to Cambodia in January 1953, the whole region was revolting against French colonial rule. Cambodia officially gained its independence later that year.

Pol Pot, meanwhile, joined the proto-communist Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP), which had been set up in 1951 under the auspices of the North Vietnamese. From 1956 to 1963, Pol Pot taught history, geography and French literature at a private school while simultaneously plotting a revolution. In 1960 Pol Pot helped to reorganize the KPRP into a party that specifically espoused Marxism-Leninism. Three years later, following a clampdown on communist activity, he and other party leaders moved deep into the countryside, encamping at first with a group of Viet Cong. Pol Pot, who had begun to emerge as Cambodian party chief, and the newly formed Khmer Rouge guerilla army launched a national uprising in 1968. Their revolution started off slowly, though they were able to gain a foothold in the sparsely populated northeast. The Khmer Rouge Seizes Control In March 1970, General Lon Nol initiated a coup while Cambodia’s hereditary leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, was out of the country.

A civil war then broke out in which Sihanouk allied himself with the Khmer Rouge and Lon Nol received the backing of the United States. Both the Khmer Rouge and Lon Nol’s troops purportedly committed mass atrocities. At the same time, about 70,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers stormed across the border to fight North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops who had taken sanctuary there. U.S. President Richard Nixon also ordered a secret bombing campaign as part of the Vietnam War . Over the span of four years, U.S. planes dropped 500,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia, more than three times the amount dropped on Japan during World War II . By the time the U.S. bombing campaign ended in August 1973, the number of Khmer Rouge troops had increased exponentially, and they now controlled approximately three-quarters of Cambodia’s territory. Soon after, they began shelling Phnom Penh with rockets and artillery. A final assault of the refugee-filled capital started in January 1975, with the Khmer Rouge bombarding the airport and blockading river crossings. A U.S. airlift of supplies failed to prevent thousands of children from starving.

Finally, on April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge entered the city and ended the fighting. About half a million Cambodians had died during the civil war, yet the worst was still to come. Life Under the Khmer Rouge Almost immediately after taking power, the Khmer Rouge evacuated Phnom Penh’s 2.5 million residents. Former civil servants, doctors, teachers and other professionals were stripped of their possessions and forced to toil in the fields as part of a reeducation process. Those that complained about the work, concealed their rations or broke rules were usually tortured in a detention center, such as the infamous S-21, and then killed. The bones of people who died from malnutrition or inadequate healthcare also filled up mass graves across the country. Under Pol Pot, the state controlled all aspects of a person’s life. Money, private property, jewelry, gambling, most reading material and religion were outlawed; agriculture was collectivized; children were taken from their homes and forced into the military; and strict rules governing sexual relations, vocabulary and clothing were laid down.

The Khmer Rouge, which renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea, even insisted on realigning rice fields in order to create the symmetrical checkerboard pictured on their coat of arms. At first, Pol Pot largely governed from behind the scenes. He became prime minister in 1976 after Sihanouk resigned. By that time, border skirmishes were occurring regularly between the Cambodians and the Vietnamese. The fighting intensified in 1977, and in December 1978 the Vietnamese sent more than 60,000 troops, along with air and artillery units, across the border. On January 7, 1979, they captured Phnom Penh and forced Pol Pot to flee back into the jungle, where he resumed guerilla operations. Pol Pot’s Final Years Throughout the 1980s, the Khmer Rouge received arms from China and political support from the United States, which opposed the decade-long Vietnamese occupation. But the Khmer Rouge’s influence began to decrease following a 1991 ceasefire agreement, and the movement completely collapsed by the end of the decade.

In 1997 a Khmer Rouge splinter group captured Pol Pot and placed him under house arrest. He died in his sleep on April 15, 1998, due to heart failure. To date, a United Nations-backed tribunal has convicted only a handful of Khmer Rouge leaders of crimes against humanity. Tags What Was the Khmer Rouge What Was the Khmer Rouge? Glossary of Asian History Terms, K-M What Was the Khmer Rouge? Photos taken by the Khmer Rouge of some of their genocide victims, on display at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia. Squeaky Marmot on Flickr.com By Kallie Szczepanski Definition: Khmer Rouge: A Communist guerrilla movement in Cambodia (formerly Kampuchea) led by Pol Pot , which ruled the country between 1975 and 1979. The Khmer Rouge killed an estimated 2 to 3 million Cambodians via torture, execution, over-work or starvation during its four-year reign of terror.

(This was 1/4 or 1/5 of the total population.) They sought to cleanse Cambodia of capitalists and intellectuals, and to impose a new social structure based entirely on collective agriculture. Pol Pot's murderous regime was forced out of power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979, but the Khmer Rouge fought on as a guerrilla army from the jungles of western Cambodia until 1999. Today, some of the Khmer Rouge leaders are being tried for genocide and crimes against humanity. Pol Pot himself died in 1998, before he could face trial. The term "Khmer Rouge" comes from Khmer , which is the name for the Cambodian people, plus rouge, which is French for "red" - that is to say, Communist. Pronunciation: "kuh-MAIR roohjh" continue reading below our video Profile of Pol Pot Examples: Even thirty years later, the people of Cambodia have not fully recovered from the horrors of the Khmer Rouge's murderous reign.

Khmer Rouge Page - Killing Fields | Pol Pot | Ieng Sary | Nuon Chea | Kang Kek Ieu - Cambodian Information Center Khmer Rouge News Khmer Rouge Page Khmer Rouge derives from the French word, Khmer + Rouge = Red Khmer, named by the former King Norodom Sihanouk, for the label of Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) in 1971. The organization was originally formed as the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea in January 1968. In 1981, it's later changed to Party of Democratic Kampuchea. Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, and in 1976 Khmer Rouge established a new constitution with the new flag under offical name, Democratic Kampuchea. As one of the most violent regimes of the 20th century, the Khmer Rouge regime was responsible for the deaths of approximately 1.7 million people by execution, starvation and forced labor.

