Life Under THE Most Evil Communist Regime - Khmer Rouge 

The fact that the Vietnamese, who were communists themselves, decided to fight against this communist regime, shows just how psychotic Pol Pot & his actions were.

I knew an elderly Cambodian man who lived through the regime and one of the things he told me was how he had to learn how to do things like work and drive half blind because the Khmer Rouge considered anyone with prescription glasses to be apart of the intellectual class and thus enemies of the state. If they found out you needed glasses or caught you wearing them you would be immediately executed.

As a Cambodian, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all my foreign friends who like to talk about the painful history of Cambodia.❤

My grandpa escaped Cambodia with his family and lost some of his siblings to the khmer rouge, thank you for covering this!

Pol Pot treated Cambodians like how I treat my Minecraft villagers

I've been to the S21 Tuol Sleng museum myself and seen the checker floored rooms, the rusty bed frames and the torture devices that were used displayed in clear cases. Even after all these years, the blood stains are still there. They also had boards upon boards of pictures showing each victim that was held there... To think that people were tortured and even died in there many years ago is a truly terrifying thought to say the least....

Yet the UN criticized Vietnam for liberating the Cambodian people and eliminating Khmer Rouge. What a shame

Then Vietnam has to sacrifice thousand lifes to free Cambodia off this madness, but the world was saying that Vietnam was invading Cambodia. Nowaday many young Cambodian and politicans spreading hate on Vietnam, one of those reasons is "Vietnam was invaded Cambodia" What the heck, the border still remain the same as since the french left Indochina. We didn't took any land in the war against Rouge Khmer. What a world.

My grandpa passed away during the Khmer Rouge, all I heard from my grandma was that he died of starvation because he refused to eat during the toughest times and given his wife and children all of the little foods that he hidden or earned from the camp(work field) later on, grandma and most of her kids got separated and somehow survived until present and reunited. What a hero! R.I.P🙏🙏

What the Khmer Rouge did is unfortunately not taught or even wide known today. Even at the time, many prominent Western socialists denied the genocide, saying the atrocities were either greatly exaggerated or American propaganda. Noam Chomsky was one of them. I think the important takeaway for us here in the West is that we are not immune to such barbarity. Any ideology, especially those promising utopianism or espouse violent solutions, should be looked at with a heavy dose of critical thinking.

Vietnamese in 1979: If we have to go against the entire WORLD to save these people, so be it..

Fun fact: in the 70's Henry Kissinger gave the Thai foreign minister a message from the US government for the Khmer Rouge: "Tell the Cambodians we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs but we will not let that stand in our way" After the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge the US channeled funds and arms to the Khmer Rouge rebels that held on to pockets of the country, and made overtures to the Chinese asking them to support the Khmer Rouge. Until 1993 the US voted every year at the UN for the Khmer Rouge to retain Cambodia's UN seat.

"The people were not even allowed to forage for food in the countryside." Thank you for mentioning this. A lot of people have no idea how insane the Khmer Rouge was. Even in North Korea, people are allowed to go out and scavenge for food. Not in Cambodia. According to Khmer Rouge ideology, if one individual possessed any kind of food, even just a little bit of rice or a fruit they found in the jungle, it meant they broke the communist code of "equality" and were therefore liable to be punished. I've heard stories of weak and starving people being executed by suffocation (by plastic bags) merely for eating a little bit of food outside of designated communes. My own family survived by eating in secret (communes never had enough food). It makes me angry and sad to know what Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge put my family and millions of other Cambodians through. And for what? Did Cambodia become a stronger nation for it? More developed? More prosperous? And to add insult to injury, Pol Pot had a proper funeral and burial site when he died. By who, I have no idea. Every Cambodian I know hates him. Every single one, without exception. Even Mao, Stalin, and even Hitler have their admirers. Pol Pot is the only historical figure I know that's universally despised.

My mom and dad and relatives were all survivors of the Khmer Rouge. They escaped into Vietnam and then the US. I’m the next generation along with my cousins from them and I’m going back there this summer for vacation. It’s crazy to think about the brutality they had to face and be lucky enough to survive and escape it.

