Essay
On April 17th, 1975, the citizens of Cambodia rejoiced as the five year civil war that devastated their country came to an end with the Khmer Rouge as its victor. Little did they know, shortly after this event the Khmer Rouge would become one of the most dehumanizing and destructive regimes in human history. Soldiers occupied the capitol Phnom Penh, and evacuated every resident from the city into the countryside. Their justification was, “the Americans are going to bomb the city.” The threat was nonexistent, but believable to the unknowing citizens. Following this evacuation, the Khmer Rouge, formally known as the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), began to instrument their elaborate plan for developing a society. This plan was based on a hatred towards capitalism and urbanization, as well as a glorification of peasant lifestyle. While creating this society almost two million Cambodians, over 20% of the population, died due to illness and lack of treatment, starvation, and massacres carried out by the government.
After every city in the country had been evacuated, the citizens were moved to work camps. The goal was to create a society that was classless, had no religion, and was based on agriculture. In these camps there was no money, no free market, and no regular schooling. Every building previously used for such things was turned into a prison or reeducation center. The officials who led the CKP, known to the people simply as Angkar, believed anyone from a city was a “new person." A new person was tainted by capitalistic ideas and subject to death by execution or over working. All intellectuals, Buddhists, minorities, and anyone associated with previous governments were targeted as well. A person could be executed on the simple grounds that they wore glasses, meaning they were literate. The only hope for a person that fell under any of these categories was to fake your own stupidity, and hopefully get away with it.
If one was to get away from the executions, life was far from desirable in the work camps. With the “Four-Year Plan”, the CKP hoped to triple rice production to 3 tons per hectare. This forced citizens to work for 12 hours a day straight with little to no break or food, causing thousands and thousands of deaths due to overworking and starvation. Family relationships were destroyed, and children were brainwashed to believe nothing but the CKP's communist ideals. It was not uncommon for teenagers to be more reliable leaders than adults in the movement, and many of the kids ratted who was left in their family out to the government for suspicious behavior. The CKP also did their best to brainwash adults, forcing them to go to reeducation sessions constantly. There were many different slogans that were drilled into the brains of every resident including: “Angkar has [the many] eyes of the pineapple,” “better to kill an innocent by mistake than spare an enemy by mistake,” “the spade is your pen, the rice field is your paper,” and “What is rotten must be removed.” Also, any crime, no matter how obselete, was punishable by execution, no questions asked.
Then, there were the prisons. They were more like interrogation centers where political prisoners were held before their execution. The most well known of these was codenamed S-21, and was located in the old Tuol Sleng High School building. Almost 20,000 people entered this building and there are less than 20 known survivors. The prisoners were tortured daily to force a confession of their betrayal; these confessions were almost always false and a result of the relentless beatings. After one had given up their confession for documentation, they were taken to a mass grave in front of which they kneeled awaiting a blow to the head and burial, alive or not. This place was known by fellow Cambodians simply as konlaenh choul min dael chenh - “the place where people go in but never come out.”
After four long years of terrifying rule, the Khmer Rouge fell in 1979. With the native population decimated, the government and civilization itself dismantled, Cambodia was forced to readjust. Vietnamese soldiers flooded in and discovered the hell on earth that was created by the CKP as mass grave upon mass grave was discovered. A new government called the People's Republic of Kampuchea was formed, and the citizens of Cambodia returned to their homes. They came to find nothing of their old lives left behind. Houses and possessions were gone, and families almost nonexistent. The Khmer Rouge continued to exist in the background of society. It fought to gain control once again, and was recognized as the representative for Cambodia in the United Nations for years after its fall. It continued to exist until 1999, when all its leaders were gone. Though the Khmer Rouge no longer exists, it is important not to forget the atrocities they committed, and the hundreds of thousands of Cambodians slaughtered by their own countrymen.
After every city in the country had been evacuated, the citizens were moved to work camps. The goal was to create a society that was classless, had no religion, and was based on agriculture. In these camps there was no money, no free market, and no regular schooling. Every building previously used for such things was turned into a prison or reeducation center. The officials who led the CKP, known to the people simply as Angkar, believed anyone from a city was a “new person." A new person was tainted by capitalistic ideas and subject to death by execution or over working. All intellectuals, Buddhists, minorities, and anyone associated with previous governments were targeted as well. A person could be executed on the simple grounds that they wore glasses, meaning they were literate. The only hope for a person that fell under any of these categories was to fake your own stupidity, and hopefully get away with it.
If one was to get away from the executions, life was far from desirable in the work camps. With the “Four-Year Plan”, the CKP hoped to triple rice production to 3 tons per hectare. This forced citizens to work for 12 hours a day straight with little to no break or food, causing thousands and thousands of deaths due to overworking and starvation. Family relationships were destroyed, and children were brainwashed to believe nothing but the CKP's communist ideals. It was not uncommon for teenagers to be more reliable leaders than adults in the movement, and many of the kids ratted who was left in their family out to the government for suspicious behavior. The CKP also did their best to brainwash adults, forcing them to go to reeducation sessions constantly. There were many different slogans that were drilled into the brains of every resident including: “Angkar has [the many] eyes of the pineapple,” “better to kill an innocent by mistake than spare an enemy by mistake,” “the spade is your pen, the rice field is your paper,” and “What is rotten must be removed.” Also, any crime, no matter how obselete, was punishable by execution, no questions asked.
Then, there were the prisons. They were more like interrogation centers where political prisoners were held before their execution. The most well known of these was codenamed S-21, and was located in the old Tuol Sleng High School building. Almost 20,000 people entered this building and there are less than 20 known survivors. The prisoners were tortured daily to force a confession of their betrayal; these confessions were almost always false and a result of the relentless beatings. After one had given up their confession for documentation, they were taken to a mass grave in front of which they kneeled awaiting a blow to the head and burial, alive or not. This place was known by fellow Cambodians simply as konlaenh choul min dael chenh - “the place where people go in but never come out.”
After four long years of terrifying rule, the Khmer Rouge fell in 1979. With the native population decimated, the government and civilization itself dismantled, Cambodia was forced to readjust. Vietnamese soldiers flooded in and discovered the hell on earth that was created by the CKP as mass grave upon mass grave was discovered. A new government called the People's Republic of Kampuchea was formed, and the citizens of Cambodia returned to their homes. They came to find nothing of their old lives left behind. Houses and possessions were gone, and families almost nonexistent. The Khmer Rouge continued to exist in the background of society. It fought to gain control once again, and was recognized as the representative for Cambodia in the United Nations for years after its fall. It continued to exist until 1999, when all its leaders were gone. Though the Khmer Rouge no longer exists, it is important not to forget the atrocities they committed, and the hundreds of thousands of Cambodians slaughtered by their own countrymen.
