Killing Field Cambodia

HISTORY

The Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979, in which an estimated 1.7 million people lost their lives (approximately 21% of the country's population), was one of the worst human tragedies of the last century. The Khmer Rouge, headed by Pol Pot, combined extremist ideology, ethnic animosity, and a disregard for human life to carry murder on a massive scale.

To understand Cambodia and appreciate the delicacy of the situation, one probably has to know something of its history. Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) was a significant player in formulating Cambodia's recent history. The majority of people in the world recognize Cambodia as an underdeveloped country just like any other. What the majority does not recognize are the atrocities that people in this country had to experience in the 70s when the Khmer Rouge was at it's height of savagery. Pol Pot was a man without conscience and he lacked the most basic human values and preyed on the innocent and naive citizens of Cambodia. All of this murder was done in the name of building a communist regime.

In the years that the Khmer Rouge was in power (around 5 years), almost 1/3 of the country's men, women, children were killed. Many were tortured for long periods of time, sometimes for more than 3 years. For years there was mass-murder in progress and the world didn't even know about it until it was almost too late. Much of what we understand about the Pol Pot regime was depicted in the movie "The Killing Fields." By talking to natives of Cambodia that lived near the killing fields we were able to hear first hand accounts of the atrocities that went on at Cheung Ek. It is chilling to hear about the bloody past that this country had gone through, with millions of people being executed in the public, starved to death and severely tortured. For a better understanding of what had happened, perhaps it's best that you further your investigation by reading the many reports that are available on the internet. If you are interested in reading more about the testimonies of Khmer people who lived during the Pol Pot regime please proceed to "The Death of Pol Pot".


Brief Background of Khmer Rouge:
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.