Known Name of Khmer Rouge: Khmer Krah-Ham (in Khmer, means Red Khmer) Angkar (in Khmer, means Government) Brief Background of Khmer Rouge: Powered by the Vietnamese, the Cambodian communist movement was created to fight against French colonization during decade of 1940s. In 1960, twenty one politicians formed Kampuchean (or Khmer) People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP). The Khmer Rouge, organized by Pol Pot in the Cambodian jungle in the 1960s, advocated a radical Communist revolution that would wipe out Western influences in Cambodia and set up a solely agrarian society. In 1970, aided by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, Khmer Rouge guerrillas began a large-scale insurgency against Cambodian government forces, soon gaining control of nearly a third of the country. By 1973, secret U.S. bombings of Cambodian territory controlled by the Vietnamese Communists forced the Vietnamese out of the country, creating a power vacuum that was soon filled by Pol Pot's rapidly growing Khmer Rouge movement.

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, overthrew the pro-U.S. regime, and established a new government, the Kampuchean People's Republic. As the new ruler of Cambodia, Pol Pot set about transforming the country into his vision of an agrarian utopia. The cities were evacuated, factories and schools were closed, and currency and private property was abolished. Anyone believed to be an intellectual, such as someone who spoke a foreign language, was immediately killed. Skilled workers were also killed, in addition to anyone caught in possession of eyeglasses, a wristwatch, or any other modern technology. In forced marches punctuated with atrocities from the Khmer Rouge, the millions who failed to escape Cambodia were herded onto rural collective farms. Between 1975 and 1978, an estimated two million Cambodians died by execution, forced labor, and famine. In 1978, Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, capturing Phnom Penh in early 1979. A moderate Communist government was established, and Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreated back into the jungle.

In 1985, Pol Pot officially retired but remained the effective head of the Khmer Rouge, which continued its guerrilla actions against the government in Phnom Penh. In 1997, however, he was put on trial by the organization after an internal power struggle ousted him from his leadership position. Sentenced to life imprisonment by a "people's tribunal," which critics derided as a show trial, Pol Pot later declared in an interview, "My conscience is clear." Much of the international community hoped that his captors would extradite him to stand trial for his crimes against humanity, but he died of apparently natural causes while under house arrest in 1998. Dap Prampi Mesa Chokchey [ដប់ប្រាំពីរ មេសា ជោគជ័យ] (English: Glorious Seventeenth of April) The bright red blood was spilled over the towns And over the plain of Kampuchea, our motherland, The blood of our good workers and farmers and of Our revolutionary combatants, of both men and women. Their blood produced a great anger and the courage To contend with heroism.

On the 17th of April, under the revolutionary banner, Their blood freed us from the state of slavery. Hurrah for the glorious 17th of April! That wonderful victory had greater significance Than the Angkor period! To construct a Kampuchea with a new and better society, Democratic, egalitarian and just. We follow the road to a firmly-based Independence. We absolutely guarantee to defend our motherland, Our fine territory, our Magnificent revolution! Hurrah for the new Kampuchea, A splendid, democratic land of plenty! We guarantee to raise aloft and wave the red banner of the revolution. We shall make our motherland prosperous beyond all others, Magnificent, wonderful! Trial of Khmer Rouge June 21, 1997, Cambodian Co-Prime Norodom Ranariddh and Co-Prime Minister Hun Sen requested United Nations assistance in organizing the process for the Khmer Rouge trials. UN Secretary established a group of experts to study the process and to present a completely international tribunal to the General Assembly and Security Council.

In 2001, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) was established and the Law was signed by His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk. In 1999, Kang Kek Iew known as Duch, former director of S-21 Tuol Sleng prison was arrested and charged with the 1994 Law to Outlaw the Democratic Kampuchea Group. Ta Mok, Khmer Rouge military leader was arrested and charged with violation of the 1994 Law to Outlaw the Democratic Kampuchea Group. WELL-KNOWN LEADERS of KHMER ROUGE Salot Sar known as Pol Pot [ Click picture to see more pictures of IENG SARY ] Original Name: Salot Sar, born in May 1925. He grew up in a well off farming family in Kompong Thong province (about 140 kilometers north of Phnom Penh ). 1931, moved to live with his brother in Phnom Penh .

His brother was an official of Palace 1946, joined Indochinese Communist Party to help oust French 1949, received a scholarship to study radio-electricity in France 1952, joined the French Communist Party, and later failed examination 1953, returned to Cambodia and joined Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP) 1954, taught history and geography in a private school in Phnom Penh while joined and worked for communist movement 1956, married to Khieu Ponnary 1960, helped with Paris's Student group to restructure KPRP and raname it, Workers' Party of Kampuchea (WPK) 1963, become command of WPK 1965, went to Hanoi and was approached to ousted the U.S.

out of Indochinese 1966, visited to China, and renamed his party to, Kampuchean Communist Party (KCP) 1967, refuged to live in the northeast of Cambodia 1968, his party established revolutionary army of Kampuchea 1975, turned Cambodia to the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea 1976, became Prime Minister and the official Cambodian head of state 1977, visited to China to seek military assistance against Vietnam 1979, fled by helicopter to Thailand after his regime was ousted by Vietnamese invasion 1985, resigned from the Khmer Rouge military forces 1997, was convinced that his minister for defence, Song Sen, was collaborating with the Hun Sen Government. Then, he was arrested by Ta Mok, commander of Khme Rouge 'Brother Number Five'. During his trail, he agreed to an interview with Nate Thayer, a journalist with the 'Far Eastern Economic Review'. He told Thayer, "First, I want to let you know that I came to join the revolution, not to kill the Cambodian people,... Look at me now. Do you think ...

am I a violent person? No. So, as far as my conscience and my mission were concerned, there was no problem. This needs to be clarified... Whoever wishes to blame or attack me is entitled to do so. I regret I didn't have enough experience to totally control the movement. On the other hand, with our constant struggle, this had to be done together with others in the communist world to stop Kampuchea becoming Vietnamese...

