1. Cambodian Holocaust

3. 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

4. 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

5. Who is responsible for the Cambodian Holocaust?

6. 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

7. Some More Background In 1949 Pol Pot went to college in Paris
Became interested in Marxism
1953 returned to Cambodia and led a communist movement
1954- Cambodia gained independence from France
1962- 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

8. US bombed North Vietnam which killed 150,000 Cambodians
1970- 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

9. What did Pol Pot want to do?

10. Pol Pot’s Goal
Create a Self-sufficient, agrarian, utopia (true communism)

11. How did Pol Pot do this?

12. He Started Over = Year Zero
Eliminate all knowledge of the past!!!!

13. 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)

14. 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.

15. Who are the Khmer Rouge?

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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.

19. Khmer Slogan
“Keeping new people is no benefit, losing them is no loss.”

20. What type of person was the most threatening to the Khmer Rouge’s power?

21. Who was murdered? People with glasses
People who could speak another language
People whom had traveled
Foreigners
Counter-revolutionaries

22. 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.

24. S-21Prison (Interrogation Center) (a former high school)

26. 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.

28. So what brought an end to all of this?
The Vietnamese invaded and took over Cambodia ousting the Khmer Rouge from power.
The country 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.

29. The Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979, eliminated approximately 1
The Cambodian genocide of , eliminated approximately 1.7 million people
(21% of the country's population)
A Killing Field

30. According to Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program
There were over 200 killing sites
9,500 mass grave pits

31. 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.

32. So what is 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. They farmed and read Mao’s Little Red Book. Generations of people are dead.

34. Want to see a great movie on this historical event?
The Killing Fields