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Pol Pot: The Cambodian Genocide

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Tim Walz once said, “You must understand what caused genocide to happen. Or it will happen again.” One of the most famously proclaimed genocides in history is Hitler’s persecution of the Jewish people, but that is not where the killing stops. There have been hundreds of deliberate mass killings just like that throughout history. One of the most horrifying took place in the small country of Cambodia in the late 1900’s. This genocide was marked by its ruthless tyrant and it’s dehumanization factor. By examining the history of the region, the brutal deaths, and the state of conflict, it is clear that the Cambodian genocide was a horrible tragedy. Cambodia’s troubles all began with a man named Pol Pot. He was born in 1925 in a small village north …show more content…

He influenced the KPRP to become Marxism-Leninism minded. Cambodia was against communism, so Pol Pot and other KPRP leaders had to move deep into the jungle. In 1968, Pol Pot and his new Khmer Guerilla army launched an uprising against Cambodia’s current heredital government. This battle would rage on until 1973 with all of Vietnam and even the United States stepping in to help. By August 1973, Pol Pot’s army had grown large and became a force to be reckoned with. The civil war in Cambodia went on until 1975, ending with the KPRP and Pol Pot on top (Pol Pot). He was soon given the role of prime minister, which would be unfortunate for everyone. Half a million Cambodians had died and this was just the …show more content…

Large killing fields, or giant mass graves, were found all throughout the country. Almost all of the victims in the fields were gruesomely murdered by being beaten because bullets were “too expensive” (S-21 Victims). Along the edges of the fields were trees. These trees held nooses, some where people were hanged. Other held nooses to tie the children up so the executioner could beat them to death. One particular tree for children was referred to as the Killing Tree. Each victim killed had to be sent to Pol Pot to get his approval (S-21 Victims). This once school teacher was purposefully sending millions to die. Pol Pot had been assigned prime minister and had brutally abused his authority. Overall an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians were killed. In December 1978, the Vietnamese government sent 60,000 troops to Cambodia. They took over Phnom Penh and finally ended Pol Pot’s four year reign of terror (Pol Pot). Cambodia’s genocide was held in secret. The people who lived there were not even aware of the horrible things going on until after their freedom was reissued (Zoltan). The genocide began in the history of the region, dehumanized it’s victims, and changed Cambodia forever. The country will never be the same, but just as Tim Walz said, this history must be shared so it never happens

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The Khmer Rouge has taken over Cambodia. This is much like what is happening in the Soviet Union. It may look different but the mass murdering and cruelty has lead both countries into a state which is not looked at kindly. Each country was in the same situation from the standpoint of the citizens. Rights were taken away, torture and cruel deaths occurred, and the death of many was looked at by the powerful as a worthy cause to the country as a whole.

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Pol Pot 's strategy of purging Cambodia of intellectuals and professionals enabled him to temporarily silence opponents to his brutal regime and achieve a fleeting ‘communist ideal’, however the resilience and memory of the Cambodian people did not enable him to abolish history. The 17th of April 1975 gave rise to the Khmer Rouge for four years who infiltrated the capital city of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The government introduced a communist regime, ruled by Pol Pot, with a seemingly impossible goal to create an agrarian utopia. Pot’s ideology involved the abolishment of history through the targeting of intellectuals and professionals, influenced by the likes of Marxist ideology. Pot’s ideology was enforced upon the nation after the Khmer Rouge

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Causes of the Cambodian Genocide The Cambodian genocide took place from 1975 to 1979; it is estimated that some two million Cambodians were systematically murdered by the Khmer Rouge and its followers (Power 90). In Alexander Hinton’s article, “A Head for an Eye” he recounts in details the experience of Gen, a survivor of the Cambodian Genocide. After the Lon Nol government was overthrown by the Khmer Rouge, the Communists began their witch-hunt in an attempt to identify and kill anyone who was associated with the former regime, as well as the educated, the Vietnamese, the Muslim Cham, the Buddhist monks, and other “bourgeois elements” (Power 101). During the investigation, it was revealed that Gen’s father was a teacher–this fact alone was

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Throughout the 196, the Khmer Rouge operated as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the name, the party used for Cambodia (“Khmer Rouge”). The group mainly operated in remote jungles and the mountain area, near the Vietnam Border. the Khmer Rouge did not have popular support across Cambodia, particularly in the cities, including the capital Phnom Penh (History.com). The Regime started to gain more support in 1970 when a military coup led to the expulsion of Cambodia’s monarch at the time; The Khmer Rouge took this opportunity and joined forces with the former leader in an effort to gain control of the country once again. The

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In certain places leaders can grow to have more power than they can handle. When this happens it can result in war and death among small countries. In Never Fall Down, by Patricia McCormick the Khmer Rouge are the rulers of Cambodia and a young Arn is in the middle of it all. On the other hand in Night, by Elie Wiesel the Nazi Germans are taking rule over the jews and are killing them, this was called the Holocaust, it was a mass genocide on the jews and all non aryan people. In both of these stories there is a higher ranking group of people taking over a young boy’s life along with his family and friends.

