His logic was that intellectuals could've been spies from the US, so "just in doubt" he decided to purge them all to "make sure". That's not even the beginning of his endless paranoia, though. He saw spies everywhere from all classes. Dude believed he was playing Among Us, lmao.
Is it true some people were ask about math question although not this easy. They lied that those could get it right would get more meal but some people who were can see through this and give the wrong answer.
My dad's actually one of the many lucky survivors of pol pot. He said that he was only a kid when everything happend and to this day he's still traumatized cuz of all the murder, gunshots, landmines explosion, raping, cries, etc. He still have nightmares about the past but he's glad to have survived with two of his brother's, but everyone else not so much.
He didn't do just that. Appearently when my teacher was younger, she witnessed a family killed because the dad had a shirt he liked. They made literally everyone watch as they had their way with the mother and daughter before killed with the father to crush their spirits and quell any rebellious thoughts
Well that's disturbing.. thanks USA, for supporting another civil war. Real nice of you to let the kmer rouge take over and employ child soldiers. Y'all should watch "first they killed my father". I think you'd like it, as it's a moviw about the civil war in Cambodia.
He treated them worser that you can hope to be worser than him. I had once, went to that KR prison or smth, it's actually only 15.3km away from my house on the east of where l lived.
Pol Pot: Hey, the killing Fields were so great, I purged the parasitic, burgeois cityfolk! Did I do great? Mao and Stalin: those are Rookie numbers bro, you gotta step up your game!
Not just that but Pol Pot was also being supported by the US and China and some more nations during their war with Vietnam. And Vietnam won with only minimal support from the Soviets, East Germany and Laos.
@@meowsquarade after what he has done to his country and Vietnam, its like the best thing anyone could say to him lol. Oh and fun fact, one of our tank divisions accidentally drove into Thailand and made them think we were trying to invade them, pretty funny story tbh
I just came back from a study abroad trip to southeast Asia. And while I was in Cambodia, I visited a killing field in Siem Riep and the S-21 prison. Incredibly difficult to witness. The image that will never leave my mind was seeing the actual clothes and bones of victims laying on the ground in the killing field and a tree that was used to smash babies into. May the innocent lives lost to the Khmer Rouge rest in peace 🙏
One can still visit the killing fields where LOTS of people died… there’s a tower that’s completely filled with skulls… and there’s some trees that still have blood marks where they’d smash babies before throwing them into the pits It’s a heavy energy there… And there’s this school type building (several buildings linked together) where they’ve posted the pic of the known victims, it’s pretty heartbreaking
Yes, quite sad. And when it mildly rains, bone fragments from the creek bed and surrounding areas are brought up to the surface. Visitors pick these pieces up and pile them up on the sides of the walking path out of respect. Heavy energy indeed.
Some more info: This event is called the Cambodian genocide, and it was a very dark period for the Cambodians. Pol Pot was responsible for the death of a quarter of all of Cambodia's population which was 8 million at the time, so 2 million were killed. He also singlehandedly reduced the life expectancy to 18. Things got so bad that eventually Vietnam got involved. (A fellow Communist country) This is a bit more complicated though as Cambodia attacked Vietnam first and killed thousands of Vietnamese so then Vietnam invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime (Pol Pot regime). They then set up a transition government and stayed there for 10 years leaving in 1989 after the new government consolidated power.
Got a neighbor/family friend, who survived the Khmer Rouge, named Wayne. He has this super friendly demeanor, almost airheaded kindness about him. Not that he’s dumb, he just seems very simple at face value. Always kind, never talks about Cambodia. One time, I went to an indoor gun range with him to take some pistol shots. I went to get eat protection, and when I come back, Wayne’s face is washed over with this lack of emotion. Dude is stone cold, doing QuickDraw drills from the table, and practicing tactical reloads. He missed a few times, but he kept hitting center mass and the face. Turns to me like a fucking cartoon, smiling from ear to ear, and handed me the pistol as he teased a little about the sights. Scariest fucker in the building. Deadass never worried about a break in if Wayne is home.
I think kinda normal for him to be so good at gun because back when Khmer Rouge started they will take the children and make to become a spy on the people, put bomb in the ground and actually a lot more, and women and children and men to live separately so that why it’s so easy to control the kid
A few of my teachers were survivors, however they’re still here in Cambodia. One told stories of the lives during that time, according to him, if anyone was late for school, they would have to go ‘study’ which was basically code word for death. My other teacher had said that many men and women were forced to marry each other, even if they had no clue who the other was
@@Chezroblos People blame it completely on him, but what about the soldiers that carry those acts out. They are equally monstrous and wouldn't even ban together to stop him. It's beyond disgusting
There is a memoir I read for school called “first they killed my father” by Loung Ung. It’s a great book if you want to see truly how much people suffered in that time
😭😭 I remember my dad talking about Pol Pot and his atrocities. He decided from then on he was going to be part of that underground that moved people out of politically oppressed countries.