For the love of the nation and the people it was the right thing to do but in the course of our actions wemade mistakes." 1998, died in the evening of 15 April, reportedly from heart failure References: has three daughters and a son 1960, taught history and geography at Kampuch Botr School 1 1963, fled to join the force at a northeastern jungle in Kampong Cham 1 1970, went to Vietnam to seek help from Vietnam 1 1972, became the commander in chief of northeastern zone's military 1 1973, worked in a secret office of the party in suburb of Hanoi, Vietname 1 1975, became a member of the People’s Revolutionary Party and later in September, was a member of the central committee 1 9 October 1975, in charge of foreign affairs of the party and the state 1 30 March 1976, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of Foreign Affairs 1 1996, surrendered to the government and was granted amnesty [ Click picture to see more pictures of KHIEU SAMPHAN ] born

 July 27, Kompong Cham Province (?) 1959, finished his study of Economy in France 1950 - 1960, an official for Sihanouk 1962 - 1966; was elected to the National Assembly 1967 - fled to join Communist Movement 1976 - 1979, chairman of the state presidium of Cambodia 1979, led a rebel government 1981, held talk with Sahnouk in Pyongyang, North Korea 1982, met Sihanouk in Beijing and maintained some international recognition 1985, succeeded Pol Pot as leader of Democratic Kampuchean faction 1987 - 1991, representatives of the Khmer Rouge for the 1991 Paris Peace Accords 1998, surrendered to the Cambodian government Pol Pot Pol Pot Saloth Sar (May 19, 1928ï¿½ April 15, 1998), better known as Pol Pot, was the leader of the Cambodian communist movement known as the Khmer Rouge [7] and was Prime Minister

 of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976ï¿½1979.

Pol Pot became leader of Cambodia in mid-1975. [2] During his time in power, Pol Pot imposed a version of agrarian collectivization , forcing city dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects, toward a goal of "restarting civilization" in a " Year Zero ". The combined effects of slave labor, malnutrition, poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million people, approximately 21% of the Cambodian population. [8] In 1979, after the invasion of Cambodia by neighboring Vietnam in the Cambodianï¿½Vietnamese War , Pol Pot fled into the jungles of southwest Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge government collapsed. [9] From 1979 to 1997 he and a remnant of the old Khmer Rouge operated from the border region of Cambodia and Thailand , where they clung to power and United Nations recognition as the rightful government of Cambodia . Pol Pot died in 1998 while held under house arrest by the Ta Mok faction of the Khmer Rouge. Since his death, rumors that he was poisoned have persisted.

[10] In October 1970, Saloth issued a resolution in the name of the Central Committee. The resolution stated the principle of independence mastery which was a call for Cambodia to decide its own future independent of the influence of any other country. The resolution also included statements describing the betrayal of the Cambodian Communist movement in the 1950s by the Viet Minh. This was the first statement of the anti-Vietnamese/self sufficiency at all costs ideology that would be a part of the Pol Pot regime when it took power years later. Through 1971, the Vietnamese (North Vietnamese and Viet Cong) did most of the fighting against the Cambodian government while Saloth and the Khmer Rouge functioned almost as auxiliaries to their forces. Saloth took advantage of the situation to gather in new recruits and to train them to a higher standard than previously was possible. Saloth also put resources of Khmer Rouge organizations into political education and indoctrination. While accepting anyone regardless of background into the Khmer Rouge army at this time, Saloth greatly increased the requirements for membership in the party. Students and so-called middle peasants were now rejected by the party.

Those with clear peasant backgrounds were the preferred recruits for party membership. These restrictions were ironic in that most of the senior party leadership including Saloth came from student and middle peasant backgrounds. They also created an intellectual split between the educated old guard party members and the uneducated peasant new party members. In early 1972, Saloth toured the insurgent/Vietnamese controlled areas and Cambodia . He saw a regular Khmer Rouge army of 35,000 men taking shape supported by around 100,000 irregulars . China was supplying five million dollars a year in weapons and Saloth had organized an independent revenue source for the party in the form of rubber plantations in eastern Cambodia The Khmer Rouge also used the US bombings of Villages along the Vietnam/Cambodian border to aid in their recruitment of members. After a central committee meeting in May 1972, the party under the direction of Saloth began to enforce new levels of discipline and conformity in areas under their control. Minorities such as the Chams were forced to conform to Cambodian styles of dress and appearance. These policies, such as forbidding the Chams from wearing jewelry, were soon extended to the whole population.

A haphazard version of land reform was undertaken by Saloth. Its basis was that all land holdings should be of uniform size. The party also confiscated all private means of transportation at this time. The 1972 policies were aimed at reducing the peoples of the liberated areas to a sort of feudal peasant equality. These policies were generally favorable at the time to poor peasants and extremely unfavorable to refugees from towns that had fled to the countryside. In 1972, the Vietnamese army forces began to withdraw from the fighting against the Cambodian government. Saloth issued a new set of decrees in May 1973 which started the process of reorganizing peasant villages into cooperatives where property was jointly owned and individual possessions banned. The Khmer Rouge advanced during 1973. After they reached the edges of Phnom Penh, Saloth issued orders during the peak of the rainy season that the city be taken. The orders led to futile attacks and wasted lives among the Khmer Rouge army. By the middle of 1973, the Khmer Rouge under Saloth controlled almost two-thirds of the country and half the population.

Vietnam realized that it no longer controlled the situation and began to treat Saloth as more of an equal leader than a junior partner. In late 1973, Saloth made strategic decisions about the future of the war. His first decision was to cut the capital off from contact from outside supply and effectively put the city under siege. The second decision was to enforce tight command on people trying to leave the city through the Khmer Rouge lines. The city people were considered like a disease that needed to be contained so that it would not infect areas run by the Khmer Rouge. He also ordered a series of general purges . Former government officials, along with anyone with an education, were singled out in the purges. A set of new prisons was also constructed in Khmer Rouge run areas. The Cham minority attempted an uprising around this time against attempts to destroy their culture. While the uprising was quickly crushed, Saloth ordered that harsh physical torture be used against most of those involved in the revolt. As previously, Saloth tested out harsh new policies against the Cham minority before extending them to the general population of the country. The Khmer Rouge also had a policy of evacuating urban areas to the countryside.

When the Khmer Rouge took the town of Kratie in 1971, Saloth and other members of the party were shocked at how fast the liberated urban areas shook off socialism and went back to the old ways. Various ideas were tried to re-create the town in the image of the party, but nothing worked. In 1973, out of total frustration, Saloth decided that the only solution was to send the entire population of the town to the fields in the countryside. He wrote at the time "if the result of so many sacrifices was that the capitalists remain in control, what was the point of the revolution?ï¿½ Shortly after, Saloth ordered the evacuation of the 15,000 people of Kompong Cham for the same reasons. The Khmer Rouge then moved on in 1974 to evacuate the larger city of Oudong. Internationally, Saloth and the Khmer Rouge were able to gain the recognition of 63 countries as the true government of Cambodia . A move was made at the United Nations to give the seat for Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge. The government prevailed by two votes.