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Loung Ung’s First They Killed My Father is a vivid, detailed memoir of a young girl’s experiences in Cambodia throughout the Khmer Rouge era. It records in expressive detail the horrors suffered by the Ung and her family while living under the oppressive rule of the insane Khmer Rouge. Meanwhile, First They Killed Her Sister by Soneath Hor, Sody Lay and Grantham Quinn is a lengthy criticism in direct opposition to the aforementioned memoir. Although the authors of First They Killed Her Sister made some excellent points throughout their assessment of First They Killed my Father such as showing how Ung having misrepresented some aspects of Khmer culture and history, they completely and utterly failed in their attempt to discredit her based on the claims that she perpetuated racial tension and distorted what really happened in 1970s Cambodia, which breaks down the few good points they did have. The critics correctly assert and prove that Ung misrepresented certain aspects of Khmer culture and history, showing that at times, Ung’s description of what had happened was distorted or partially fabricated.

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There have been many more genocides that many people do not know have occurred or are still taking place to this day. One of them being in 2003, the Darfur genocide. The government of Sudan responded to a rebellion by civilians and this resulted in the deaths of over 300,000 when he began a genocide. This genocide is still occurring  to this day. It was declared a genocide by the United States Secretary of State Colin Powell on 9 September 2004 and no genocidal policy has been pursued and implemented in Darfur by the Government authorities.

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The vast majority of the population finds Asia to consist of: China, Japan, and India; however, on any ordinary day in Cambodia, the social normality of mass starvation led too many withering lives of innocent prisoners. With the staggering displacement of about twenty-five percent of the population, Pol Pot succeeded in becoming an indirect murderer. In addition, estate possessions were seized by the Khmer Rouge while many of these guiltless captives suffered in these inhumane punishments. Impecunious and malnourished, many of these impoverished people struggled in the attempt to survive this barbarous time period. Likewise, the prisoners of the Holocaust departed with little nourishment to satisfy hunger.

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They also shut down factories, schools, universities, hospitals, and all other private institutions because the Khmer Rouge considered it western advances. The Khmer Rouge also killed different The Khmer Rouge killed approximately one and a half to three million Cambodians lost their lives at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.   On July 25, 1983, the Research Committee on Pol Pot’s Genocidal Regime issued its final report, including detailed province-by-province data.   The data showed that the number of deaths was 3,314,768.   About 25 percent of the population died because of the Khmer Rouge idea of relocating the people to

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Ousting the Lon Nol government. “Khmer immediately began to empty the city and country's population into labor camps.” Cambodia’s Prime Minister Norodom Sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality. Sihanouk ousted in 1970 by his own general Lon Nol. “Khmers government constitutes “genocide” began shortly after their seizure of power from the government of Lon Nol in 1975.”

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Both of the genocides mainly involved similarities between people and society. In both genocides the people were starved almost to death they were extremely skinny and very weak. “Once the Khmer Rouge took power, they instituted a radical reorganization of Cambodian society. This meant the forced removal of city dwellers into the countryside, where they would be forced to work as farmers, digging canals and tending to crops. Gross mismanagement of the country’s economy led to shortages of food and medicine, and untold numbers of people succumbed to disease and starvation.

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Rahul Mone Mrs. Marsden ELA Honors I 4 February, 2016 The Cambodian Genocide The genocides of Cambodia and the Holocaust were two major genocides that have changed the history of the world forever. The Cambodian genocide started when the Khmer Rouge attempted to nationalize and centralize the peasant farming society of Cambodia (Quinn 63).

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Do you think Romeo and Juliet is just all about romance? Shakespeare's play is not all about romance. It's about a tragedy and lots of deaths--even the main characters Romeo and Juliet passed away. Lord Montague and Lord Capulet were the reason why Romeo and Juliet passed away because Romeo and Juliet had to date undercover because there has been a long-time rival with the Montagues and Capulets, Lord Capulet was forcing Juliet to marry somebody she did not want to marry, and the Capulets rushed the wedding. To begin with, Lord Montague and Lord Capulet were the reason Romeo and Juliet died because of the families´ rivalry.

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Doctors, lawyers and military and police were targeted.  Factories, schools, hospitals, and other private institutions were shut down.   The previous owners and employees of these businesses were killed on site along with their extended families.  Some of the intellectuals, soldiers and even members working for Khmer Rouge were put in jail.

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The 1937-1938 Nanjing Massacre: The forgotten Holocaust “WHEN PURPLE MOUNTAIN BURNS, NANJING IS LOST” (old Chinese adage) Introduction More than 80 years have passed since the horrific historical events known as the Nanjing Massacre. The period of terror and destruction occurred in Nanjing is undoubtedly among the worst in the history of modern warfare. This tremendous episode remained largely unknown or vaguely known for so long in particular in the Western countries and only in the 1990s exploded with such force, generating controversial debate and emotions. No one could fathom the overall extent of the terror.

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