Pol Pot - The Khmer Rouge & the Killing Fields Documentary 

Hello guys! If you like our work please subscribe to our second channel The History Chronicles ru-vid.com

In college I had a classmate in my writing class that was a refugee from Cambodia. He read his paper to the class. I remember him relating how he and his sister and his mother had to flee to the jungle. They were starving, and figured out what berries and seeds were hopefully safe to eat by watching the birds and what they ate. And after he got to the parr where, while searching the jungle for food he came to a clearing and looked down to find himself staring down into a massive and deep pit full of dead people. He was pretty sure his father was among the dead in that pit. There wasn't a dry eye in room. It was 30 years ago and it haunts me still.

The fact that he died a free man peacefully in bed is the ultimate injustice.

Thank you for mentioning that Vietnam put a stop to the murder of the population of Cambodia.

To save bullets, the Khmer Rouge used a hoe to strike each person's head. They were truly despicable when they dyed Phnom Penh with blood. But when Vietnam defeated these villains, the whole world turned against Vietnam. It was so unfair to us.

Thank you for the insightful documentary. My dad lived through the killing fields executions in Battambang. He witnessed his 2 older brothers beheadings because they couldn’t speak Khmer well enough due to being ethnically Chinese/Vietnamese. The rest of the family spoke fluent Khmer so their lives were spared. Both of his parents died of disease from bad drinking water. He was separated from his siblings due to the war, ending up on the streets at the age of 13. He was, unfortunately, one of the many children who would become child laborers by the Khmer Rouge. Dad would constantly remind me, when I was a kid, of what he went through. He worked for about 4 years, 20 hour days farming and piling bodies/ throwing bodies in ditches. He said that bodies were piled high everywhere that it was impossible to count. He told me that a 10 pound rice bag had to feed his camp of 200 people. He had to eat fish and frog tadpole, snakes, and other undesirable things to survive. Among other stories he told me, he had a gun pointed to his head while relieving himself to ensure that he wouldn’t run away. He tried escaping twice, first time to the mountains to the border of Thailand, to which many were turned away. The second time, he was able to enter Thailand and was rescued by the Red Cross. He told me when he boarded the plane that he was wearing rice bags as clothing. Out of his entire family, he was the only one who sent in the US, the others went to Australia. He did very well for himself despite only having the clothes on his back. Because of his work ethic and survival instincts, he worked his way up in the restaurant industry to becoming an executive chef and managed several restaurants and eventually owning a few restaurants. Every year in August he celebrates his refuge to the US, paying respects to the country that brought him in, giving him an opportunity to become successful and have a better life, and expressing his thankfulness to President Jimmy Carter for taking in refugees from his country.

Khmer male here, my mother and grandmother were survivors of the regime. Unbelievably, i was born April 15th, 1998, the day of his death. My mother sees me as a blessing and new era to her life after i was born. She was a child during the regime, and had to eat tarantulas and snakes along with her mother. We now live in America, and we have a nice home and she never wants to hear his name ever again.

In fact, in the time our Vietnamese soldiers tried to save the Cambodian from this guy, the world just said we are the invaders, the bad guys, even Pol Pot was cruel and tried to repeat the crime of Hitler.

As a long time student of Asian history. This relatively brief documentary was very well put together. Thank you for putting this info out on utube. People must not forget these atrocities nor the suffering of so many innocent people at the hands of these monsters.

I was shocked to discover a few years ago that the hair-cutter at the shop I frequented escaped with her sister from one of the Khmer Rouge jungle prison camps where many died. One day, we were making small talk as she cut my hair and I asked where she was originally from, and she said Cambodia. She then told a story how they left during Pol Pot's rule, and that she and her sister escaped to save their lives. At first, I thought she was kidding, but then I saw her sad eyes and the emotion in her voice. They escaped at night preferring to die trying rather than wait for an almost certain eventual death in the camp. The two hiked quietly for many days through the jungle until they reached Thailand and safety. From there, they eventually were allowed to resettle in the US. She and her sister are brave. Sadly, many in their family disappeared during that bad time.

"He could be charming when he wanted to." Sounds like nearly every other psychopathic killer.

The real liberators of Cambodia were Vietnam while the rest of the world just stood by and did nothing even when they had learned of the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. And Vietnam did this while licking it's wounds after winning the war against western imperialism AND invasion from the Chinese to the north later on. Vietnam is a true powerhouse 🇻🇳 Absolutely astonishing.

My parents are refugees from Cambodia. I live comfortably in the US scrolling through Instagram while drinking my Starbucks arguing over American politics with random bots on social media. What a time to be alive.