My grandpa was dying in the 1970s but he survived and then later pass away last year 2022 i miss my grandfather 😢

I visited the killing fields. They didnt execute the people with bullets as shown in the video. To save cost, they actually just use the the farming tools on the head, as evident on the skulls found. Can also watch award winning film The Killing Fields to have a feel of what happened in that era.

Vietnam actually ended all that by conquering Cambodia. After all those years fighting imperial Japan and western powers, they even managed to take over Cambodia and fight chinese troops back in the north of Vietnam. They're amazing.

These guys were complete monsters. One of the reasons why Vietnam invaded them was because the khmer went into a Vietnamese village and murdered around 3000 people. May their victims never be forgotten.

He actually removed any progress that there was and set them back who knows how many years. Such utter brutality and stupidity should never have happened. I don't know how soldiers could just follow these orders and not fight back.

In Year 5, we were learning about peoples migration stories, and there were a few students whose parents were from Cambodia and had escaped the Khmer Rouge. I got extremely curious about it, to be honest, I am glad this video explains more to me, because I only heard it was a terrible event like the Shoah. Thank you~

Pol Pot could have basically stayed in power if he hadn't ordered his troops to attack the Vietnamese border and storm into Vietnamese villages, killing and raping the innocents for no reason than to serve Pol Pot's delusion of a great Khmer empire. Vietnam tried to resolve the conflict using diplomatic channels, specifically through the UN, but to no avail as most of the security council members were supporting Pol Pot's regime at the time. The breaking point for the Vietnamese was the Ba Chuc Village Massacre, where 3000 civilians were brutally gunned and hunted down like animals by the Khmer Rouge, Hanoi knew peace had never been a choice to deal with the barbaric government in Cambodia, so they quickly mobilized the army, caling back battle hardened veterans of the Vietnam war, using both firepower and tactical superiority to sweep through Cambodia and reached Phnom Penh in just half a month. In short, Pol Pot dug a grave for himself and his regime when he decided to attack Vietnam.

A large amount of the high ranking Khmer Rouge are now rather wealthy of of gemstones that their former soldiers dig through minefields to find. Almost nobody was sent to trial for what they did.

Great work! Important history. Thank you for sharing.

I am not Cambodian, but I’d like to send my condolences to all people who lost their dear-loved ones during this awful period… It just saddens me as I keep seeing comments of people telling they lost someone during the Khmer Rouge regime 🖤🕊 May them Rest In Peace I’d like to show my respect to those who survived this regime in Cambodia too, and I wish them the best ❤️💪

My mother had to endure this horrid regime. She told me stories on how she feared for her life every day. It truly horrible what she had to go through, and thankful for everything I have thanks to her

my uncle (He is actually my grandmothers younger brother, but my family sees him as an uncle) escaped the Khmer Rouge. He was taken to an indoctrination camp as a child, but after trying to steal food was sentenced to be executed. One of the daughters of the camp generals took pity on him and untied him from the tree and gave him directions on how to escape, and he was reunited with his family (My grandparents) in the USA after my grandmother discovered he was still alive. The rest of my grandmother's family was not as fortunate. They were promised for their possessions to returned to them if they came back to their home (They were boarding a ship for the US). They returned, and were shot down by the Khmer Rouge on a field. My grandpa, who was an army general, got as many people as he could on his ship and headed to America, just hours before the Khmer Rouge would arrive and burn the town.

Thank YOU darling i looking for this❤😊

My parents and their families had to live through this. My dad remembers more than my mom did, and suffers terrible PTSD from living through this. Both of my parents lost a lot of family members...

I learned about this in high school thanks to having an amazing history teacher who believed we should Learn a wider array of issues in general

My dad’s old coworker had escaped Cambodia with her family when she was a kid, by boat if I remember correctly. There wasn’t enough room for everyone so her father stayed behind. She never saw him again. My dad asked about him once when he saw the man’s picture on her desk and she immediately started sobbing. 😢

I went to S-21 and the killing fields last year, it’s surreal seeing all the photos and the cells etc. I got to meet one of the 7 survivors who was like 90+ and it’s just unbelievable what these people went through

I remember that Haing Ngor who was a medical professional later turned actor survived this horrible incident. But during that time he lost his wife & unborn child. He along with his niece moved to the US after that incident. Haing also later stared in the movie TKF, which he got an Academy Award for.

