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Cambodia Basic Information

Located on Indochinese Peninsula About size of Missouri Mekong River 14.8 million people today

Government Today Democracy under a Constitutional Monarchy

Prime Minister Hun Sen

King Norodom Sinmoni

Ancient Cambodian History

Ca. 600 CE controlled by Khmer people Hindu religion Built Angkor Wat

Protectorate of France 1863-1953

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Angkor Wat

Cambodian Holocaust

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Very Important Terms to know…

Communism – a form of economy where the gov’t controls the means of production; businesses are owned by the gov’t, not pvt. individuals

Very Important Terms to know…

Guerilla warfare – non-traditional warfare by militia groups (not necessarily organized by the official gov’t)

Very Important Terms to know…

Agrarian – agriculture based

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

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What happened?

-  Prince of Cambodia deposed in 1970 -  Looked to a small guerilla militia “Khmer Rouge” for

support; eventually was put under house arrest - Gov’t became violent; Vietnam war was creeping over their borders; they wanted no part of it; ppl looked for answers -  “Khmer Rouge” appears from the jungles to save the day;

everyone was happy to seek peace! -  They captured capital city Phnom Penh 1975 (at end of

U.S.’s involvement in Vietnam War)

What happened?

-  Then they evacuated 2.5 million people from Phnom Penh to rural camps – return to their ancestral villages

-  Then from other cities as well

-  A shift to an agrarian society

-  Plan to become world’s only totally communist society -  No religion -  No education -  No “modernity” -  No money

What happened?

-  Turning back to “Year Zero”

-  No room for business people, intellectuals, foreigners, priests -  “What is rotten must be removed”

-  People died by execution, malnutrition, disease, forced labor

Who is responsible for the Cambodian

Holocaust?

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Pol Pot (Soloth Sar)

•  lived in Buddhist monastery for six years

•  leader of the Khmer Rouge guerrillas

•  tried to turn Cambodia into a self-sufficient, agrarian utopia

•  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?

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He Started Over = Year Zero

Eliminate all knowledge of the past!!!!

How did he intend to pull this off?

•  By enlisting the youth (9,10, 11 year old kids) 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?

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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

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.”

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What type of person was the most threatening to the Khmer

Rouge’s power? Who was murdered?

People with glasses

People who could speak another language

People who had traveled

Foreigners

Counter-revolutionaries

Educated Prisoner

•  Intellectuals and anyone else seen as standing in the way of the new social order were mercilessly killed, while many of those who escaped execution died from overwork and starvation.

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S-21Prison (Interrogation Center)

(a former high school)

S-21 Prison •  This building is now a museum devoted to

helping those impacted by these events. •  Many Cambodians travel here to try to

understand what happened to their families and friends.

•  http://www.downtheroad.org/Asia/Photo/2Cambodia_Pictures/9Tuol_Sleng_Genocidal_Crime.htm

•  http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1948150,00.html

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The end of their regime

•  The Vietnamese invaded 1979 & pushed Khmer Rouge back into the jungles

•  Cambodia remained communist for some time but not in such extreme conditions.

•  Pol Pot fled into the jungle and remained in hiding until his death

•  Pol Pot denied that he had ever done anything wrong and truly believed he held the future of Cambodia in his hands.

The Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979, eliminated approximately 2 million people

(21% of the country's population)

A Killing Field

•  According to Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program

– There were over 200 killing sites – 9,500 mass grave pits

Pol Pot

•  Continued to lead Khmer Rouge from his hiding place as an insurgent movement until 1997

•  Put under house arrest for killing one of his advisors

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Pol Pot

•  Died 1998 of a heart attack, never having faced charges for his role in the Cambodian Genocide

Pol Pot's death in April, 1998 heralded the end of the brutal career of a man responsible for overseeing one of the worst genocides of the 20th century.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/june97/cambodia_6-18a.html

So what was Cambodia like after Pol Pot falls from power?

•  DUMB – literally

•  For four years all they have learned about is communism they have been shut out from the rest of the world.

•  Generations of people are dead.

Quiz Yourself…

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Who is responsible for the Cambodian Genocide?

• Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (communists)

Where and when did this occur?

• Cambodia • At the end of the U.S. involvement

in Vietnam •  1975 - 1979

Why and How?

•  The communists wanted to purge the country of traces of the past and start over.

•  They used young minds and brutal treatment to enforce their ways.

Want to see a great movie on this historical event?

•  The Killing Fields