This evil man was the worst kind in human history... in a short five years, he killed 25% of the population of Cambodia at the time. Those who lived through Pol Pot regime will never forget or forgive this evil for what he had done to the country. May his soul rot in hell.

Never forget, he did not do these things alone. He was human supported by other people. The killing fields were ran by everyday people. Thats an important point to remember when looking back on dictators. How people came to do these things are just as important as who was at the head of government.

As a Brit I lived and worked in Cambodia from 1998 to 2018. I met a lovely Cambodian lady in 1999 and we were married on 2002. My wife had experienced the whole period of the Khmer Rouge, abandoned with 2 small children. I have been involved in raising and upbringing of these children. Both are now married with successful businesses in Cambodia. My wife and I are now settled in UK.

This blows my mind… that this is 100% absent from my education in the 80’s & 90’s. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT

To say that Pol Pot was a lunatic is an understatement.

I was in Cambodia at those Killing Fields museum. There were in-cased skulls. A tour guide showing the grounds and telling stories. One of the visitors asked the guide if he did any of these killings. He simply said, “I’m alive.”

my heart till sinking from sadness hearing this and even reading the story of civilians comments. I can’t believe that my grandfather who is a Vietnam soldier went thru wars like this. I just hope those who can will live the life to the fullest, and those who can’t will be peacefully be asleep away from the misery ❤😔 my greatest condolences to all who suffered.

I’ve been to the killing fields… it was heart breaking… so was the high school turned death camp S21…. I shed many tears that day… it is SO sad … and the country is SO BEAUTIFUL!… (except for the land mines).

I like how you ended it saying there’s no rationalization for what can be made of it . It really doesn’t make any sense why he made his own people suffer so much .

Thank you for the education of pol pot , I am a survivor 53 yrs old, mom ,dad passed away during those time. It's sad but I won't live or looking back but to look forward for a better life .

As a survivor of this atrocious regime and lost my father and other relatives, this is an outstanding piece. I am forever thankful for and grateful to Vietnam for saving us. If not for Vietnam, my family would not be here in the US today. I hope more will see this and be more wary of the things that are being pushed by the Democrats now.

I spent some time at the killing fields today in Cambodia. There are still bones and clothes coming up through the ground, being eroded by rain and sun. The row after row, room after room of photographs of the victims. And millions more lost and unknown. Each one a person with family, hopes and dreams. The school, which would have been built with the best of intentions, was turned into a slaughterhouse prison. Blood splatter still stains the high ceilings, walls and floor. Everyone in this country is deeply effected. Only 8 escaped the prison when the Vietnamese came. Only 2 are alive today. They return to the prison each day to share their story, in the form a small book available for purchase. One kept alive because he was a mechanic and could fix the typewriters. The other, a skilled painter. It was truly a surreal experience.

I've never had such an eerie feeling as I did whilst standing in front of the killing fields memorial in Cambodia. To see such a tower of human remains and know it's only a fraction of all people killed was truly horrifying and mind blowing..

I was in a ceramics class the night he died. I remember it well. the instructor always had the radio on. The news announced his death, and she stopped the class long enough to say "Pol Pot. What a bastard". Many of the students were too young to know, but I was the oldest one in the class, so I completely understood.

The fact that the Khmer Rouge was supported by the US government is something I wish more people would talk about.

Fascinating documentary. Was never taught this important history in school.

My father was just 5 years old during the Khmer Rouge take over. He said, he was terrifled, seeing that one of his family member was gone, which was his sister. The reason why, was because, his sister was married to a weathly Police Officer and they found out about it, and she was killed. My dad, and his 3 other brother was suggling to survive during the Genocide. Evenaully, the civil war would end and at that time, he was still shock. Luckily, he was one of the few that return back to the capital with only one family member gone. He soon became a leading member of the Cambodian Ministry of Justice in Kandal and in around May or April 2021, my dad get to see one of the Khmer Rough leader, who was also sent on a trail was passed away infront of my father, the same person who ordered a Execution of my father sister. My dad was sad for his family but not for him. My dad would leave the hospital and talked to his daughter and sons about his passing. I am happy that I get to live in a Modern society of Cambodia. I have friends who their loves one would be on the wall of the people who got executed. May those who died as a innocent, would live in heaven and the family would be bless my the richest they lose. And for those who didn't see mercey in those eyes of the innocent Khmer people, shall die in the same condition as their so called "Brother 1" or "Bong ti muoy”

I spent a week in Cambodia back in 1995 as a backpack tourist I stopped asking the teenagers in Cambodia if they had mothers or fathers. They kept saying their mother and father was dead. What a depressing time to go..

