Cambodian Genocide

Cambodian Genocide

http://www.countrywatch.com/cw_country.asp?vCOUNTRY=030

Pol Pot

• lived in Buddhist monastery for six years

• leader of the Khmer Rouge guerrillas

• took control of Cambodia in 1975

What did Pol Pot want to do?

Pol Pot’s Goal

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

How did Pol Pot do this?

He Started Over = Year Zero

Eliminate all knowledge of the past!!!!

How did he intend to pull this off?

• By enlisting the youth (some as young as 9) 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)

• 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.

Who are the Khmer Rouge?

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

Cambodia1975-1979

The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Communist regime Khmer Rouge, which ruled the country from 1975-1979. One Khmer slogan ran:

'To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.'

The massacres ended in 1979, when Communist Vietnam invaded the country and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime.

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

•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.

Khmer Slogan

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