A few years back I visited the killing fields on a trip through Vietnam and Cambodia. One of the most sobering experiences of my life. Almost no one there that day so it was eerily silent and, in a strange way, also very peaceful. The killing tree is mind numbing. It’s decorated so beautifully now but listening to the headset I was given explaining what it had been used for made my knees go rubbery. I’ll never forget that place.

I am a Cambodian. My grandpa have events from this, he survived and he was a teenager in that time. It’s actually true he told me that, he actually have a drawing of him and his brother have their hands up and the soldiers have their guns pointing at them so this is actually a true story not kidding.

My mom is Cambodian. There’s a big community down here in Philadelphia and there’s always big food festivals. I remember I just got into the band Dead Kennedys and was singing “holiday in Cambodia” out loud at the festival but I noticed a lot of people giving me dirty looks I then realized that the chorus was just singing Pol Pot’s name over and over again

Simple History, I am glad you added this video. I am Cambodian and people don’t talk about this usually. My great grandma died to this, because she was rich and the Khmer Rouge found out. Thank you. My grandpa on my dad’s side fought against Pol Pot’s army in the civil war, but they lost so he had to change his name. Sadly he died in 2021.

My grandpa was a Vietnam Vet and I remember as a kid we watched an older movie, I don't remember the name of it right now. But it was about a guy that escaped the killing fields, and listening to my grandpa talk about Pol Pot and how evil he was. One part of the movie I remember was with a group of young kids and there was a chalk board with a stick figure family drawn on it, and one of the kids erased the part of the figures holding hangs, showing the family needed to be dissolved and the other kids and leaders in the room cheered.

It should not have happened to the Cambodian people during the Khmer Rouge era, it was a dark period that the Cambodian people will never forget, it is still crazy to think that this happened in 1975/1979. I can not imagine what my parents and grandparents went through so I can grow here. Thanks to bringing insights to this part of history that most of the world did not even know happened.

My wife's family are refugees from Cambodia. She was born in the states but her two eldest brothers lived through it and you can tell they still have PTSD from it. My mother in law ended up losing 3 of her children while trying to escape

As a Cambodian, this is the worst time in our history. RIP to the ancestors that passed away. I never had a chance to meet any of my grandparents.

My ex-girlfriend’s mom survived the Khmer Rouge but had several fingers cut off during torture. She also lost all proof of her Master’s degree.

@Elephantsss says "the Vietnamese , Viet Minh , pathet Laos and Khmer Rouge all comrades in the Indo [China] Communist Party" -- That's true. But it's also true that some people could change drastically. That's why Saloth Sâr (Pol Pot) turned on his Vietnamese comrades after he was guided by his new Chinese mentors; that's why some Khmer Rouge like Hun Sen and Heng Samrin sought their Vietnamese comrades' help to stop Pol Pot's and his Chinese mentors' barbaric genocide on the Cambodian people; that's how the Vietnamese and Americans are now together in a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" while not long ago US soldiers were committing most heinous barbarity on the Vietnamese people (e.g. in My Lai in 1968 where US soldiers mercilessly shot dead at point blank even babies still clinging to their mother's bosom)

"But it wasnt real Communism" -Some Western liberal arts major who posts from their iphone

Khmer Rouge had the backing of both China and the USA, both countries have a lot to answer for when it comes to the crimes that occurred in Cambodia. Well done for Vietnam for realising what was happening and bringing an end to it.

This is the reason why Cambodian American men like me are 2nd amendment absolutists, you can’t enslave us if we have guns to fight back. My grandpa was executed after the war because he had fought on the side of the Khmer Republic. My mom survived all 4 years of slavery by not standing out.

As a Cambodia, I can confirm it really sad 😞

It is so odd how they don't teach this in American schools

"People need food to be able to work and survive long enough to do so" Pol Pot: That's not what I was taught! Is air not good enough to eat!?

