March 24, 2015
 Objectives: Students will be able to
describe and evaluate the Cambodian
Genocide.
 NO Opening and closing
 Agenda: Notes
 Video with Questions
Cambodia Genocide
Led by Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians)
1975-1979- 2 million deaths
Map Of Cambodia
History of Cambodian Genocide
 In 1953, Cambodia gained independence
after nearly 100 years of French rule
 Prince Norodom Sihanouk took charge of the
newly born state.
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Prince Sihanouk alienated the U.S.:
 Struck up friendship with China, America’s foe
 Irritated President Nixon by trying to keep
Cambodia neutral in the war with Vietnam
 U.S. backed Lon Nol
 Pro-American, but also corrupt, repressive,
and incompetent
Background
 In 1949 Pol Pot- real name was Soloth
Sar- 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
Pol Pot
 He and his army, called the Khmer
Rouge, came to power in Cambodia
in 1975.
 He was named prime minister of the
new communist government in
1976 and began a program of
violent reform.
 In hope of creating a society free of
western influence, he abolished
religion, institute, private property
and evacuated cities.
 Under his regime, forced labor,
execution and famine killed ~2
million 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, 1975- 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
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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
April 1, 2013
 Objectives: Students will be able to
identify the events of the Cambodian
Genocide.
 Question: Who did Pol Pot target in the
Cambodian Genocide?
 Agenda: Notes- Article with questionsdue at the end of class.
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 or 2
bowls a day
History of Cambodian Genocide
 The Toll of Cambodia’s 5 year civil war
had been immense
 1 million Cambodians had been killed
 Many were displaced, causing the capital to
swell from 600,000 to 2 million by 1975
 Many believed the KR atrocities were just
a part of war, not their ideology
 Lon Nol only promised more of the same
and a U.S. backing.
History of Cambodian Genocide
 1975 was deemed year zero
 attempted to turn Cambodia into a
classless society by depopulating cities
and forcing the urban population into
agricultural communes
 Enemies were: ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic
Chinese, Muslim chams, Buddhist monks,
intellectuals (anyone completing 7th
grade), anyone suspected of even
momentary disloyalty
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Once reporters departed, the last
independent sources of information dried
up
 For the next three and a half years, the
American public would piece together a
picture of life behind the Khmer curtain
History of the Cambodian
Genocide
 May 1975, President Ford announced that
80-90 Cambodian officials and their
spouses have been executed.
 American administration had little
credibility
 It would be 2 years before most would
acknowledge that this time the bloodbath
reports were true.
History of Cambodian Genocide
 With embassy closed and journalists cut
off, information was hard to obtain.
 The “Southwest Asia fatigue” from
Vietnam compounded the problem
 Received very little newspaper or
television coverage
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Americans clung to the few public
statements of senior KR officials who
consistently refuted the claims
 Even Amnesty International, the largest
human rights organization in the world,
was not yet ready to respond forcifully.
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Many came around once they had
personal contact with traumatized
refugees.
 The first photographs were not smuggled
out until April of 1977.
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Those who tried to generate press
coverage did so assuming that
establishing the facts would empower the
United States and other Western
governments to act.
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Vietnam invades Cambodia on Dec. 25,
1978 and seizes Phnom Penh on Jan. 7,
1979.
 Vietnam establishes the People's Republic
of Kampuchea
History of Cambodian Genocide
 The Khmer Rouge were overthrown and sent
into a retreat
 They receive aid from the United States as well as
hang on to the official Cambodian seat in the United
Nations
 Struggles continue as China supports and
provides arms to the Khmer Rouge and
Russia supports a fully Communist
Vietnam
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Upon seizing the country, Vietnamese find
evidence of mass murder everywhere.
 The Tuol Sleng Examination Center in
Phnom Penh, code named Office S-21,
became an emblem of terror
 Found instructions for inmates
 Found an interrogators manual
 Was turned into Tuol Sleng Musueum
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Torture center testified to the cruelty of the
KR regime
 1979 -The Vietnamese then installed a
puppet government consisting of Khmer
Rouge defectors with Heng Samrin as
leader
 People’s Republic of Kampuchea
 The Khmer Rouge fought against the
newly appointed government with the help
of US training, funds, weapons
History of Cambodian Genocide
 1989 Vietnamese troops withdraw from
Cambodia
 Country is renamed the State of Cambodia
 Fighting continues for over a decade,
before all political factions in Cambodia
sign a treaty in 1991 calling for elections
and disarmament.
 Fighting broke out again in 1992
History of Cambodian Genocide
 1993- The monarchy is restored, Sihanouk
becomes king again. The country is re-named
the Kingdom of Cambodia. The government-inexile loses its seat at the UN.
 1998- Pol Pot dies and is never brought to trial
 2004- Elderly King Sihanouk turns monarchy
over to son, King Sihamoni, but real political
power is held by elected President Hun Sen, a
former Khmer Rouge officer.
2. Headlines from newspaper
“Never Again the Khmer
Rouge”
New York Times, Oct 8 1988
“Difficult to prove genocide in
Cambodia’s killing fields”
The Associated Press,
September 5 2000
Final 5
 How is it possible that the people of
Cambodia fell under the heinous rule of
Pol Pot? (Your opinion)
 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 was shot
 “What’s rotten must be removed”
Symbolic emblem
 SR-21, a former school
Photos of prisoners with number tags on.
was turned into a torture
factory during the
Cambodia genocide.
Thousands of people who
were sent here would be
given a number tag, as a
symbol of recognition.
Those people would later
be tortured or executed.
 A total of 14,000
Cambodians were jailed
here and only 10 of them
survived.
History of Cambodian Genocide
 Vietnam invades Cambodia on Dec. 25,
1978 and seizes Phnom Penh on Jan. 7,
1979.
 Vietnam establishes the People's Republic
of Kampuchea
History of Cambodian Genocide
 The Khmer Rouge were overthrown and sent
into a retreat
 They receive aid from the United States as well as
hang on to the official Cambodian seat in the United
Nations
 Struggles continue as China supports and
provides arms to the Khmer Rouge and
Russia supports a fully Communist
Vietnam
History of Cambodian Genocide
 1989 Vietnamese troops withdraw from
Cambodia
 Country is renamed the State of Cambodia
 Fighting continues for over a decade,
before all political factions in Cambodia
sign a treaty in 1991 calling for elections
and disarmament.
 Fighting broke out again in 1992
History of Cambodian Genocide
 1993- The monarchy is restored, Sihanouk
becomes king again. The country is renamed the Kingdom of Cambodia. The
government-in-exile loses its seat at the
UN.
 1998- Pol Pot dies and is never brought to
trial
2. Headlines from newspaper
“Never Again the Khmer
Rouge”
New York Times, Oct 8 1988
“Difficult to prove genocide in
Cambodia’s killing fields”
The Associated Press,
September 5 2000