Jessica Hudock

SSO 306 75

Nov 23, 2021

Dr. James Paharik

Better Understanding the Cambodian Genocide

By reading about and studying the various genocides of the past, the Cambodian

genocide shows common similarities. The most prominent and broad ranged concept to

determine the causes would be Marxism. Although they are all from various time periods, each

has taken the concept and flipped it to fit what they feel is best for their country.

Many of the modern world's biggest tragedies were summarized in the manner of

Marxism. The concept of Marxism is used as an inappropriate template for the reason for many

of these fascist/communist countries to exterminate many of their citizens. This is

inappropriately interpreted due to the actual principle of Marxism being a world without classes,

one that could be like The Garden of Eden once again where all could be trusted and those that

were bad (part of the bourgeoisie) (liars and cheats) were banished to somewhere similar to hell.

They hated the idea of classes and those that could look down on others, and mainly believed

that there would be one class of freethinkers, and no one could be antagonized (Chirot, D. et al,

2010). In most if not all ways, the Khmer Rouge contradicted Marx’s vision. Marx idea of all

those causing problems in society and making antagonist views against different classes to be

punished, while the large genocides or governments worked mainly on societal classes by

separating those that were loyal, or by ethnicity, or a variety of other reasons. This then caused

even more societal classes rather than created one gathered group. Through Marx’s idea those

that cause bad will be taken on their own from the world by God leaving those that belong to
create one cohesive unit. While this is a broad idea, they took it to the next level and took the

extermination into their own hands. Instead of God (or a higher power) deciding on who goes

and who stays, the rulers of these communist/fascist nations took God complexes and decided

the weakest class or group in the country. In comparison to the original idea, they decided to play

God in the name of “Marxism” and decide on their own who is most important to the society and

what exactly is a wrongdoing, could even be just by living as a certain race or certain religion.

By taking an idea/concept that is supposed to unify those that have not been taken by God in this

“Garden of Eden” type environment, they created a state of terror they felt could be justified.

The Cambodian Holocaust/genocide used the idea of Marxism to create their own, ideal

Cambodia. By taking over and getting rid of those that they felt did not belong, it started a new

“race” of people. The leader of this new Cambodia was Pol Pot, part of the Khmer Rouge ethnic

group, who decided who would stay and who would be transferred to the prison type isolation.

The Khmer Rouge were considered, “a radical agrarian group with an ideology based on strict

one-party rule, rejection of urban and Western ideas, and abolition of private property”

(History.com Editors, 2017). The takeover by the Khmer Rouge caused what they referred to as

“Year Zero”. This can be better described as “the return of Cambodia to a peasant economy in

which there would be no class divisions, no money, no books, no schools, no hospitals. Religion

of any kind was banned” (Cambodian communities out of crisis, 2020). When everything was

wiped anew, they took matters into their own hands killing all those they found unfit instead of

any god-like figure. “As part of this effort, hundreds of thousands of the educated, middle-class

Cambodians were tortured and executed in special centers established in the cities, the most

infamous of which was Tuol Sleng jail in Phnom Penh, where nearly 17,000 men, women and

children were imprisoned during the regime’s four years in power “(History.com Editors, 2017).
People who were deemed to have been the lazy elite, in other words the educated and the skilled,

were also disposed of. Every vestige of the former corrupt way of life had to be destroyed. Many

people tried to conceal their identity or former occupation but were eventually found out or

betrayed. One of the main special jail-like killing centers was S-21. The purpose of S-21 was the

interrogation and extermination of those opposed to 'Angkar' (the organization), which is what

the Khmer Rouge regime called itself. Before being placed in their cells, prisoners were

photographed, all their possessions were removed, and they were stripped to their underwear.

They slept on the floor without mats, mosquito nets or blankets (Bergin, 2009). To justify the

killings, they needed to come up with a valid reason. They resorted to explaining any way that

could fit a radical category, were old and sick, or of a minority population that posed a risk to the

country, acting regarding the godly Marxist view.

Once wiping out the various groups they felt did not belong, it created a class of people

that were left that must be the servants or workers, and those that are important enough to be part

of the authoritarian Khmer Rouge. All those that lived in the area were moved to community

land now that they were forced to farm rice on and was awarded very little of it causing

starvation among many of the deaths caused by this whole genocide. Those moved out of the city

were needed to, “increase food production through collective farming, they believed, would

ensure economic security for Cambodia’s overwhelmingly poor village population” (Bergin,

2009).

After multiple years of torture, it was all ended by the Vietnamese Army in 1979, who

then retained power. After being thrown from power, “Pol Pot himself lived in the rural northeast

of the country until 1997, when he was tried by the Khmer Rouge for his crimes against the state.

The trial was seen as being mostly for show, however, and the former dictator died while under
house arrest in a jungle home” (History.com Editors, 2017). Since Pol Pot was never able to take

accountability for the crimes committed against the Cambodian people, Comrade Duch was

found and taken to trial to serve time for war crimes and crimes against humanity. During the

trial in the “testimony before a United Nations-backed tribunal in 2009, Duch, a former school

teacher who was the first senior Khmer Rouge official to face trial, tearfully apologized to the

families of victims and testified that those who arrived at Tuol Sleng had little hope of ever

leaving” (Neuman, 2020). By explaining these grueling events, he took accountabilities for all

although he was not the leader or directly committing all the killings or crimes. His explanations

of events seemed to be authentic due to him not only experiencing it firsthand, but most of all he

addressed them as crimes and not just actions or referring to them as other actions. The idea that

he admits to the events calling them crimes gives the idea that he understands the severity of the

violations, and not just actions others were accountable for that he just participated in. Duch then

follows it with the honorable thing and expects the punishment for not only his actions at the

camp/building he oversaw, but for the whole occurrence. He even apologized to those he hurt,

and those that were left behind as widows or orphans due to his and other actions. He was

sentenced to life in prison, which is where he spent till he died. Although it was the rest of his

life, it still does not feel as equal as all that was done during the genocide, but they couldn’t lay

all of the blame on just one man of the many involved.

Like many of the past genocides, the concept of Marxism drove the madness and killings.

The Cambodian Genocide left thousands of families misplaced and missing. Although it was

shorter than many of the other tragic genocides in history its impact will forever change the

citizens of Cambodia.
 References

Bergin, S. (2009). The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide. The Rosen Publishing

Group.

Cambodian communities out of crisis. (2020).Cambodian Communities out of Crisis. (n.d.).

Retrieved November 25, 2021, from http://cambcomm.org.uk/ccc/.

Chirot, D., & McCauley, C. R. (2010). Chapter 2: The Psychological Foundations of Genocidal

Killings. In Why not kill them all?: The logic and prevention of mass political murder

(pp. 51–94). essay, Princeton University Press.

History.com Editors. (2017, September 12). Khmer Rouge. History.com.

https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/the-khmer-rouge.

Neuman, S. (2020, September 2). 'comrade Duch,' infamous commander of Khmer Rouge

Prison, dies in Cambodia. NPR. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/02/908773333/comrade-duch-infamous-commander-of-khm

er-rouge-prison-dies-in-cambodia.