The Cambodian Genocide

In Global Connections, we learned a lot about the Armenian Genocide: how the Turks systematically murdered a large portion of Armenians and how they continue to deny the genocide today. Although Turkey tries to cover it up, as it would stain their reputation if they admitted that it happened, many countries continue to put Turkey on trial for their crime. As a result, awareness has been wide spread about the Armenian genocide. However, there are many genocides that are not as well known. 

Throughout the 1960s, the Khmer Rouge operated as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Cambodia. At the time, the Khmer Rouge did not have popular support in Cambodia (especially in the cities). After the military overthrew Cambodia’s ruling monarch, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, in 1970 the Khmer Rouge joined forces with the Prince and formed a political coalition. For the next five years, a civil war broke out between the military and the Khmer Rouge. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge won the civil war and ruled the country. They decided not to restore power to Prince Norodom, instead handed power to the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot. 

Then, Pol Pot began to remake Cambodia, which they renamed Kampuchea, with the hopes of creating a communist-style, agricultural utopia. Pol Pot declared 1975 “Year Zero” and isolated Kampuchea from the global community. He resettled hundreds of thousands of the country’s city-dwellers in rural farming communes and abolished the country’s currency. He also outlawed the ownership of private property and the practice of religion in the new nation. 

From April 1975 to January 1979, Pol Pot’s regime executed thousands of people it had deemed as enemies of the state. Workers on the farm collectives established by Pol Pot soon began suffering from the effects of overwork and lack of food. Hundreds of thousands died from disease, starvation or damage to their bodies sustained during back-breaking work or abuse from the ruthless Khmer Rouge guards overseeing the camps. Those seen as intellectuals, or potential leaders of a revolutionary movement, were also executed. Some were executed for merely appearing to be intellectuals, by wearing glasses or being able to speak a foreign language. Hundreds of thousands of the educated, middle-class Cambodians were tortured and executed in special centers established in the cities--where men, women, and children were imprisoned during the regime’s four years in power.  This became known as the Cambodian Genocide where an estimated 1.7 to 2.2 millions Cambodians died during Pol Pot’s time in charge of the country.