In September 1974, Saloth gathered the central committee of the party together. As the military campaign was moving toward a conclusion, Saloth decided to move the party toward implementing a socialist transformation of the country in the form of a series of decisions. The first one was that after their victory, the main cities of the country would be evacuated with the population moved to the countryside. The second was that money would cease to be put into circulation and quickly be phased out. The final decision was the party's acceptance of Saloth's first major purge. In 1974, Saloth had purged a top party official named Prasith. Prasith was taken out into a forest and shot without any chance to defend himself. His death was followed by a purge of cadres who, like Prasith, were ethnically Thai . Saloth offered as explanation that the class struggle had become acute and that a strong stand had to be made against the enemies of the party. The Khmer Rouge were positioned for a final offensive against the government in January 1975. At the same time at a press event in Beijing, Sihanouk proudly announced Saloth's "death list" of enemies to be killed after victory.

The list, which originally contained seven names, expanded to twenty-three, including all the senior government leaders along with the military and police leadership. The rivalry between Vietnam were delayed and in one instance the Cambodians were forced to sign a humiliating document thanking Vietnam for shipments of what were in fact Chinese weapons. In September 1975, the government formed a Supreme National Council with new leadership, with the aim of negotiating a surrender to the Khmer Rouge. It was headed by Sak Sutsakhan who had studied in France with Saloth and was cousin to the Khmer Rouge Deputy Secretary Nuon Chea. Saloth's reaction to this was to add the names of everyone involved to his post-victory death list. Government resistance finally collapsed on September 17, 1975. The Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. As the leader of the Communist Party, Saloth Sar was the designated leader of the new regime. He took the name "brother number one" and declared his nom de guerre Pol Pot, from Politique potentielle, the French equivalent of a phrase supposedly coined for him by the Chinese leadership.

A new constitution was adapted on January 5, 1976, officially altering the country's name to "Democratic Kampuchea". The newly-established Representative Assembly held its first plenary meeting on April 11- 13 , electing a new government with Pol Pot as prime minister. His predecessor, Khieu Samphan was instead given the position of head of state as President of the State Presidium. Prince Sihanouk was given no role in the government and was placed under detention. Immediately after the fall of Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge began to implement their concept of Year Zero and ordered the complete evacuation of Phnom Penh and all other recently captured major towns and cities. Those leaving were told that the evacuation was due to the threat of severe American bombing and it would last for no more than a few days. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge had been evacuating captured urban areas for many years, but the evacuation of Phnom Penh was unique in scale. The first operations to evacuate urban areas occurred in 1968 in the Ratanakiri area and were aimed at moving people deeper into Khmer Rouge territory to better control them.

From 1971-1973, the motivation changed. Pol Pot and the other senior leaders were frustrated that urban Cambodians were retaining old habits of trade and business. When all other methods had failed, evacuation to the countryside was adopted to solve the problem. Pol Pot adopted the Maoist idea that peasants were the true working class. In 1976, people were reclassified as full-rights (base) people, candidates and depositees - so called because they included most of the new people who had been deposited from the cities into the communes. Depositees were marked for destruction. Their rations were reduced to two bowls of rice soup, or " p'baw " per day. This led to widespread starvation. "New people" were allegedly given no place in the elections taking place on March 20, 1976, despite the fact the constitution was said to have established universal suffrage for all Cambodians over age 18. The Khmer Rouge leadership boasted over the state-controlled radio that only one or two million people were needed to build the new agrarian communist utopia .

As for the others, as their proverb put it, "To keep you is no benefit; to destroy you is no loss." [15] Hundreds of thousands of the new people, and later the depositees, were taken out in shackles to dig their own mass graves . Then the Khmer Rouge soldiers beat them to death with iron bars and hoes or buried them alive. A Khmer Rouge extermination prison directive ordered, "Bullets are not to be wasted." These mass graves are often referred to as The Killing Fields . The Khmer Rouge also classified by religion and ethnic group. They banned all religion and dispersed minority groups, forbidding them to speak their languages or to practice their customs. They especially targeted Buddhist monks, Muslims, Western-educated intellectuals, educated people in general, people who had contact with Western countries or with Vietnam , disabled people, and the ethnic Chinese, Laotians and Vietnamese . Some were put in the S-21 camp for interrogation involving torture in cases where a confession was useful to the government. Many others were summarily executed.

Confessions forced at S-21 were extracted from prisoners through such methods as raising prisoners by their arms tied behind and dislocating shoulders, removing toenails with pliers, suffocating a prisoner repeatedly, and skinning a person while alive.[ citation needed ] According to Franï¿½ois Ponchaud's book Cambodia: Year Zero, "Ever since 1972 the guerrilla fighters had been sending all the inhabitants of the villages and towns they occupied into the forest to live and often burning their homes, so that they would have nothing to come back to." The Khmer Rouge refused offers of humanitarian aid , a decision which proved to be a humanitarian catastrophe: millions died of starvation and brutal government-inflicted overwork in the countryside. To the Khmer Rouge, outside aid went against their principle of national self-reliance . Property became collective, and education was dispensed at communal schools. Children were raised on a communal basis. Even meals were prepared and eaten communally. Pol Pot's regime was extremely paranoid. Political dissent and opposition were not permitted. People were treated as opponents based on their appearance or background. Torture was widespread. In some instances, throats were slit as prisoners were tied to metal bed frames.

Thousands of politicians and bureaucrats accused of association with previous governments were executed. Phnom Penh was turned into a ghost city, while people in the countryside were dying of starvation or illnesses or simply killed. The casualty list from the civil war , Pol Pot's consolidation of power, and the later intervention by Vietnam is disputed. Different estimates vary from 750,000 to over two million. Credible Western and Eastern sources [16] put the death toll inflicted by the Khmer Rouge at 1.6 million. A specific source, such as a figure of 3 million deaths between 1975 and 1979, was given by the People's Republic of Kampuchea . Franï¿½ois Ponchaud suggested 2.3 million, the Yale Cambodian Genocide Project [8] estimates 1.7 million, Amnesty International estimated 1.4 million and the United States Department of State , 1.2 million. Pol Pot aligned the country politically with the People's Republic of China and adopted an anti-Soviet line. This alignment was more political and practical than ideological.

