Encyclopedia Article

The Cambodian Genocide

The Cambodian genocide is an event that occurred in years of 1975 through 1979.  To understand it more, genocide is the systematic killing of a racial or cultural group.  This killing occurred because of their racial or cultural group occurred in Cambodia.  Cambodia is located in the Southeast Asia.

The genocide started in 1975 when Khieu Samphan became leader.  He was the one responsible for the 2 million dead Cambodians in his five years of power.  It is believed that he was born in the year of 1931 just like many other future Khmer Rouge leaders.  He won a government scholarship to study in France.  When in Paris, he studied for a doctorate in economics but he then became fascinated by Marxism (Horvitz 1).  When he returned he was elected twice to the National Assembly, he also served as a cabinet member in the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk.  It is then he received the reputation as “Mr. Clean” because of his incorruptibility except he fell short of favor because of his leftist views. Khieu also took refuge in the jungles of eastern Cambodia.  This is where Pol Pot was forming the Khmer Rouge.  He became out of sight for several years but resurfaced in 1975 (Horvitz 1).  To help understand why the genocide occurred, the term Khmer Rouge is defined as a group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in 1975.

 On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge armies entered Phnom Penh.   Phnom Penh is located on the map below with the yellow point.  As you see the point is located in Cambodia and is the capital of Cambodia.    The new state was formed and then named the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) in January.  Right after their victory, the CPK labeled 2 million conquered urban dwellers, new people.  They drove them in all directions from the capital and other cities (Kiernan 611).   It caused the townspeople to settle among the rural. The CPK put the townspeople in agricultural labor camps without wages, rights, or free time.  Just before the rice harvest in 1975, the CPK center rounded up 800,000 deportees from various regions and brought them to the Northwest Zone.  This doubled its population, tens of thousands died from starvation during the 1976 (Kiernan 611).    

The Khmer Rouge also won the intial support from the peasant people except they too were rewarded with a life of unpaid labor.  They prohibited rights to land, freedom of religion and family life.  Meals were served at a mess hall.  The couples were separated and the youths were drafted into the workforce, army, or militia.  The children were taught to spy on their parents and to kill enemies.  Some of these enemies would include city dwellers, recalcitrants, and alleged malingerers.  The CPK and its security arrested and killed tens of thousands of peasants.  They would be killed because they were related to the purge local officials.  By 1977 and 1978 starvation and repression increased nationwide.  In 1979 about 675,000 peasants have died from being killed by execution or starvation (Kiernan 611). 

The genocide soon came to an end, when the Vietnamese were welcomed as liberators.  It is then that the leaders fled to Cambodia’s border with Thailand.  They were now unable to continue their quest for glory, prosperity and independence by murdering innocent peasants.  This is when the infamy, penury and foreign occupation ended (Heder 145).  

In January of 1979 the Vietnamese installed the People’s Republic of Kampuchea regime.  This party has a Communist Party of Kampuchea playing a prominent role with the Vietnamese dominating them.  The other remaining allies of the leaders were treated by China, the U.S. and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Heder 145).  Finally in 1989, the Vietnamese withdrew from Cambodia.  In 1993, under the super vision of the UN peacemakers, Cambodia adopted a democratic constitution and held free elections.