The Story of Pol Pot

7/21/2019 The Story of Pol Pot

1/31


2/31

Pol Pot(Saloth Sar )


3/31

Born on May 1925

Leader of the Khmer Rouge

At age 14, he began highschool in Kompong Cham

In 1949, Pol Pot obtained ascholarship to study radio

electronics in Paris Encountered Marxism, joining

the Cercle Marxiste and theFrench Communist Party.

In 1953, He came back toCambodia living by teachinggeography and history at aprivate school while organizingresistance to Sihanouk


4/31

What did Pol Pot want to

do?


5/31

Pol Pot helped assess the different groups rebelling againstthe Cambodian government

Also authored the pamphletMonarchy or Democracy

Pol Pot and others became convinced that the only wayfor change in Cambodia was through revolution.


6/31

Pol Pots Goal

Create a Self-sufficient,

agrarian, utopia (truecommunism). To bring

"real socialism" toCambodia


7/31

How did Pol Pot do

this?


8/31

e ar e ver

= Year Zero

ELIMINATE ALL KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST!!DECONSTRUCT CAMBODIA BACK A PRIMITIVE


9/31

How did he

intend to pull thisoff? 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 easyto influence).

By wiping the country clean of traces of the past (killing thosewith knowledge of the past).

By controlling all aspects of the country (politically,economically and socially)


10/31

By forcing all citizens intocollectives to work according toage, gender and skill.

By holding indoctrination sessionsevery evening to remind them all ofthe wonderful rewards ofcommunism.

By publicly murdering anyone thatquestioned the Khmer Rouge.


11/31

Who are theKhmer


12/31

Khmer RougeThe Communist Khmer Rouge came to

power in this small Southeast Asian nationin 1975 as part of the vast upheaval causedlargely by the spilling over of the VietnamWar.

The Khmer are communist followers of PolPot

Most are young and enjoy their new power


13/31

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


14/31

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.


15/31

Khmer Slogan

Keeping new

people is no benefit,losing them is no

loss.


16/31

What type of person was

the most threatening tothe Khmer Rouges

power?


17/31

Who was murdered?

People with glasses

People who could speak anotherlanguage

People whom had traveled

Foreigners

Counter-revolutionaries


18/31

Educated Prisoner

Intellectuals and

anyone else seen as

standing in the way of

the new social orderwere mercilessly killed,

while many of those

who escaped execution

died from overwork andstarvation.


19/31


20/31

S-21Prison

(Interrogation Center)(a former high school)


21/31


22/31

S-21 Prison

This building is now a museum devoted to helpingthose impacted by these events.

Many Cambodians travel here to try to

understand what happened to their families andfriends.

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


23/31

S h t b ht d t


24/31

So what brought an end to

all of this?

The Vietnamese invaded and took overCambodia ousting the Khmer Rougefrom power.

The country remained communist for

some time but not in such extremeconditions.

Pol Pot fled into the jungle and remainedin hiding until his death.

Pol Pot denied that he had ever doneanything wrong and truly believed heheld the future of Cambodia in his

hands.


25/31

The Cambodiangenocide of

1975-1979,eliminatedapproximately1.7 millionpeople

(21% of the

country'spopulation)

A Killing Field


26/31

According to Yale Universitys

Cambodian Genocide Program

There were over 200 killing sites9,500 mass grave pits


27/31

Pol Pot's death in April 1998

heralded the end of thebrutal career of a man

responsible for overseeingone of the worst genocidesof the 20th century.

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


28/31

So what is Cambodia like

after Pol Pot falls frompower? DUMB literally!!!!

For four years all they havelearned about is communismthey have been shut out fromthe rest of the world. Theyfarmed and read Maos LittleRed Book. Generations ofpeople are dead.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://gregoire.leclercq.free.fr/en/travels/asia/cambodia/0055%2520-%2520Killing%2520fields.JPG&imgrefurl=http://gregoire.leclercq.free.fr/en/travels/asia/cambodia/page_01.htm&h=450&w=600&sz=42&tbnid=PKHHpEvzweYJ:&tbnh=99&tbnw=132&start=4&prev=/images%3Fq%3DKilling%2BFields%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D


29/31

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/78988.stm


30/31

Where and when did this

occur?Cambodia

At the end of the U.S.involvement in Vietnam

1975 - 1979


31/31

Want to see a great

movie on this historicalevent?

The Killing Fields

Documents

The Story of Pol Pot