Vietnam was aligned with the Soviet Union so Cambodia aligned with the rival of the Soviet Union and Vietnam Prime Minister Pol Pot ( Saloth Sar) of Cambodia 1976-1978 | Srimal Fernando Blog Posted by: Srimal Fernando | June 30, 2010 Prime Minister Pol Pot ( Saloth Sar) of Cambodia 1976-1978 Born on 19 May 1925 as Saloth Sar, Pol Pot was the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1978. While Pol Pot was in power, Cambodia was known as Democratic Kempuchea and underwent a series of experiments in order to become a socialist society. Pol Pot was born in the Kampung Thrum Province in Cambodia to a wealthy family. He was familiar with the royal family, since his sister was the concubine of a king. An attempt by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot to form a Communist peasant farming society resulted in the deaths of 25 percent of the country’s population from starvation, overwork and executions.

Pol Pot was born in 1925 (as Saloth Sar) into a farming family in central Cambodia, which was then part of French Indochina. In 1949, at age 20, he traveled to Paris on a scholarship to study radio electronics but became absorbed in Marxism .Returned to Cambodia in 1953 and joined the underground Communist movement. The following year, Cambodia achieved full independence from France and was then ruled by a royal monarchy. By 1962, Pol Pot had become leader of the Cambodian Communist Party and was forced to flee into the jungle to escape the wrath of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, leader of Cambodia. In the jungle, Pol Pot formed an armed resistance movement that became known as the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians) and waged a guerrilla war against Sihanouk’s government. Saloth Sar better known as Pol Pot, was the leader of the Cambodian communist movement known as the Khmer Rouge and was Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976–1979.

His time as the leader of Cambodia, in which he attempted to “cleanse” the country, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million people. Pol Pot became leader of Cambodia in mid-1975 During his time in power, Pol Pot imposed a version of agrarian collectivization , forcing city dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects, toward a goal of “restarting civilization” in a “ Year Zero “. The combined effects of slave labor, malnutrition, poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21% of the Cambodian population On December 25, 1978, Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of Cambodia seeking to end Khmer Rouge border attacks. On January 7, 1979, Phnom Penh fell and Pol Pot was deposed. The Vietnamese then installed a puppet government consisting of Khmer Rouge defectors. Pol Pot retreated into Thailand with the remnants of his Khmer Rouge army and began a guerrilla war against a succession of Cambodian governments lasting over the next 17 years.

After a series of internal power struggles in the 1990s, he finally lost control of the Khmer Rouge. In April 1998, 73-year-old Pol Pot died of an apparent heart attack following his arrest, before he could be brought to trial by an international tribunal for the events of 1975-79. Pol Pot died in 1998 while held under house arrest by the Ta Mok faction of the Khmer Rouge “I did not join the resistance movement to kill people, to kill the nation. Look at me now. Am I a savage person? My conscience is clear”. Pol Pot Pol Pot News | Quotes | Wiki - UPI.com Pol Pot News Next Wiki Saloth Sar (May 19, 1925 – April 15, 1998), better known as Pol Pot, (Khmer: ប៉ុល ពត), was the leader of the Cambodian communist movement known as the Khmer Rouge and was Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976–1979.

Pol Pot's leadership, in which he attempted to "cleanse" the country, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7–2.5 million people. Pol Pot became leader of Cambodia in mid-1975. During his time in power, Pol Pot imposed a version of agrarian socialism, forcing urban dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects, toward a goal of "restarting civilization" in a "Year Zero". The combined effects of forced labour, malnutrition, poor medical care and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21% of the Cambodian population. In 1979, after the invasion of Cambodia by neighboring Vietnam in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War, Pol Pot fled into the jungles of southwest Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge government collapsed. From 1979 to 1997 he and a remnant of the old Khmer Rouge operated from the border region of Cambodia and Thailand, where they clung to power, with nominal United Nations recognition as the rightful government of Cambodia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License .

It uses material from the Wikipedia article " Pol Pot ." Quotes Cambodian Genocide « World Without Genocide - Working to create a World Without Genocide The Cambodian Genocide refers to the attempt of Khmer Rouge party leader “Pol Pot” to nationalize and centralize the peasant farming society of Cambodia virtually overnight, in accordance with the Chinese Communist agricultural model. This resulted in the gradual devastation of over 25% of the country’s population in just three short years. Cambodia Cambodia, a country in Southeast Asia, is less than half the size of California, with its present day capital in Phnom Penh. In 1953, Cambodia gained its independence from France, after nearly 100 years of colonialist rule. As the Vietnam War progressed, Cambodia’s elected Prime Minister Norodom Sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality. Sihanouk was ousted in 1970 by a military coup led by his own Cambodian General Lon Nol, a testament to the turbulent political climate of Southeast Asia during this time. In the years preceding the genocide, the population of Cambodia was just over 7 million, almost all of whom were Buddhists.

The country borders Thailand to its west and northwest, Laos to its northeast, and Vietnam to its east and southeast. The south and southwest borders of Cambodia are coastal shorelines on the Gulf of Thailand. The actions of the Khmer Rouge government which actually constitute “genocide” began shortly after their seizure of power from the government of Lon Nol in 1975, and lasted until the Khmer Rouge was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1978. The genocide itself emanated from a harsh climate of political and social turmoil. This atmosphere of communal unrest in Cambodia arose during the French decolonization of Southeast Asia in the early 1950s, and continued to devastate the region until the late 1980s. BACKGROUND OF CAMBODIA Cambodia, a Southeast Asian country less than half the size of California, was the center of the ancient kingdom of Khmer with its capital city Angkor. Cambodia gained its independence from France in 1953, after nearly 100 years of colonial rule.

Power was given to Cambodia’s Prince Sihanouk but in 1970, he was deposed in a military coup led by his own Cambodian Lieutenant-General Lon Nol, a response to the turbulent political climate of Southeast Asia during this time. Lon Nol was made president of the new Khmer Republic while Prince Sihanouk and his loyal followers joined forces with a communist guerrilla organization known as the Khmer Rouge. Soon after, civil war in Cambodia began. The conflict in Cambodia was also caught up in another country’s war: Vietnam. Vietnam at this time was fighting against the French for independence. The French were defeated in 1954, and Vietnam found itself divided in two: communist North Vietnam and pro-Western South Vietnam. Civil war immediately broke out between the two factions. The Viet Congo, a Vietnamese communist guerrilla group with support from North Vietnam and China, fought the South Vietnamese army. [1] In 1964, the US entered the Vietnam War and, after several years of fighting, the US finally withdrew. The war was inconclusive, had cost over three million American and Vietnamese lives, and left the region devastated.