I recently read a book about this called "Never Fall Down". It's a decently quick read, I got it done in about a day with on and off reading, but it's gut-wrenching. I can't express enough how tragic this entire thing was. It's such a good book, can't recommend it enough.
Another good book about this is called “first they killed my father.” It’s from the perspective of a young girl growing up in all this. They made a movie on it on Netflix I believe.
You wouldnt be the first. After suffering defeats with the Vietnamese army, Pol Pot suspected it was because the soldiers werent loyal enough, so he ordered their execution. Upon discovering they'd be executed, they actually did rebel, Pol Pot then sent soldiers to destroy and depopulate any villages suspected of harboring rebels, and survivors fled to Vietnam. Who was of course at war with Cambodia because Pol Pot suspected Vietnam was planning to invade Cambodia, so he had vietnamese citizens executed and order his soldiers to invade and slaughter the populations of Vietnamese villages...
I was born into this, literally. Much of my family were killed by the Khmer Rouge. I was a small baby when my parents escaped a labor camp in Cambodia & fled to a refugee camp in Thailand. I still have leech scars from when we trudged through swamps & jungles to escape from the genocide and communist regime.
I think the people who worked under him or any sadistic dictator are some of the weakest people ever. The fact that you follow their evil rules like a mindless puppet to kill civilians without even thinking if the killing is morally just is just sad. Like they should work together to over throw dictators
My mom and uncles were survivors of the khmer rouge and came to America in the 80s. Most of them developed psychological disorders from the torture,starvation, murders etc. Their dad was a doctor and was killed
Maybe they shouldn't have applauded Pol's rise to power during the Civil War if they sided with the partisans, then? Remember that a great deal of Pol's ability to get into that position came from overwhelming popular support from common Cambojans in the first place.
My teacher had to actually jump off of a cliff bc they were shooting people at the edge of a cliff and she survived and her family. And kids were thinking she was mean and they were disrespecting her but she just wanted people to get an education bc she barely got one in Cambodia
To learn more about this, you could read, “First They Killed My Father,” a memoir written by a survivor who was 5 years old when it happened. It recounts her life under their rule.
Yeah I watched the movie.but let me tell you . Each of us Khmer people have went through hardship horrible things during that times. Each one of us has a different story how hell life living under the Khmer Rouge regime . I was only 10 or 11 years old when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. Can you imagine how such a young child working from sunrise to sundown no real food to eat nothing but a few rice and lot of rice broth .when am sick no medicine , when I make a mistake they would tight me up to a tree and let all the 🐜🐜🐜 Bits me and crawl all over me for hours. Let me tell you my worst nightmare , I was working in the rice field in deep water and the leech got in to my V Jj and I did not notice it until at night time when I got real real bad pain in my stomach , oh it was so bad too much of pain and I got l lucky that night because one of the old lady was the Khmer old medicine was there and she’s helping me. I did not know how she did it but the damm thing came out of me dead . There were more horrible things that’s happened to me and I have to live with it. Killing field survivor .🙏🙏🙏.
Honestly that's pretty accurate. Andy didn't even scratch the surface of all the reasons you could be killed, one of them being that they just felt like it
My grandma was a survivor of this horrific event, she can’t speak English very well (but is learning!) And my mother told me stories about what happened that were told by my grandma to her, the event was truly horrific and I feel so bad for Those who witnessed it and those who died.
@@globnoggin8779 there could've been a lot of smart people pretending to be dumb for survival. But I'm sure you wouldn't have to pretend had you been in their situation
I'm Cambodian, my dad and his side of the family were all located in Phnom Penh (capitol of Cambodia) My dad doesn't remember much because he was two years old when they left to America, but I'm pretty sure none of his family died. There was a church in Washington that sponsored my family and they all flew out to Washington. This was a blessing for my family but also it made my family go into heavy debt and it took my grandma her whole life to pay it off but still had some left over. She died when my dad was 17
Wow that's like the same as my dad who left when he was 2 with his family they went to la but some of his family was out in washingtion which is where I live now
Fun fact every cult leader and dictator in the history of the world has been a very charismatic person because it takes Charisma to get people to follow along with your deranged ideas
Fun fake am cambodian, usa was da reason why all this happen he kill 11 of my ant and uncle on juss my mom side, am bless we escape to the state but witout goin in2 it look at the history
Im from Cambodia my grandpa tell me that when pol pot he miss his house and pol pot make him do the work but he now ok my grandpa is a soldier too he are so awesome 😎😎😎❤❤❤.
