1. Pol Pot
Khmer Rogue
Cambodia
Genocide
Year Zero

2. Pol Pot
Born Saloth Sar
Went to an elite school and became interested in the same ideas as Stalin and Mao
Led communist group called the Khmer Rogue
Prime Minister of Cambodia ( )
Makes it communist country
Agrarian collectivization
Tried to create a fair and just society

3. Khmer Rogue Radical communist group led by Pol Pot
Took control through guerilla warfare
One of the most violent regimes of the 20th century
Killed over 1.7 million people
Execution, forced labor, and starvation
Created large collective farms

4. S-21 Prison
A former high school that was converted into an interrogation center in August, 1975
Khmer Rouge adapted it into a prison
Electric barbed wire around the outside
Classrooms converted to prison cells and torture chambers
Windows covered with iron bars and barbed wire
Torture system designed to make prisoners confess whatever crimes they were charged with
Electric shock
Hanging
Cutting with knives
Suffocating with plastic bags
Pulling out fingernails
Pouring alcohol on wounds
Holding prisoners heads under water
Sexual abuse
Sleep deprivation

5. “Year Zero” (1975) Pol Pot’s plan to start over in Cambodia
Got name from the French Revolution (Year 1)
Destroy all culture and replace it with a new one
Wanted to return to a simple society
No class division
No books
No hospitals
No schools
No religion

6. Genocide …ELIMINATE all Buddhist in Cambodia
68,000 killed
…ELIMINATE all Vietnamese in Cambodia
20,000 killed
…ELIMINATE all Chinese in Cambodia
215,000 killed
…ELIMINATE all Muslims in Cambodia
90,000 killed

7. Images

8. What you read…
April 17, 1975: Khmer Rogue guerillas filed into Phnom Penh signaling the start of a reign of terror which would devastate an ancient culture and cause the deaths of over 2 million Cambodians in just 3 years. Moving from camp to camp, Thay, and his family become the “New People” displaced city dwellers forced to work and live as peasants. “The Jungle of the Dying” begins his journey at the third camp…