As a Burmese whose family and relatives suffered under the Junta, and as I have a Cambodian best friend, I can emphasize with the Cambodians, the hardships and cruelty they faced are similar to the 8888 uprising. Almost every thing is the same between Ne Win and Pol Pot, both were ruthless, cold, heartless and greedy dictators. I myself wouldn't want to be one when I dream and do become the future president of Myanmar, hats off to you Cambodian people, I respect you 100% Love, S.

I've watched a documentary about Pol Pot about a year ago and i nearly shed tears. Dude was cruel to not only men adults but also women and children. He targeted intellectuals and anybody who he saw that they were a threat to his rule.

I have been to the memorial site of the massacre committed by the Khmer in Ba Chuc district, There are hundreds of skulls of victims on display, even babies, my parents were almost killed 😢

My grandpa actually had to go through this and survived 😮

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." The problem is bureaucrats 100 miles away don't have the slightest idea what your abilities are, so they either end up enabling laziness or (as is the case here) slaving people to death.

bruh i got an adventure communist ad at the start this is already going well

After America failed in Vietnam. China conflicts with the Soviet Union. American capitalists and Chinese communists joined hands to deal with the Soviet Union and Vietnam. China promised the US to teach Vietnam a lesson and isolate the Soviet Union. China fascinated Pol Pot, provided weapons, and trained the Khmer Rouge army to fight Vietnam. At the same time, China invaded Vietnam from Vietnam's northern border. China's plans were very sinister, forcing Vietnam to fight two battlefields at the same time: Viet - Campot war and Viet - China war 1979. The US tried to send aid to Pol Pot across the Thai border. The US and China both attacked Vietnam on the political and diplomatic front, both calling on the world to boycott Vietnam for its acts of aggression. At that time, Vietnam was isolated in the UN international arena. The Khmer Rouge genocide regime supported by the US and China has a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Don't talk about communism or capitalism. The evil nature lies in bloodthirsty politicians

So good video ❤❤

Glory to the People's Army of Vietnam, who liberated the Cambodian people from the evil regime of the Khmer rouge!

When my professor (who lived in China under Mao) first told me about this group, I got one of my first looks at how destructive Communism is, no matter who applies it.

The whole world owes Vietnam an apology for overthrowing the Khmer Rouge, literally most of the world including the US was on their side long before the truth came out, even if the Vietnamese were no better

My grandparents fled to America and had a big family They still went to visit for my great grandmas funeral in 2014 My family also went to visit They say the country is still beautiful but you can tell war had an effect on this country

Nice video.

You should have mentioned Malcolm Caldwell as well. The idiot constantly defended Pol Pot and his massacres until he was killed by them hours after meeting Pol Pot in his visit to Cambodia.

I had a university professor who lived in the immediate aftermath of the Khemer Rouge , he at times shared stories that his family and others had shared with him about living under the regime it was eye opening. Professor Un you were my favorite teacher .

My mom escaped Cambodia and was pregnant and she lost her mom dad and she has 9 siblings and all died except 3

Great video. Please keep educating people on communism and socialism

Red Khmer: *attacks Vietnam* Vietnam: *fights back* China: "Omg Vietnam is invading Cambodia, we must teach them a lesson by attacking their border and invading their islands." 🙃