[2] Under Prince Sihanouk, Cambodia had maintained neutrality during the Vietnam War by giving support to both sides. The Viet Cong were allowed to use Cambodian ports to ship in supplies while the US was allowed to bomb Viet Cong hideouts in Cambodia- secretly and illegitimately. US troops were allowed to move freely into Cambodia to continue their struggle with the Viet Cong. For the next four years, American B-52 bombers led attacks to destroy suspected North Vietnamese supply lines. In this effort, as many as 750,000 Cambodians were killed. [3] In 1975, North Vietnamese forces seized South Vietnam’s capital, Saigon, and by the Khmer Rouge and its leader Pol Pot defeated Cambodian Lieutenant-General Lon Nol. Approximately 156,000 Cambodians died in the civil war, half of them civilians. [4] Khmer Rouge timeline RISE OF THE KHMER ROUGE The Khmer Rouge was a brutal, murderous revolutionary group intent on revolutionizing Cambodian society. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge army marched into Phnom Penh, the modern capitol.

Khmer Rouge soldiers, young peasants from the provinces, mostly uneducated teenage boys who had never been in a city before, swept through town. They set to their job right away, evacuating Phnom Penh and forcing all of its residents to leave behind all their belongings and march towards the countryside. “Hospital patients still in their white gowns stumbled along carrying their IV bottles. Screaming children ran in desperate search for their parents.” [5] Khmer Rouge Soldiers (AP Photo/Christoph Froehder) Although the Khmer Rouge movement was small at first, new people were constantly being recruited. Many Cambodians had become disenchanted with western democracy due to the huge loss of Cambodian lives that resulted from the US strategy to involve Cambodia in the Vietnam War. The heavy U.S. bombardment, and Lon Nol’s collaboration with the US, drove new recruits to Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge guerrilla movement. Pol Pot’s communism brought with it images of new hope and national tranquility for Cambodia. By 1975, Pol Pot’s force had grown to over 700,000 men.

Within days of the Khmer Rouge takeover of Phnom Phen, Pol began implementing his extremist policies of collectivization. The government confiscated and took control of all property including schools, hospitals, various other societal institutions, and communal labor. Pol Pot was educated in France and he was an ardent admirer of “Mao” (Chinese) communism as well as Stalinism. Pol Pot envisioned the creation of a “new” Cambodia based on the Maoist-Communist model and wanted to restore the country to an agrarian society based on Maoist ideals. [6] The aim of the Khmer Rouge was to deconstruct Cambodia back to a primitive “Year Zero,” wherein all citizens would participate in rural work projects, and any Western innovations would be removed. “It was an attempt of the Khmer Rouge to nationalize and centralize the peasant farming society of Cambodia virtually overnight, in accordance with the Chinese Communist agricultural model.” [7] Taking Cambodia back to Year Zero In order to achieve the “ideal” communist model, the Khmer Rouge believed that all Cambodians must be made to labor for a federation of collective farms; anyone in opposition to this system must be eliminated.

Under threat of death, Cambodians nationwide were forced from their hometowns and villages. The ill, disabled, old, and young who were incapable of making the journey to the collectivized farms and labor camps were killed on the spot. People who refused to leave were killed, along with any who appeared to be in opposition to the new regime. Residents of entire cities were forcibly evacuated to the countryside. All political and civil rights of the citizen were abolished. Children and parents were separated and sent to different labor camps. [8] Cambodians who survived the purges and marches became unpaid laborers, working on minimum rations for endless hours. They were forced to live in public communes, similar to military barracks, with constant food shortages and rampant disease. Due to conditions of virtual slave labor, starvation, physical injury, and illness, many Cambodians became incapable of performing physical work and were killed by the Khmer Rouge as expenses to the system.

[9] “To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.” -Kang Kek Iew (mid-level leader of the Khmer Rouge regime) This list of “potential opposition” included, but was not limited to, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professionals, intellectuals, such as students and professors, and members of the upper class. Factories, schools, universities, hospitals, and all other private institutions were shut down; all their former owners and employees were murdered along with their extended families. It was very common for people to be shot for speaking a foreign language or wearing glasses as these were traits that were associated with the West. Many were also shot for smiling or crying as it was forbidden to show any kind of emotion. Much of the killing was inspired by the extremist propaganda of a militant communist transformation with the belief that individuals such as journalists, intellectuals, and others were threats to the state. The Khmer Rouge also targeted various religious and ethnic groups during its time in power. Religious enthusiasts, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodians with Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai ancestry, were all persecuted. Leading Buddhist monks and Christian missionaries were killed, and temples and churches were burned.

[10] Minority groups were forcibly relocated and the use of minority language was also banned. The Khmer Rouge also vigorously interrogated its own membership and frequently executed members on suspicions of treachery or sabotage. Survival was determined by one’s ability to work. Therefore, Cambodia’s elderly, handicapped, ill, and children suffered enormous casualties for their inability to perform unceasing physical labor on a daily basis. While the Khmer Rouge was gaining power, the U.S. government had very little interest in the events that were occurring in Southeastern Asia. The American Embassy had little concern about the regime and was principally concerned with Cambodia in relation to the effect on the Vietnam War. [11] The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh was not particularly interested in the victims, either. General William Westmoreland, the commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, stated, “The Oriental doesn’t put the same high price on life as does a Westerner. Life is plentiful, life is cheap in the Orient.” [12] It is estimated that one and a half to three million Cambodians lost their lives at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

On July 25, 1983, the Research Committee on Pol Pot’s Genocidal Regime issued its final report, including detailed province-by-province data. The data showed that the number of deaths was 3,314,768. An estimated 25 percent of the total population died due to the Khmer Rouge policies of forced relocation of the population from urban centers, torture, mass executions, used of forced labor, and malnutrition. [13] [14] Even after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the people of Cambodia suffered greatly. Thousands of people fled to Thailand; many forced to eat leaves, roots, and bugs along the way. [15] Many died of starvation en route, or stepped on land mines, for Khmer Rouge soldiers had laid mines almost everywhere along the western border, to prevent their victims from fleeing. Those who made it to Thailand brought malaria, typhoid, cholera, and a host of other illnesses into the camps. Human rights groups estimated that about 650,000 more people died in the year following the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

[16] Khmer Rouge Killing Fields Most of the nation’s Khmer Rouge survivors suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, but through the 1990s, no one in Cambodia recognized this or was offered any treatment. No one paid any attention at all, allowing the illness to fester and, in some cases, worsen. For someone suffering from PTSD, almost anything out of the ordinary could set off a heart-wrenching panic. For older people with heart trouble, these panics could trigger a heart attack. [17] In the early 1990s, mass graves were uncovered throughout Cambodia. “Each held dozens, or hundreds, of skeletal remains from Khmer Rouge execution grounds. Most often villagers piled the remains in barns or outbuildings the Khmer Rouge had once used. Even now, decades later, villagers say the skulls speak to them.” [18] Skeletal remains unearthed (AP Photo/Heng Sinith) INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE THE EXTRAORDINARY CHAMBERS IN THE COURTS OF CAMBODIA Bringing the perpetrators to justice proved to be a difficult task.

