Cambodia Genocide Led by Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians) million deaths

Background  In 1949 Pol Pot went to college in Paris  Became interested in Marxism  1953 returned to Cambodia and led a communist movement  Cambodia gained independence from France  Became leader of Cambodian Communist Party  But had to flee to the jungle because Prince Sihanouk did not agree with him  Formed the Khmer Rouge and waged a war against Sihanouk

 Prince Sihanouk was ousted by US military and joined Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge  US bombed North Vietnam which killed 150,000 Cambodians  These events led to economic and military destabilization in Cambodia  Support for Pol Pot grew  April 17, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge army marched into Phnom Penh and seized control of Cambodia  Wanted to create an agrarian utopia inspired by Mao Zedong  Declared “This is year zero” and society would be “purified”  Capitalism, western culture, city life, religion and all foreign influences were to be gone

New Society  Wanted an extreme form of peasant communism  Foreigners expelled  Embassies closed  Foreign economic or medical assistance refused  Foreign language banned  Newspapers and TV stations were shut down  Mail and telephone use banned  Religion, education, health care all gone

How was the genocide carried out?  2 million people were evacuated from Phnom Pen by foot at gunpoint  20,000 died along the way  Forced into slave labor  Worked from 4 a.m. until 10 p.m. with 2 rest periods  Every 10th day was a day of rest  3 days off during Khmer New Year festival  Many died due to overwork, malnutrition, and disease  Diet consisted of 1 tin of rice every 2 days

 Purges were held to get rid of “old society”  Educated, wealthy, Buddhist monks, police, doctors, lawyers, teachers, former government officials  Anyone who was disloyal to the Khmer Rouge were shot  “What’s rotten must be removed”  Unsupervised gatherings of more than 2 people were forbidden  20,000 people were tortured into false confessions