Knowing what my grandmother was going through during this time has truly been enlightening. I can’t imagine having to flee the country with her family which included my mother, which at that time was only a year old. A lot had to go right for me to be here, not even including my grandfather on my dad’s side fighting in the Vietnam war that caused so many problems. Whatever happens, it’s crazy to know that my still living relatives both have experiences that tie to the bloodiest times of the 20th century.

Cả thế giới và liên hợp quốc nợ Việt Nam một lời xin lỗi😢…Việt Nam muôn năm❤Những chiến sỹ Việt Nam đã ngã xuống vì nhân dân camphuchia Mãi mãi là những anh hùng của nhân loại Vì hoà bình quốc tế❤❤❤

Having lived in Cambodia for 11 years, I can attest that this documentary is accurate and surprisingly detailed given that it's 55 minutes long. The narrator even gets the Khmer pronunciations right (mostly anyways and certainly far better than many other attempts I've come across!). Nice job, always glad to see people creating video content with substance, because I'm sorry kids, but most topics of any real interest or complexity take longer than a 10 second Tiktok video to explain. Though, at the same time, this channel shows that it can be done well without stretching it out to Ken Burns type series lengths.

I went to school many years ago with quite a few students whose parents survived Pol Pot. One kid told me that his father lost his mother and all nine of his sisters and he and his twin brother went into hiding as they walked over 40 miles over a few days trying to get to safety. They first moved to Australia in 1980 and in 1988 they relocated to the United States settling in California and Colorado.

My grandparents live through this a few years before my parents were born. They don’t really talk about it much and my dad briefly mentioned some of the stuff that happened to them. I don’t blame them for it either since hearing all of it is disturbing. I couldn’t quite comprehend it when I was younger and honestly now, it’s still kinda surreal to me.

Absolutely fascinating and very well put together documentary. I've read some of the comments below but have had to stop reading them because I've been crying so much. My heart goes out to all of you who lost loved ones.

I worked in Thailand for an international company back in 88-96. 90 or 91 a Cambodian trade delegation cam to visit us and asked us to start purchasing products ftom there. I went to Phnom Phen to have a look. The town was a ghost town in rubble. The UN troops was there. Streets full of garbage and junk, people living on the side walks. No electricity except from a few generators. An open bar ( Martini)? entertainment area full of UN soldiers, a few NGO workers and a lot of Vietnamese girls. Occacion machine gun could be heard in the evenings. I concluded I was there way to early for us to start up any business. Since then I’ve been back in recent years and I am happy to see that Cambodia has evolved. Lovely people! Fantastic video many young people need to see!

Fantastic video. Drip-dry, straight to the point information to leave a 90's child nostalgic of documentaries of old. No nonesense, no sugar coating, no added fat. As a dyslexic who has trouble reading, yet *loves* learning, channels like yours are godly blessing. Thank you.

My dad used to watch war movies and he would watch “The Killing Fields” a lot. 😔

A really good and informative documentation! Thank you

This is one of the best presentation I' ve ever seen. I knew about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge but not as detailed as how it was presented in this video. This an excellent and highly recommended video. Thanks for this!

Mr. Chun Siev; my Tae-Kwon-Do instructor;was born and raised in Cambodia. He was there during Khmer Rouge's reign of terror; losing his father and his uncles in Tuol Sleng, the Khmer Rouge's infamous torture center. It is a miracle that he survived to tell the tale!

Thank you for a very interesting and good documentary. I remember the horrors my mother told me about in the seventies. I was around 20. When I was 61, travelling around on my own in south east Asia, I went to Cambodia, finally. I visited the Killing fields and the S21 in Phnom Penh. I think Cambodia has been a forgotten country with not much support from the world. Wonderful people, but so poor. I got a god child through an organization "Global Humanitaria". In june this year (2024) I will go to her village and do some voluntary work and am trying to fund means. What happened during the Pol Pot regime is undescribable. My heart got stuck in Cambodia and I long to go back to add my drop to the ocean.

I spent years working & vacationing in SE Asia and read quite a bit while there. This DOC shatters misconceptions, erroneous history. Very well done. Did NOT know UN recognized Khmer Rouge as legit government after Vietnam invaded. 🤬

I was married to a women that was a slave in the labor camps under the Khmer Rouge. Years after this event it still affected her mentally, the scares are forever engrave in her mind, heart and soul.

Thank you Vietnam for liberating Cambodia from genocide despite being called "invaded :((" by almost the whole world ☺☺

I know a man who survived this. He and his family escaped a rice field and made their way to Laos being hunted by the militias. Made it to America where he still lives today.

Thanks for the upload!