Almost three decades after Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were driven out of Phnom Penh, the Cambodian government requested help from the United Nations in prosecuting its former leaders for crimes that were committed between 1975 and 1979. Initially, the UN wanted to create a court resembling the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, but the Cambodian government resisted the establishment of such as court. The Cambodian government refused the UN’s proposal, opposing Western influence in prosecuting individuals of the Khmer Rouge regime. After much negotiation through the UN General Assembly, the Cambodian government agreed to an amended bi-lateral agreement on June 6, 2003, which approved an agreement on the prosecution of crimes committed between 1975 and 1979. [19] This agreement resulted in the establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) Because it took so long to set up the Extraordinary Court, many of the members of Khmer Rouge had already died before the trials began.

The deceased included Pol Pot, Son Sen (Defense Minister and responsible for the Santebal, the Political Police), Yun Yat (Minister), Thiounn Thioeunn (Minister), Ta Mok (Chief of Military Command), and his deputy Ke Pauk. [20] Many suspected perpetrators were also killed in the military struggle with Vietnam or eliminated as internal threats to the Khmer Rouge itself. So far the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has prosecuted the following cases: Kang Kek Iew (AKA Comrade Duch) The head of the Khmer Rouge’s internal security branch who extended the prison system nationwide. He was responsible for overseeing the notorious Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Pehn. Kang Kek Iew was placed in charge of Tuol Sleng together with his lieutenants Mam Nai and Tang Sin Hean . Approximately 16,000 Cambodians were killed within the Tuol Sleng prison. There are only seven known survivors.

[21] Cambodian victims of Tuol Sleng He was the first Khmer Rouge leader to be tried by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and was convicted of crimes against humanity, murder, and torture. During his trial, Kang Kek Iew admitted his guilt over the crimes carried out in Tuol Sleng and on July 26, 2010, he was found guilty on charges of crimes against humanity, murder, and torture in which he was given a sentence of 30 years imprisonment. [22] Nuon Chea (AKA Brother Number Two) Second in command of the Khmer Rouge regime and was their chief ideologist. Nuon Chea was arrested at his home on September 19th, 2007, and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. [23] He denied all charges but was ultimately convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life. [24] Ieng Sary (AKA Brother Number Three) A co-founder and senior member of the Khmer Rouge, he was the Minister of foreign affairs as well as deputy prime minister.

Ieng Sary was arrested on November 12th, 2007, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Before the trial could conclude, Ieng Sary died of a gastrointestinal problems. [25] Ieng Thirith Minister of Social Affairs from 1975 until 1979. Ieng Thirith was arrested on November 12, 2007, after being indicted by the Cambodian Tribunal. [26] She was arrested for crimes against humanity and “planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges…and the unlawful killing or murder of staff members from within the Ministry of Social Affairs.” [27] Following evaluations from medical experts, she was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial due to her severe case of Alzheimer’s Disease. [28] Khieu Samphan Was an extremely powerful politician in the Khmer Rouge and served as head of state of Cambodia from 1976 until 1979. Khieu Samphan was arrested on November 19, 2007, charged with crimes against humanity, and was given a life sentence.

[29] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia has been criticized for being slow, as only three people who were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2011 have been tried and convicted. [30] There have also been allegations of corruption and politicization since the Chambers have been in session and concerns about the costs of the court, which has exceeded over $200 million. [31] In 2013, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Cambodia’s National Assembly approved a bill, which makes illegal the denial of the Cambodian genocide and the atrocities that were committed by the Khmer Rouge. [32] Updated: World Without Genocide, March, 2015. By Sandro Krkljes, World Without Genocide associate, Mitchell Hamline School of Law. [1] “Cambodia 1975.” Peace Pledge Union Information.

Khmer Rouge History | Cambodia Tribunal Monitor Khmer (pdf) Significant portions of the following historical overview were contributed by DC-Cam from Khamboly Dy’s “A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979).” Overview The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), otherwise known as the Khmer Rouge, took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975. The CPK created the state of Democratic Kampuchea in 1976 and ruled the country until January 1979. The party’s existence was kept secret until 1977, and no one outside the CPK knew who its leaders were (the leaders called themselves “Angkar Padevat”). While the Khmer Rouge was in power, they set up policies that disregarded human life and produced repression and massacres on a massive scale. They turned the country into a huge detention center, which later became a graveyard for nearly two million people, including their own members and even some senior leaders. The Rise of the Khmer Rouge The Cambodian communist movement emerged from the country’s struggle against French colonization 1940s, and was influenced by the Vietnamese.

Fueled by the first Indochina War in the 1950s, and during the next 20 years, the movement took roots and began to grow. In March 1970, Marshal Lon Nol, a Cambodian politician who had previously served as prime minister, and his pro-American associates staged a successful coup to depose Prince Sihanouk as head of state. At this time, the Khmer Rouge had gained members and was positioned to become a major player in the civil war due to its alliance with Sihanouk. Their army was led by Pol Pot, who was appointed CPK’s party secretary and leader in 1963. Pol Pot, born in Cambodia as Solath Sar, spent time in France and became a member of the French Communist Party. Upon returning to Cambodia in 1953, he joined a clandestine communist movement and began his rise up the ranks to become one of the world’s most infamous dictators. Aided by the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge began to defeat Lon Nol’s forces on the battlefields. By the end of 1972, the Vietnamese withdrew from Cambodia and turned the major responsibilities for the war over to the CPK.

