The Khmer Rouge government terrorized Cambodia during their short reign from 1975 to 1979, killing approximately 1.7 million in its aim to create a Communist utopia. Invading Vietnamese forces eventually brought down the government, but not before they created one of the largest genocides ever known. Now, the remaining leaders of the regime are being put on trial (Sidner). On trial are 84-year-old Nuon Chea, who was Pol Pot's No. 2 and the group's chief ideologist; 79-year-old former head of state Khieu Samphan; ex-foreign minister leng Sary, 85; and his 79-year-old wife, leng Thirith, who served as minister for social affairs. All four say they are innocent (Cheang). .
Bou Meng, one of the few prisoners who survived the torture, starvation, and executions, recalls his horrific imprisonment during the regime. When Khmer Rouge evacuated all the residents from the capital Phnom Penh and other cities in Cambodia to work in the countryside as farm laborers, Bou was sent to work in the paddy fields (Sidner).
"I was supposed to move to the Royal University of Fine Art, but instead I was brought to S-21, also known as Tuol Sleng Prison," he recalled. "The first thing I saw was the people that had long hair to the waist. Their eyes were sunken and their bodies were only bone and skin. I was so shocked" (Sidner).
Before his imprisonment, Bou was an artist. The prison officials asked him to draw the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Brother Number 1 also known as Pol Pot. Bou began the project that would eventually take him several months to complete (Sidner).
The leaders quickly grew paranoid and, in turn, conditions grew worse. All residents were sent to the countryside where farms were expected to provide food for the entire country while also teaching the city dwellers how to farm. Currency was abolished. Those who were educated became the biggest threat to the regime. Modern medicine was banned.
The Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia for four hellish years. Pol Pot was the Khmer Rouge's first real leader. ... Nuon Chea remained secretive and hidden from society much like Pol Pot. ... Ta Mok, the current Khmer Rouge leader, was known as "The Butcher" because of some of the sanguinary killings he conducted to purify the Khmer race. ... Ta Mok became the leader of the Khmer Rouge in 1997. ...
The Khmer Rouge was a new communist party that overran the previous Cambodian government. ... The leader of this malignant group was Pol Pot. Once Pol Pot came into power, the Khmer Rouge immediately began revolutionizing Cambodia for the worst. ... Once the Khmer Rouge regime began, all these "statuses" were erased and everyone became equal. ... The Purpose of the Khmer Rouge regime was to gain total independence and receive no assistance from other countries. ...
Lon Nol was proven to be not a well skilled military and political leader. ... During that time the Khmer rouge was gaining power and falling away form their Vietnamese allies. Soon the Khmer rouge overthrew the over Lon Nol as he fled form the city April 1, 1975. On April 17 the first Khmer troops entered the capital with their leader Pol Pot. ... The Khmer Rouge approached Vietnam as their new enemy. ...
This siege of government occurred when the Khmer Rouge overthrew the concurrent ruling government, the Khmer Republic, and renamed it the Democratic Kampuchea. ... The Khmer Rouge's economic system was successful with regards to two aspects. ... The cooperatives had risen in the regions ruled by the Khmer Rouge in 1973 and had spread throughout the nation by 1975 (Sonneborn, 2012). ... Even though the production of rice increased, the distribution of rice remained inefficient. ... Even following the 1976 and 1977 harvest devastation, the distribution of rice remained unequal as the issue ...
Unknowingly the Khmer Rouge forced the Cambodian people to rely on their instincts by using a means of resources. ... Having an education or expensive belongings was punished by death by the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge was ridding Cambodia of "tainted" or "new" people. ... As the Khmer Rouge falls from power after four years of slavery, the Butts" family still needs to survive their escape from Cambodia. ... Further more, if caught by what was left of the Khmer Rouge it would mean death. ...
Emperor Meiji did not face an uphill battle for educational reform: a high respect for learning was embedded in Japanese culture. ... For over one hundred years, until the end of World War II, Cambodia remained a French colony. ... During the Khmer Rouge's spectacularly brutal reign, a time in which the "blood of Vietnam" spilled over Cambodia's borders to inspire frenzied revolutionary terror, formal education ended. 18 "My," a survivor of the Cambodia genocide, described the end of schooling in Cambodia: "The Khmer Rouge divided the kids up into age categor...
Little did they know that they would be caught up in the seizure of Phnom Penh in 1975 by the communist leader Khmer Rouge, which later resulted in the infamous killing fields in which millions of "unloyal- Cambodians were slaughtered. This is an unforgettable film directed by Roland Joffé depicting the horrible slaughter of millions of Cambodians during Khmer Rouge's reign. ... Unfortunately, as reporters were covering the rise of Khmer Rouge, they had heard from the locals that parts of Cambodia were being bombed by US planes. ... As he investigated further into the matter, t...
THE COURSE OF THE CAMBODIAN REVOLUTION The Khmer Rouge revolution had begun before the American bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. ... When the Khmer Rouge soldiers arrived in Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, they were "cheered by many Khmer and Foreigners alike" . The Khmer Rouge promised to return Cambodia to the "glorious days of Angkor" , the ancient Khmer empire, and to return Cambodia to a "traditional agricultural and class-free society" , raising the living standards of the people. ... The Khmer Rouge established a "cooperative system" that abolished all private propert...
This was largely because the Khmer Rouge had taken control of Cambodia, and was killing citizens, by means of either execution, working to death, or starving. ... By the end of the Khmer Rouge's rule in Cambodia, over 1.7 million Cambodians had been killed, many of these relatives of refugees. ... The Khmer Rouge's ruling of Cambodia has caused much pain and unrest, as well as testing the limits of human sanity....