I’ve been to The Killing Fields it broke my heart especially seeing the tree where they bashed babies skulls against it and today is still stained with their blood 😢😢. The Cambodians today are some of the most humble beautiful people I’ve ever met …. Though still frightened it can happen again …

You should have added how the west failed Cambodia in the months following Pol Pot's downfall and caused mass suffering and deaths from starvation. Because the Vietnamese took down the lunatic the west refused to aid the humanitarian crisis by providing even basic support because that would legitimise the Vietnamese who had just beaten them. Very rarely is this mentioned.

It amazes me how many people have never heard of this man

Well written and well presented. It seems tough to find good narration much on YT, nailed it here.

My parents, uncles, aunts, and grandma went through it. The crazy stories they tell I’m so glad to be in America. They tricked my dad saying he’s free to go as he ran off they started shooting at him. And my uncle they made him fight other soldiers just to stay alive.

I dated a woman back in 1992 who escaped the Khymer Rouge. Her father and mother and 2 brothers and sister escaped in the middle of the night as Pol Pots men went door to door murdering everybody. Her father was a wanted man and luckily they were able to become U.S. citizens. She was absolutely gorgeous without even realizing it. She was forced to break things off with me because I wasn't Cambodian. Her family arranged a marriage for her. Sadly her Cambodian husband murdered her in 1996. RIP Rotha. I will always love you.❤️

Im not a religious person but i hope hell exist for this monter.

Somehow you guys managed to pull me in on this one. I was a young adult during Pol Pot’s years and I definitely remember hearing his name multiple times during that era. I wasn’t really interested in hearing about this guy, but I love history and that’s what grabbed me. Dang you guys are good. Very well done.

It is ironic that Vietnam,came to the rescue of Cambodia,and ended the genocide, shame the Chinese and Americans helped Pol pots evil regime.

This was very well done. I am a Vietnam veteran and remember this horrible time in history. I can’t really refer to Polpot as a man. More of a monster. I will never understand how a human being can do such horrible things that he did. This continues to happen unfortunately in other countries today. I have to ask myself why we as a such a diverse world of good people, do we continue to allow this? Where are those governments who continue to denounce this type of behavior?

Brilliant documentary, vey informative!

You forgot to highlight the diplomatic support for the Pol Pot regime by the US.

Thank you Vietnam for ending the rule of a truly evil man.

I visited S21 while assisting with landmines removal as part of a detail with a foreign government. Walking through S21 and visually seeing everything exactly as it was left, was horrifying to the point you could almost hear the screams and cries. The level of destruction to Cambodia would probably rank it as one of the most destroyed countries that still exist. It is almost inhuman to think that this man could cause such heinous destruction and resurface as an active part of its government without having to face a trial and quick execution.

For everything the Khmer people have endured , they still remain happy and friendly. I cherish my friendship with the people I have met

I learned about an 11 year old girl who was accused of stealing rice. When she refused, her accusers challenged her to prove it by cutting and tearing her stomach. No food was found but she died from the greivace wounds. Pol Pot himsel died of old age in his bed peacefully.

I was one of the first "tourists" to go to cambodia. That was in 1991, the borders were still closed and it was not without danger. We illegaly sailed from Had Lek Thailand to Koh Kong Cambodia by boat. We were welcomed by a crowd of people on arrival, including the police and military. After paying a little, we were allowed to move freely on the island. The people were very friendly and welcomed us with open arms. Had a wonderful time there.

Having visited Cambodia several times, met many such beautiful Khmer people and enjoyed everything about their culture, I found this as moving as it was instructive. Yes, I have been to the "killing fields" and S-21, both of which took me a long time to get over. I knew about Pol Pot obviously (and Iang Sary and the other Blood Brothers with single digit numbers) but did not really know that much about him in personal terms. Thank you so much for this excellent documentary which has filled so many gaps in my knowledge. As my late grandmother, a poorly educated but very wise woman used to say, "It is a bad day you don't learn anything". How very true, and this channel contributes greatly to it. Thank you so much.

You know what - you guys get stuck in from press-play, no four minute dramatic build-up hoo-hah with a bum-pumping trailer music track. It's refreshing and I salute you.

Thanks for uploading this documentary to know Cambodian History.

i worked with a guy in the early 80s who came from cambodia.e immigrated to canada and always said he was so lucky to live here.he married an america cambodian immigrant,and moved to florida.he never talked about his past.was always smiling and cheerful.good for him,but i know hell never forget.will always be haunted by it.

i was there in 1976 along the border and in the refugee camps. I was nearly killed by the KR but escaped to tell the story. In the last few years i have returned to this beautiful country and have many friends there. In my 5 trips i try to avoid the many historical sites of this massacre that took place. It is interesting how the people to this day are incredibly open to talk about it.