From January to August 1973, the Khmer Republic government, with assistance from the US, dropped about half a million tons of bombs on Cambodia, which may have killed as many as 300,000 people. Many who resented the bombings or had lost family members joined the Khmer Rouge’s revolution. By early 1973, about 85 percent of Cambodian territory was in the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and the Lon Nol army was almost unable to go on the offensive. However, with US assistance, it was able to continue fighting the Khmer Rouge for two more years. April 17, 1975 ended five years of foreign interventions, bombardment, and civil war in Cambodia. On this date, Phnom Penh, a major city in Cambodia, fell to the communist forces. Life in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge Regime A few days after they took power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge forced perhaps two million people in Phnom Penh and other cities into the countryside to undertake agricultural work. Thousands of people died during the evacuations.

The Khmer Rouge also began to implement their radical Maoist and Marxist-Leninist transformation program at this time. They wanted to transform Cambodia into a rural, classless society in which there were no rich people, no poor people, and no exploitation. To accomplish this, they abolished money, free markets, normal schooling, private property, foreign clothing styles, religious practices, and traditional Khmer culture. Public schools, pagodas, mosques, churches, universities, shops and government buildings were shut or turned into prisons, stables, reeducation camps and granaries. There was no public or private transportation, no private property, and no non-revolutionary entertainment. Leisure activities were severely restricted. People throughout the country, including the leaders of the CPK, had to wear black costumes, which were their traditional revolutionary clothes. During this time, everyone was deprived of their basic rights. People were not allowed to go outside their cooperative. The regime would not allow anyone to gather and hold discussions. If three people gathered and talked, they could be accused of being enemies and arrested or executed. Family relationships were also heavily criticized. People were forbidden to show even the slightest affection, humor or pity.

The Khmer Rouge asked all Cambodians to believe, obey and respect only Angkar Padevat, which was to be everyone’s “mother and father.” The Khmer Rouge claimed that only pure people were qualified to build the revolution. Soon after seizing power, they arrested and killed thousands of soldiers, military officers and civil servants from the Khmer Republic regime led by Marshal Lon Nol, whom they did not regard as “pure.” Over the next three years, they executed hundreds of thousands of intellectuals; city residents; minority people such as the Cham, Vietnamese and Chinese; and many of their own soldiers and party members, who were accused of being traitors. Many were held in prisons, where they were detained, interrogated, tortured and executed. The most important prison in Cambodia, known as S-21, held approximately 14,000 prisoners while in operation. Only about 12 survived. Under the terms of the CPK’s 1976 “Four-Year Plan,” Cambodians were expected to produce three tons of rice per hectare throughout the country. This meant that people had to grow and harvest rice all 12 months of the year.

In most regions, the Khmer Rouge forced people to work more than 12 hours a day without rest or adequate food. Fall of the Khmer Rouge By the end of 1977, clashes broke out between Cambodia and Vietnam. Tens of thousands of people were sent to fight and thousands were killed. In December 1978, Vietnamese troops fought their way into Cambodia. They captured Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979. The Khmer Rouge leaders then fled to the west and reestablished their forces in Thai territory, aided by China and Thailand. The United Nations voted to give the resistance movement against communists, which included the Khmer Rouge, a seat in its General Assembly. From 1979 to 1990, it recognized them as the only legitimate representative of Cambodia. In 1982, the Khmer Rouge formed a coalition with Prince Sihanouk, who was exiled in China after the Cambodian Civil War, and the non-communist leader Son Sann to create the Triparty Coalition Government.

In Phnom Penh, on the other hand, Vietnam helped to create a new government – the People?s Republic of Kampuchea – led by Heng Samrin. The Khmer Rouge continued to exist until 1999 when all of its leaders had defected to the Royal Government of Cambodia, been arrested, or had died. But their legacy remains. Life in Cambodia Today Democratic Kampuchea was one of the worst human tragedies of the 20th century. Nearly two million Cambodians died from diseases due to a lack of medicines and medical services, starvation, execution, or exhaustion from overwork. Tens of thousands were made widows and orphans, and those who lived through the regime were severely traumatized by their experiences. Several hundred thousand Cambodians fled their country and became refugees. Millions of mines were laid by the Khmer Rouge and government forces, which have led to thousands of deaths and disabilities since the 1980s. A large proportion of the Cambodian people have mental problems because their family members were lost and their spirits damaged. These factors are one of the major causes of the poverty that plagues Cambodia today.

Khmer Rouge | political group, Cambodia | Britannica.com political group, Cambodia genocide Khmer Rouge, ( French: “Red Khmer”) also called Khmers Rouges, radical communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 after winning power through a guerrilla war. It was purportedly set up in 1967 as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea . Learn about the Khmer Rouge’s suppression of religion in Cambodia and the later revival of Buddhist … Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz Cambodia’s communist movement originated in the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party, which was formed in 1951 under the auspices of the Viet Minh of Vietnam . The party’s largely French-educated Marxist leaders eventually renamed it the Communist Party of Kampuchea. By the late 1950s the party’s members were engaged in clandestine activities against the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk , but for many years they made little headway against Sihanouk from their bases in remote jungle and mountain areas, partly because of Sihanouk’s own popularity among the peasants whom the communists sought to incite to rebellion.

After a right-wing military coup toppled Sihanouk in 1970, however, the Khmer Rouge entered into a political coalition with him and began attracting increased support in the Cambodian countryside, a trend that was accelerated by the destructive U.S. bombing campaigns over Cambodia in the early 1970s. By this time the Khmer Rouge were also receiving substantial aid from North Vietnam, which had withheld its support during the years of Sihanouk’s rule. In a civil war that continued for nearly five years from 1970, the Khmer Rouge gradually expanded the areas of the Cambodian countryside under their control. Finally, in April 1975, Khmer Rouge forces mounted a victorious attack on the capital city of Phnom Penh and established a national government to rule Cambodia. The military leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot , became the new government’s prime minister.

The Khmer Rouge’s rule over the next four years was marked by some of the worst excesses of any Marxist government in the 20th century, during which an estimated 1.5 million (and possibly up to 2 million) Cambodians died and many of the country’s professional and technical class were exterminated. Similar Topics

Question: In which country was Pol Pot Prime Minister from 1976 to 1979 and leader of the communist movement known as the "Khmer Rouge"?
Answer: Cambodia