"That wasn't real Communism!" Some dude at a Starbucks

Sadly, not many people outside Southeast Asia remember the tragedy of the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia, but in the late 1970s and 1980s, when the evil nature of the regime in that country from 1975-79 was publicized in Europe and the United States, the absolutely horrific acts of the Khmer Rouge (“kah-mair ruuj”) regime became front page news, an Oscar-winning movie and a quite popular punk rock anthem, “Holiday in Cambodia,” by the Dead Kennedy's in 1980. In 1996, an Oscar-winning actor was killed in an attempted robbery outside his Los Angeles home. A tragic thing to happen to anyone, but making this senseless act even more tragic was the fact that the victim was Dr. Haing S. Ngor. Ngor had come to the United States and made a successful life for himself as an actor, portraying another victim and survivor of the regime, Dith Pran, and winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the movie “The Killing Fields.” Dr. Ngor had been an obstetrician in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, when the communist Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. “Khmer Rouge” means “Red Khmer.” Rouge is French for “red”, the color of communism, and the French had ruled Cambodia for ninety years until 1953. “Khmer” is the Cambodian word for the dominant ethnic group in the country. The Khmer Rouge were on the extreme left of the political spectrum. The very extreme left - by the time they took power in Cambodia, Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong's China was coming out of a radical period itself - the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, and Mao himself would be dead within a year, beginning a shift in Chinese politics. You can find out more about this strange and amazing time in “A Day in History's” “The Most Bizarre Events in Chinese History” on our channel [A Day In History ], but suffice it to say that the ideology of the Khmer Rouge made Mao look like a man living in the past. Though the Khmer Rouge looked to Mao and China for both guidance and financial support, the leaders of the movement, most notably it's #1 and #2 men, Pol Pot and Nuon Chea, known also as “Brother #1” and “Brother #2”, saw North Korea and Albania, the two most isolated and repressive communist regimes on Earth, as their role models. All three nations believed in “autarky” - complete self-sufficiency, though the smallest of the three, Albania, was the only one to come close to its goal. During the time of French control of the country, many Cambodians rebelled. Some carried out a small-scale and largely unsuccessful guerrilla war. Many people supported the Cambodian royal family, even though they were a puppet of the French military government. However, the heir to the throne, Prince Norodom Sihanouk (1922-2012), known within Cambodia by his traditional title of “Samdech Euv,” or “King Father,” became head of state in 1960 and again when crowned king in 1993, eventually led the country to independence in post-WWII talks with France.

I remember one of the sayings of the Khmer Rouge was "To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss."

I first heard about this from my dad when I was a kid. I told him why there is so many skulls in a Cambodian museum. He also used to work for a Cambodian chef who owns a restaurant in France. That time, his boss managed to escape but his family were unable to run and were gunned down while trying to cross the border to Thailand. He eventually settled in France. His boss is comfortable to share his backstory but always shed tears when do so.

I worked with a woman who escaped from Cambodia. She told me about working those log days on the farm. The workers would watch out for each other so they wouldn't get caught sleeping or napping, because if you did you would get shot. She ended up having to run across a minefield in order to escape, but some of her friends weren't so lucky.

My grandpa and grandma were in Cambodia as military medics from Vietnam. They weren't on the frontline actually, they worked in the Cambodian's military hospital, working with civillian Cambodian doctors. They said that usually patients are Cambodian civillians. They met each other and got married after came back to Vietnam then divorced when my mom's 12. I'm proud of them, but my grandpa passed away 4 months ago. In his funeral, a line of about 40 honor guards were there. My grandma is living with us now. I miss him alot 😥.

🇱🇦 and vletnam safe everyone from the war🇰🇭🇱🇦🇻🇳❤❤

About time this video was made. I've been waiting for this for so long! I actually know some people who escaped from there, with one story being that one of them lost their father. Another case is when one almost got proscecuted and 'processed' because he could speak French.

Finally! As a Cambdian-American with family members who've gone through this, thank you!

As a Cambodian my grandpa told me that he had to live in the middle of a Cambodian rainforest to avoid the regime he even had to watch a crocodile and a Komodo dragon fight eachother over his poor friend that was soon eaten by one of the animals

Cambodia feels dark. Its a strange sensation. Outside Siam Riep the place just has a malaise about it. S21 and the killing fields are on another level. Its the kind of evil you can feel oozing from the place. I hated traveling any distance in Cambodia its still a wreck.

Vietnam: Hey world, I defeated this horrible regime which has killed a third of its own population! World: How terrible! No one will play with you anymore!

Whether we like it or not, geography, destiny, .... have made the fate of people in Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam into 1; that is, if any of those 3 countries is troubled, unstable, war-ravaged, ...., then the rest would go the same way: troubled, unstable, war-ravaged. # It's ONLY WHEN ALL THREE COUNTRIES are stable, peaceful, prosperous, then the people in those 3 countries could enjoy peace, stability and prosperity. # Thus, the people in those 3 countries must safeguard their peace, stable environment, prosperity TOGETHER, UNITED.

Thank You for spreading awareness to what happened in Cambodia.