My great grandpa fought off the Khmer Rouge too! He got shot in the stomach but survived because the bullet didn't hit any internal organs and lived happily. Thank you for your great grandfather's service. Việt Nam muôn năm!
@@chickenpuddingstudio4730 I think he lived until about 80 years old. The wound healed up quickly, so he didn't have any pain except when running. Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it
Pol pot believed Everyone must have the same knowledge. If they were smart they were killed, teachers government and such were taken to “help” but then were beaten to death
Just watched the movie “First they killed my father.” And then read the book, it’s heartbreaking. To imagine anyone going through what happened in Cambodia is terrifying..
My mum experienced the Khmer Rouge at the age of 10, she told me that her and her family escaped in 1981, and got to Australia in the 2000s, she didn't tell me her full story, but it was obvious that she didn't want to relive that memory
My mom was born in 1975. She had to escape war with her family and some of the family members died during this war. So to survive, her parents had to work for Pol-pot instead. None of them died, but my grandfather was a commanding officer.
I heard about this in the song "Holiday In Cambodia" by The Dead Kennedy's. For it's era it was about rich preppy kids in America not understanding the troubled events around the world. Using Cambodia as the main example. It's a really good song and I think you'll like the message behind it at least.
I remember learning about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It was beyond horrific. Besides the unimaginable cruelty, they created huge piles of skulls and left them sit there as monuments to their evil.
This happened to my teacher he told us that the village he was staying in (not identified)was better before the war started he said that him and his family went to escape to Thailand when one of his cousins or brother I forgot he went to Cambodia then they never found his body due to the explosion of land mine his sister died in aranyapatet in refugee camp, then a women helped him his mother and his brothers go to Oregon and he started learning his abcs at 14 years old, he was bullied and he didn’t want to speak in presentations and but when he had an opportunity to study and now he is teaching maths he really loves maths and now he is in australia teaching us
I went to Cambodia in 2017 and visited the Killing Fields museum. It was so heartbreaking seeing the metal beds where they would torture those people before killing them by trying to get "information" from them that they didn't have
What’s worst is that once his regime ended in 1979 he was still hanging around for another 20 years sharing power with then democratically elected president. Basically as a second presidential officer. He wasn’t convicted to any crime And ironically dying of a natural cause. How was this possible you might ask ? Well it involve the British and the US.
Just like Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines, he was ousted by the people's power revolution but he escaped to Hawaii by the help of the us,wasn't convicted and died there.
@@bjack8315 yeah i guess that’s true in a sense but unfortunate so many regular people had to die. If the government had even the slightest inkling that you were “socialist” you’d be dead
God that picture of him smiling. It feels so off, I've never been put smack dab in the middle of the uncanny valley by a picture of a real person before.
My grandparents actually grew up there during this time. They were one of the few people that survived. They were able to flee to Thailand at some point and stayed at the camps were my mother was born. After a while they left to the Philippines, where one of my uncles were born. Eventually, they were all able to come to the US (were me and my family lives today).
Yall wanna know something crazy? A couple of sushi chefs at my restursnt were gurilla fighters in the kambodian Civil War. They are some of the most thankful humble people I've ever met. Never knew why until they told me.
When I was younger in third grade, My teacher told the story of Pol Pot and the torture. But she explained not to detailed so we don't get scared, but for some reason, I was scared, until my teacher said that Pol Pot is now dead, and I Almost Cried of happiness. I didn't even know why.
Didn’t even get into the craziest parts. Virtually all trade and money were banned. Literally all money and even financial records were destroyed. Most people living in cities were deported to the countryside to work in agricultural collectives essentially, where they were termed “new people” and basically used as slave labor. The education system was intentionally almost entirely dismantled, children were barely taught how to even read, and instead it was decided all learning would be essentially through apprenticeship. Dude was literally trying to send the country back in time 1000 years, and killed 1/4 of the population despite being in charge only 5 years.
(Sources in replies) Fun fact, the U.S. wanted Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to represent Cambodia, and Vietnam played a strong role in helping to oust the Khmer Rouge