Good narration & explanation!

He did quite an impressive run on Britain's got talent

There is also movie about this time period from 2017 called "First They Killed My Father" based on the book of the same name by Loung Ung (who was the five-year-old daughter of a Cambodian police officer when the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh)

When Antonio Gramsci described the upcoming 20th century saying. “Now is the time of monsters.” I can only imagine Pol Pot saw that, and for some deranged reason decided he wanted to live up to that.

With Support from the West.

This is why you never. Ever. EVER. Give up your guns.

I visited the Vietnamese border village of Ba Chuc, which in April 1978 was invaded by Pol Pots soldiers who killed 3,157 inhabitants, leaving only two people alive who could escape. This shows the totally crazy nature of this man's policy: attacking a neighbouring people that had just vanquished the mightiest empire of the 20th century, when your own country counts just a few millions of people, of whom, moreover, you have starved a lot to death ... this was really “worse than a crime, it was an error” as Talleyrand would have said.

So according to his documentary the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea was 1. Not a communist, 2. Not influenced by Karl Marx. Really?

Thank You For This Video. It was really very nice , informative & brilliant. May God Bless Yourself & Your Team. We will always share & like your videos. May God Bless You. Thank You.👍👍👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏.

I know a lot of Vietnamese people and they are all really nice people. I feel bad for what happened with them and with the Cambodians under this guy. All that farm land is fertilized by human bodies in the millions

Thanks for the information. Now I know that Vietnam played an important role in stopping this genocide.

Thank you for good insights of past history

Very Interesting Video. Thanks for Sharing. Unbelievable what happened in the Cambodia (Khmer Rouge) Killing Fields. Philip Deutsch

I have no idea why my grandparents left Cambodia in 79, and now I have so many questions to ask my grandmother.

Excellent documentary. I would also recommend the 2 JOHN PILGER documentaries on Cambodia. They not only go into details of the period, but also the aftermath of how Western Governments tried to re-install Pol Pot in the 80's and 90's. We need more videos like this one that teach the up and coming generations the true horror of human nature. Well done.

Thanks for sharing 🥰

Very understandable and clear expression, thanks.

I have traveled extensively in Cambodia, it is a beautiful land with amazingly friendly people. But I have seen the effects on the country this butcher left behind . I have stood on the killing fields outside of Phnom Phen on a rainy day seeing the fragments of his victims leached through the earth. I have seen S-21 and the atrocities recorded there. There is no excuse, reasoning, or defense of such a man or his followers. He subjected a kind and decent people to a barbarity nobody deserves. And they were his own. God and history will be his judge, and I can predict the verdict. This is a chilling piece telling a story that needs telling.

my grand mum & grandpa escaped from one of the encampments during the regime. she had my dad in 1975, and she was even the daughter of a government official before pol pot, so she likely would have been killed if she stayed. i watched this to better understand her life since she doesn’t tell me much about it, but i feel shocked watching this realizing she lived through this. i hope that someday i can visit sreok khmer to learn more about my family, and i hope my yay and tha live so they can see me become successful for them & be proud

Very well done. I’m learning Cambodia’s history from a foreign channel. My family have a lot of stories to tell but I’m just bad at writing things. You earned a subscribe from me. 🥰 keep it up.

I have the opportunity of visiting Cambodia and the killing fields and also hear the story from one of my friend of how he escaped the regime and all the thinks he saw and lived to avoid been killed. Also the now museum on Phnom Penh have stories of the horrors done by this psychopath.

I was sorely in need of some better information about the history of Cambodia, and In particular the Khmer Rouge and Po Pot. I really have appreciated this presentation. I ran it back and forth to let the facts sink in. Thanks for all the effort in creating this film.

The Killing Fields and First They Killed My Father are good films on this topic.

I put this on to fall asleep to... But wow, it's far too deep to ignore. What a crazy history. I never imagined

I honestly am very ignorant to the history of Cambodia, but this insight you have given me has made me want to learn more. Thank you so much for this history lesson. Sadly he escaped my death..

Great work. There is little understanding of Pol Pot's mind, though. He seemed to hate people like himself - Chinese descent, upper middle class, relatively well-educated. Incredible how a man of limited abilities got to wield such power.

I never realized that the Khmer Rouge lasted that long. Thank you for this very informative history lesson.

I remember being greatly affected by The Killing Fields when it came out and the memory still lasts ... it always strikes me as a mystery when confronted by monsters the people still embrace them for years before anything is done about them ...

Good Docu! Thank you! I've been there, but mainly to see Angkor Wat and Tonle Sap.