Cambodian Genocide. Pol Pot
Between 1975 and 1979 at least 1.5 million and possibly up to 3 million Cambodians were systematically killed by the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. Cambodia had been renamed Democratic Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge following their seizure of power in the Cambodian Civil War.
Pol Pot ran the party known as the Khmer Rouge and Kampuchea as a dictator, with complete authority over the state, which he envisioned as being built on the Soviet model. Pol Pot ordered forced relocations from urban environments to rural collectivist farms, or to forced labor projects to improve the small nation’s infrastructure.
Through his total control of the party and its hold on the nation’s military and security, Pol Pot rooted out dissenters for quick execution. Medical care was virtually non-existent and brutal working conditions combined with malnutrition and systematic executions reduced the population of Kampuchea by nearly 25% in just over four years.
The Khmer Rouge conducted forced evacuations of cities, including the capital of Phnom Penh, and divided the populace into three categories, full-rights people, candidates for full-rights, and depositees. Depositees were driven by forced marches into rural areas where after digging their own graves were often buried alive, in accordance with Pol Pot’s edict that “…bullets are not to be wasted.”
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge had a policy of enforced atheism, leading to the execution of priests and monks, as well as anyone practicing any form of religion or retaining religious symbols or literature. The genocide in Kampuchea continued until an invasion by Vietnam led to the Pol Pot government fleeing into deep jungle, where it remained as the internationally recognized legitimate government of the country. As the world learned of the genocide pressure mounted on the Khmer Rouge to hand Pot over for trial, and upon learning that the Khmer Rouge had agreed to do so Pol Pot died suddenly, most likely by suicide. His body was cremated before an autopsy could be performed.
