Newspaper Article
This is a newspaper article that I wrote as if i were reporting from Cambodia after the Vietnamese take over. It shows the shock that resulted with the discovery of the camps and mass graves. Also, it provides a historical viewpoint from a world shut out from the Khmer Rouge society previously.
Cambodia Discovered in Ruins
By Eric Thornburg
January 17, 1979
PHNOM PENH- Ten days ago Vietnamese forces captured the capitol city of Cambodia, and the previous communist government, the Khmer Rouge, fled west. As the forces traveled to the other parts of the country they discovered a devastated society.
All cities had been abandoned and all the population was either in prisons, or farming camps with insufficient food and shelter. Soon after discovering these places the mass graves were uncovered. The death toll is unknown, but is expected to be in the hundreds of thousands.
The Vietnamese had been aware of the governments actions during the months of fighting leading up to their win. After taking control in 1975 the Khmer Rouge evacuated all cities and put their residents into farming camps to create a farming society without class, religion or trade. Any intellectual, minority, or city dweller was put to work or executed. The government continuously massacred political prisoners in its purges in the name of false confessions.
Still, little is known about the actual death toll or the effects this has had on the country itself. With more discoveries every day, we will definitely be hearing more from this corner of the world.
Cambodia Discovered in Ruins
By Eric Thornburg
January 17, 1979
PHNOM PENH- Ten days ago Vietnamese forces captured the capitol city of Cambodia, and the previous communist government, the Khmer Rouge, fled west. As the forces traveled to the other parts of the country they discovered a devastated society.
All cities had been abandoned and all the population was either in prisons, or farming camps with insufficient food and shelter. Soon after discovering these places the mass graves were uncovered. The death toll is unknown, but is expected to be in the hundreds of thousands.
The Vietnamese had been aware of the governments actions during the months of fighting leading up to their win. After taking control in 1975 the Khmer Rouge evacuated all cities and put their residents into farming camps to create a farming society without class, religion or trade. Any intellectual, minority, or city dweller was put to work or executed. The government continuously massacred political prisoners in its purges in the name of false confessions.
Still, little is known about the actual death toll or the effects this has had on the country itself. With more discoveries every day, we will definitely be hearing more from this corner of the world.