My family and I fled Cambodia in 1979 to come to the US. I had a chance to go back in 1997 and visit S21, now known as Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It's by far one of the scariest, depressing and saddest place i've ever visited. Many of the rooms still contain blood soaked mattresses where the victims were tortured on and torture contraptions and how they were used.. There are also pictures of the victims on many of the walls.

This is by far my favorite history channel. Ever.

BURSTING WITH LIFE, PEACEFUL LIFE! Yes, that is Cambodia now, BURSTING WITH PEACEFUL LIFE. Thanks to whom ? Please answer honestly and impartially.

At that time, Vietnam, our country, had to brace itself against China attacking from the north, against the Khmer Rouge in the south, the regular army that we maintained amounted to 2 million soldiers. It was really difficult at that time. America and the whole world surrounded and embargoed us. We are very grateful to our comrades in Russia, Cuba, India and some other countries who have helped us. Now there are some young people in Cambodia who are trampling on the flag that helped their country escape the cruel regime. We are really very disappointed

You can hate or love Vietnam, you can question their real intention at that time, but you can't deny actions against Polpot is on the good side of human kind. Vietnam did it.

I've waited for simple history to create a video on this! Thank you! :D

My respect for Vietnam: 📈📈📈

One of my spiritual sisters was a child in the killing fields of Cambodia. She escaped but much of her family did not.

Us Army vet married to a Lao. My wife’s aunts son married a Viet lady last year. I got to meet her dad. He was in the first invasion of Cambodia. He was shot 2 times in his arm. I have met lot of people from a lot of conflicts. The only one I have not yet is the Falklands war.

My poor pitiful country 😢, i lost my grandpa and my 3 uncle in the Khmer Rouge regime

Having visited Cambodia 4 times now I can say that the Cambodian people are beautiful, humble, dignified, honest and kind. This makes it even worse when you see what they had to suffer.

I am a Simple History channel’s fan from Cambodia, I really appreciate for today’s video and as my generation we only heard and learned about this regime from book or our parents and grandparents memories. May the soul of civilians, prisoners, soldiers who died during the regime rest in peace.

My great grandparents died from this and so as my grandma's brother. I'm honestly just shocked at how my grandma managed to survive through all of this. She told me that she would hide behind things such as trees and buildings so that she didn't get shot. If she were to die, I wouldn't be here right now.

People of Cambodia: Literally just existing Pol Pot: "And I took that personally"

If your country introduces a “Super Great Leap Forward:” leave as fast as you can

Thank for making this video. I’m a Cambodian myself. I can tell all of you that this was the historic traumatizing for all Cambodians. Decades later, we are healing, and we have been healing until today. I recommend all of you to visit Cambodia at least once in a lifetime. The country is dramatically developed. People are friendly and helpful. I bet you can see people smiling and chitchatting even during the traffic congestion. I’m opening for all the tourists to visit my country.

After Pol Pot's bout of ultranationalism spilled into Vietnam, with the occupation of Phu Quoc island in 1975 and most infamously the Ba Chuc massacre 1978 that saw almost all victims shot or beheaded, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and ended his genocidal regime. My uncle was there, 2nd Division of the 4th Army that entered Phnom Penh. When he arrived in Phnom Penh and when he eventually left, people were cheering for him. And what we got at the end was invasion by the PRC followed by a border skirmish lasting until 1991, and tightened embargo by the United States. All the while the Thai provided safe haven for the Khmer Rouge as they reorganised across the border (with British training for a time, no less) to wage a guerrilla war back into Cambodia with little repercussion. Meanwhile Noam Chomsky sat in cafes in Boston writing articles stating his support for Pol Pot's genocide. While Cambodia is on fire, Pol Pot naturally went on a secret tour from 1985 to 1988 to Beijing to receive cancer treatment. And once international pressure forced Vietnam occupation force to retreat from Cambodia, a UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia was established and operated in such a comedically incompetent fashion that almost broke the new post-war Cambodia as Khmer Rouge intensified its attack right up until well after the first election. Reality really is more absurd than fiction.

i love this channel

I have been waiting for this for 4 gyros

Amazing documentary! This is very informative! Thank you!