The Khmer Rouge was a radical political group in Cambodia. The soldiers and their leader, Pol Pot, are responsible for the genocide of ~3 million Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia in 1975. Pol Pot's purpose of the Khmer Rouge was to abolish three things in Cambodian culture: Family, Village, and Buddhism. Pol Pot dreamed of a self sufficient Utopian agrarian society based on Maoist ideals of the Cultural Revolution happening in China under Mao Zedong's rule. Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge rose to power in 1975 because of the US involvement in the Vietnam War. Dislocated workers found solace in the simple, alluring, and seemingly harmless teachings of the Khmer Rouge. Little did they know, the Khmer Rouge would turn into a dark, twisted, and paranoid shadow of what it once aspired to be.
Left: Soldiers in the Khmer Rouge would use weapons to strike fear into Cambodians so that they would not revolt.
Left: Soldiers in the Khmer Rouge would use weapons to strike fear into Cambodians so that they would not revolt.
Pol Pot was born on May 19th 1925 and he came from a farming family. His father was a very prosperous farmer and it is speculated that this is why he came to desire an agrarian society. In 1949, Pol Pot received a scholarship from the government to study radio electronics in Paris. Pol became extremely interested in Marxism and Socialism and he bonded with four other Cambodian students at the university. Ironically, these 4 students later became the main leaders of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot returned to Cambodia in 1953, with no degree, and begins working for the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party. In 1963, he lived in a commune with a hill tribe and this is where he gains a sense of a communist ideal that will later be his platform for the Khmer Rouge.
Right: Photograph of Pol Pot.
Pol Pot quickly enforced Collectivization and the destruction of the Cambodian urban elite. The upper and middle class were destroyed and all urban Cambodians were sent into rural areas for farming, which were later known to be the Killing Fields. The Khmer Rouge murdered members of government, public servants, police, military officers, teachers, ethnic Vietnamese, Christians, Muslims, and the educated. Many civilians caught wind of the Khmer Rouge movement and when asked what their profession was, teachers claimed to be cab drivers and artists claimed to be farmers. Children were indoctrinated and encouraged to spy on adults. The Khmer Rouge effectively destroyed money in Cambodia and all workers were required to eat together in a communal dining hall. The Khmer Rouge was responsible for planting land mines on the border of Cambodia to prevent people from fleeing from the Khmer Rouge rise. Presently in Cambodia, there are about 4 million unaccounted for land mines in Cambodia.
Above: Indentured servitude of the Cambodian population to the Khmer Rouge.
Above: Indentured servitude of the Cambodian population to the Khmer Rouge.