Cambodian Genocide

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Cambodian Genocide “Genocide” is a term used to describe violence against members of a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group with a goal to destroy the entire group. This term came into general use after World War II, when the full extent of the atrocities committed by the Nazi against the Jews became known. The actions of the Khmer Rouge, Communist Party of Kampuchea or CPK, as they are also known, government which constitutes as a “genocide” began shortly after their seizure of power from the government of Marshal Lon Nol in 1975 and lasted until the Khmer Rouge was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1978. The deaths of the Cambodians were a result of the Khmer Rouge’s quest for Communist country and a desire to eliminate educated…show more content…
he was educated in Paris to study radio electronics but soon became involved with Marxism. he stopped studying radio electronics and lost his scholarship, then returned to Cambodia. Once he returned to Cambodia, he became involved in the underground Communist movement and was an admirer of communism. He envisioned the creation of a “new” Cambodia based on the Maiost-Communist model. the Khmer Rouge began decades before the Cambodian Genocide, it was fueled by the first Indochina War and the Vietnam War. The goal for the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian Genocide was to force social agrarianism and deconstruct Cambodia back to a primitive “Year Zero,” where all citizens would participate in rural projects and would be made to work…show more content…
By 1975, Pol Pot’s force had grown to over 700,000 men. The Khmer Rouge persecuted educated people including lawyers, doctors, and current or former military and police. They also persecuted professionals, monks, religious enthusiasts, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodians with Chinese, Vietnamese, or Thai ancestry. Within the first few days of the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia in 1975, Pol Pot had started enforcing his extremist policies of collectivization (the government confiscation and control of all properties) and communal labor to the Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge placed people in collective living arrangements and enacted “re-education” programs in order to create a society without competition. People were divided into different categories that were based on the trust that the Khmer Rouge had for them, the most trustworthy were called “old citizens.” The pro-West as well as city dwellers began as “new citizens” and could move up to “deportees,” then “candidates,” and finally “full rights citizens.” Those who refused re-education were killed in the fields surrounding the commune or at the infamous prison camp Tuol Sleng Centre, known as S-21. The Khmer Rouge also interrogated its own membership, and frequently executed members on suspicions of treachery or

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