Cambodian Genocide

Where “Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh, is located in the south-central part of the country” ("Cambodia”).

("Cambodia.“) Geographical Features The climate is mostly tropical. The “temperatures range from 10 to 38°C (68 to 97°F) and humidity is consistently high” ("Cambodia”).

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When  The Cambodian Genocide started in 1975 and ended in  The communist party of Kampuchea was made when Pol Pot returned to Cambodia in Sihanouk, former king of Cambodia, joined the Khmer Rouge when he was criticized for his actions of trying to “repress any political opposition to his rule” (quoted in Pol Pot).  In 1970 Vietnam was taken into war when Pol Pot overthrew Sihanouk and was dethroned from presidency.  In 1973 many Cambodians joined Pol Pots army when they were bombed by the U.S. “The United States, hoping to squash the communist forces, in 1973 began bombing suspected Khmer Rouge posts. Angry and homeless, thousands of bombed Cambodian recruits joined Pol Pot's army”(Pol Pot).  By 1976 Pol Pot took over the country, took over the government, and killed about 1.7 million people along with it. “An estimated 1.7 million people died of starvation, exhaustion, disease, or massacre under the regime”(Cambodia

Cambodia being bombed by U.S Cambodians being killed

What Pol Pot and his leaders wore in the war People who were killed and tortured

Who The victims that the Khmer Rouge had targeted were the Cambodians who were the educated people, religious people, and the poor.  Religion: Buddhism  Ethnic groups: 90% are ethnic Khmers, 5% are Vietnamese, and 1% Chinese.  Language: Khmer “Khmer is the national language”(“Cambodia”). “Buddhism has been the state religion since1989”(“Cambodia”). Victims of genocide

Pol Pot  Pol Pot the leader of the Khmer Rouge “was the ruler of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and presided over one of the worst genocides of the twentieth century”(Pol Pot). Pol Pot was reelected “as secretary general and as commander of its ‘Revolutionary Army’” (Pol Pot) by a new CPK congress. Pol Pot had created a Holocaust on his on people in Cambodia with the help of the two other Khmer Rouge leaders.

Nuon Chea  Is one of the three leader’s of Khmer Rouge “who was the deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea under Pol Pot, defended Khmer Rouge policies as necessary to the development of a ‘people's democratic revolution’ (2 Khmer Rouge Leaders Are Convicted in Cambodia).

Khieu Samphan  Khieu Samphan “is a former teacher and Parliament member, known in the 1960s as a frugal and uncorrupt figure. He became the Khmer Rouge's head of state in 1976 and served for years as a figurehead for the regime” (2 Khmer Rouge Leaders Are Convicted in Cambodia).

 The Cambodian Genocide is when millions of people had died. Pol Pot was a leader, who has people under his control. He tortured the Cambodian people and made them work very hard. The victims did not have a choice, they were forced to do it, or else they would kill their families. “ The Memory of Pol Pot’s victims would be honored if all Khmer Rouge officials involved in the genocide, including those in Vietnam – controlled regime, were tried along with the Vietnamese colonialists. Until freedom, independence and democracy is restored to Cambodia, any other course would be a disservice to the Cambodian people and would perpetrate instability in Southeast Asia” (“U.S. Impotence”). What

Represents deathsShows how they were killed

Why  Pol Pot killed people in Cambodia, because he was racist and jealous, and he tried to rebuild Cambodia like how communist China did. He didn’t like the idea of low, middle, and the high class. He wanted everyone to be the same. “Democratic Kampuchea (DK). Pol Pot’s government plunged the country into near-total isolation from the world. Currency was abolished, religion almost erased, education suspended, and families divided”(“U.S. Impotence”).

Short Term  During the Cambodian Genocide about 22 million people were killed.  The survivors were scared and they wanted revenge for what the leaders did to their families.  Those who survived will never get their loved ones back, and they didn’t have trust in the government.  “They beat me. They removed my toenails. They gave me electric shocks in my ear – kup-kup-kup-kup, it sounded like a machine in my head, and my eyes were like burning with fire” (Mey qtd. In Mydans).

Long Term  The government has been charged for torture, as well as murder by the Human-Rights Organization.  Cambodia has had a downfall after Khmer Rouge killed hundreds of the Vietnamese citizens.  People wanted to know why the leaders would torture and kill people the way they did, the victims of this event go years thinking about it. “We want to ask their leaders: ‘Who ordered this? Why did you kill Cambodian people? For what” (Chear qtd. In Mydans).

Short-TermLong-Term Represents the labor and torture Represents the government

HOW  A way we can prevent such atrocities from happing again is by paying more attention to things happening around us. Instead of just talking about it to your peers you can take action.  “Future generations more committed to the principles we espouse but fail to act on may look back with disdain or disgust on our failure. Or, more horrifying still, future generations will conclude that all moral reasoning in political matters is sentimental superstructure that should be jettisoned in the interest of clarity about the first and only true principle of politics: the strong take care of themselves and the weak are on their own”(The only way to prevent genocide).

Source Citations  "Cambodia." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations. Ed. Timothy L. Gall, Susan Bevan Gall, and Derek M. Gleason. 6th ed. Detroit: UXL, Student Resources in Context. Web. 18 May  "Cambodia." Gale Encyclopedia of World History: Governments. Detroit: Gale, Student Resources in Context. Web. 22 May 2016  Fry, Gerald W. "Pol Pot and the Prosecution of the Khmer Rouge Leadership in Cambodia." History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide. Ed. Sonia G. Benson, Nancy Matuszak, and Meghan Appel O'Meara. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, Student Resources in Context. Web. 18 May  Lindberg, Tod. "The only way to prevent genocide: creative diplomacy can make a difference. But in the end, it may all come down to the willingness of the United States to act." Commentary Apr. 2009: 9+. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 May  “Mydans, Seth. ”Cambodia Prepares to Revisit Old Horror Khmer Rouge Leaders’ Trials Begin.” International Herald Tribune 18 Feb. 2009:3. Global Issues in Context. Web. 12 May  "Pol Pot." UXL Biographies. Detroit: UXL, Student Resources in Context. Web. 22 May 2016  “Underserved Mercy for Khmer Leaders.” Boston Herald 31 Dec. 1998: 032. Student Resources in Context. Web. 16 May 2016.

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