The Cambodian Killing Fields occurred from 1975-1978 and under Khmer Rouge’s rule, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died from execution, forced labor, disease, and starvation. The Khmer revolution is known as one of the most destructive genocide in history. The revolution reversed class order, destroyed all markets, banned private property and money. The Killing Fields is not only historical for what it accomplished but for what it destroyed.
Although this tragedy happened over a generation ago, Cambodians are still struggling today to fully recover as a country and they have unresolved impunity and corruption in their society and law as a direct result of the Cambodian genocide (Rennie, 2016). Cambodia is a country in Southeast Asia which gained its independence from France in 1953. They were under colonialist rule for almost 100 years. They are similar to the United States in this aspect because the US was under colonialist rule by Britain for many years. Cambodia elected Prime Minister Norodom Sihanouk during the Vietnam War.
He declared Cambodia a neutral country during the Vietnam War and offered support to both of the sides. Sihanouk was overthrown by a part of the military which was led by his General, Lon Nol (Krkljes, 2015). Lon Nol was at one time a trusted supporter of Sihanouk. The General then established the Khmer Republic and became the self-proclaimed President. Nol was the commanderin-chief of the Khmer National Armed Forces. The Khmer Republic was established in attempt to resolve the widespread corruption and fix the problems that the neutrality caused with the Vietnamese communists.
It ultimately ended in disaster both politically and militarily (History. com staff, 2009). Lon Nol was not the only person to want control over Cambodia. For 5 years Lon Nol and his army fought the Khmer Rouge. Over this span of time, 10% of the 7 million people living in Cambodia was killed. Lon Nol had the help of the US army but when they left in 1973, Nol’s forces succumbed to the Khmer Rouge (History. com staff, 2009). The Khmer Rouge was a destructive, horrendous group that had revolutionary ideas for Cambodia.
The infamous Pol Pot was the leader of the Communist group, Khmer Rouge and he is to blame for all of the deaths and tragedies that occurred. On April 17, 1975, Khmer Rouge army paraded into the capital, Phnom Penh. The soldiers evacuated everyone from the city and made them leave their belongings and march to the countryside. Sources say that hospital patients were stumbling down the street holding their IV’s and little kids were being dragged screaming and crying (Rennie, 2016). Cambodia and its citizens were in danger and their trouble was just about to become much worse than in the previous years.
The Khmer Rouge believed that the Cambodian people were tainted by exposure to outside ideas. A few days after Khmer Rouge took power, they forced 2 million people in Phnom Penh and nearby cities into the countryside to do agriculture work. Thousands of people died during this evacuation. The Khmer Rouge had plans to do away with poor people, rich people, and exploitation. Their way to accomplish this feat was to: abolish money, free markets, normal schooling, private property, foreign clothing styles, religious practices, and traditional Khmer culture.
Public schools, pagodas, mosques, churches, universities, shops and government buildings were shut or turned into prisons, stables, reeducation camps and granaries. There was no public or private transportation, no private property, and no non-revolutionary entertainment. Leisure activities were severely restricted. People throughout the country, including the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, had to wear all black clothing (Khmer Rouge History). The Cambodian citizens had absolutely no power and every move they made was criticized. They were constantly watched by the new ommunist government and were unable to do anything without being suspected of being enemies of the government.
During this time, Cambodians were unable to talk in groups, unable to show affection or emotion, and unable to use their basic rights. Many were also shot for smiling or crying as it was forbidden to show any kind of emotion. Families were closely scrutinized. The Khmer Rouge wanted everyone to obey and respect Angkar Padevat and to everyone he was known as “mother and father. ” The Khmer Rouge’s wish was that only pure people were qualified to be a part of the revolution.
Once they had seized power, the killed thousands of soldiers, military officers, and civil servants from the Khmer Republic (Khmer Rouge History). They also persecuted the educated, such as, doctors, lawyers, military, and police. The religious groups, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodians with Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai ancestry, were all persecuted. It was very common for people to be shot for speaking a foreign language or wearing glasses as these were traits that were associated with the West.
Many were also shot for smiling or crying because it was forbidden to show any kind of emotion. They wanted to create a society without competition so they placed people in grouped living communities and “re-educated” them to encourage the communist lifestyle. Another way the Khmer Rouge grouped citizens was by categories of trust (Genocide in Cambodia). Survival was mainly based on someone’s ability to work. Children and the elderly were all killed because they were unable to work all day long in the fields or in the specific jobs that the government wanted them to do.
Khmer Rouge wanted to produce 3 tons worth of rice and to accomplish that they had to harvest rice all 12 months. The Cambodians were forced to work 12 hours a day without adequate food. They had many camps were they took people to interrogate, torture, and execute. The biggest and most known camp is the S-12, which held close to 14,000 prisoners and only 12 survived (Khmer Rouge History). Over 3 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge nearly eliminating over half of the original population. This was and is still today a complete devastation to their country. In 1977, Cambodia and Vietnam broke out in battle.
Tens of thousands of people were sent to fight and thousands were killed. Vietnam captured the capital, Phnom Penh on January 1979. The leaders of the Khmer Rouge fled to the west and reestablished their forces in Thai territory. Vietnam helped created a new government system in Cambodia, which was led by Heng Samrin. The Khmer Rouge existed until 1999 when all the leaders were either arrested or died. This was one of the worst human tragedies of the 20th century. Nearly two million Cambodians died from diseases due to a lack of medicines and medical services, starvation, execution, or exhaustion from overwork.
Tens of thousands became widows and orphans, and those who lived through the tragedy were severely traumatized by their experiences (Khmer Rouge History). Thousands of people fled to Thai but along the way, many died of starvation or stepped on land mines that the Khmer Rouge planted in the ground to prevent their victims from fleeing. They suffered greatly from diseases as well. After the fall of Khmer Rouge, 650,000 deaths were estimated (Krkljes, 2015). Cambodia today still suffers from this traumatic experience and as a country they are still trying to recover and grow as a nation.
People that lived during this time or family members of these Cambodians, now suffer from mental problems, disabilities, and injuries. These factors can account for the fact that poverty is a huge problem in Cambodia (Khmer Rouge History). Although Pol Pot is dead, other leaders are no longer around, and the war is over, Cambodia still suffers from violent crime, including banditry, armed robbery and kidnapping. Landmines are still in the ground and since 1979 nearly 200,000 people have lost their lives because of those landmines. It is estimated that it will take another 25 years to demine Cambodia.
The country has slow economic growth and is tremendously behind other South East Asian Countries. It is the poorest, least developed country in Asia (Rennie, 2016). A country that went through all this destruction cannot recover in just a few years. A devastation this big is going to take multiple generations to fix and is going to need the help of other countries. It is unbelievable that Pol Pot and the rest of his government thought that this was okay on any standards. They took so many lives in such a short amount of time that the country had no hope for survival. We can only hope that history does not repeat itself.