The document discusses the Cambodian genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979, which aimed to transform Cambodia into an agrarian socialist society. It overviewed Pol Pot's violent policies like forced evacuations, slave labor, purging of intellectuals and religious figures, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1-3 million Cambodians. Several survivors are profiled, including artists Vann Nath and journalist Dith Pran, whose story was depicted in the film The Killing Fields, and who dedicated his life to seeking justice for the Cambodian people after escaping.

1. Let’s start with these VDOs
The last interview with Pol Pot (English Subtitles)
https://youtu.be/CQ9_BMshyiw
CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE POLPOT AND THE KHMER ROUGE
(2:57)
http://youtu.be/1-SI8RF6wDE

2. Khmer Rouge Genocide
‘to spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no lost’
3 years-8 months-20 days

3. Returning to Year Zero
Simulation Activity
❖ Let’s go back to April 1975
❖ Cards are given out to each student
❖ Farmers group yourself together, City people group yourselves together
❖ Share your identity with the whole class by reading your identity out
loud

4. Collectivization
❖ A policy adopted by Soviet Government, used most
intensively between 1929 and 1933.
❖ To transform traditional agriculture in the Soviet
Union and to reduce the economic power of the
Kulaks (prosperous peasants).
❖ Collectivization- a government policy where the
peasantry were forced to give up their individual
farms and join large collective farms. (1929-1933).

5. New Person or Old Person
❖ Why do you think it happened?
❖ What are the differences between Old People and
New People?
❖ What do you think about the collectivization process?

6. What is Genocide?
❖ According to thinkquest.org: genocide is the ‘Deliberate and
systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.’
❖ The United Nations will call an event ‘Genocide’ only when:
❖ There is a mental element present, which means there is
an intent to target a specific group of people and,
❖ A physical element of harming and killing members of
the targeted group
❖ Both must be present for the acts to be called genocide

7. Genocide Begins
❖ Started a campaign to
rebuild Cambodia
❖ Inspired by Mao Zedong’s
Cultural Revolution
❖ Renamed Cambodia as
“The Democratic
Republic of Kampuchea”

8. Year Zero❖ Declared ‘This is Year Zero’
❖ Society was to be ‘purified’
❖ Extinguished: Capitalism,
Western Culture, City Life,
Religion, Foreign Influences
❖ An extreme form of Peasant
Communism

9. The Banned
❖ Expelled foreigners closed embassies
❖ Refused foreign aid (health care, economic)
❖ Banned the use of foreign languages
❖ Shut down media (newspapers, television stations)
❖ No radios, bicycles, mail, telephone
❖ Money was forbidden
❖ Banned business, religion, education, health care
❖ Cambodia was sealed off from the outside world

10. City Evacuation❖ Forcibly evacuated
city people
❖ 2 million
inhabitants were
forced to walk to
the countryside
❖ More than 20,000
died along the way;
children, old, sick

11. Lives of the Living People
❖ Forced into slave labors in Pol Pot’s Killing Fields
❖ Died from overwork, malnutrition, disease
❖ One tin of rice per person every two days
❖ Work from 4 am to 10 pm (18 hours a day)
❖ 2 rest periods allowed
❖ Khmer Rouge soldiers eager to kill anyone for the
slightest wrong doing
❖ Forbidden to eat fruits/ rice they were harvesting

12. Removal of Old Society
Throughout Cambodia, deadly purges were conducted to eliminate
remnants of the “Old Society”
❖ Attempt to remove ‘old society’ of the educated, the wealthy,
Buddhist monks, police, doctors, lawyers, teachers, former
government officials and extended families
❖ Anyone suspected of disloyalty to Pol Pot including many
Khmer Rouge leaders.
❖ Anyone wearing glasses, laugh, cry, know how to speak
another language
❖ Killed along with their wives and children (shot or an ax)

13. Removal of Old Society
Throughout Cambodia, deadly purges were conducted to eliminate
remnants of the “Old Society”
❖ Slogan: ‘What is rotten must be removed’

14. Ending of the Genocide
❖ On December 25, 1978 Vietnam
invaded Cambodia
❖ January 7, 1979 Pol Pot fell and
fled to Thai border
❖ Vietnamese set up a puppet
government to rule the country

15. Genocide’s Legacy
❖ Pol Pot was arrested in 1997 and died while
under house arrested in 1998
❖ Other leaders were awaiting for tribunal on
Crime against humanity
❖ 20,000 mass graves
❖ Bodies were removed and displayed in museums

16. S-21 (Tuol Sleng)
❖ A school building being turned to a
brutal prison
❖ Kept secret for people accused of
betrayal along with family members
❖ Being tortured until confessed
❖ Picture were taken upon arrival
❖ Out of 14,000 people, only 7
survived

17. Vann Nath
❖ An artist, one of the seven
survivors of S-21, his art skill kept
him alive
❖ Spared by jailers for painting and
sculpting skills
❖ Painted and sculpted portraits of
Pol Pot

18. Vann Nath
❖ 1979, escaped from S-21 as Pol
Pot regime collapsed
❖ Returned to work at S-21 when it
was converted to a Genocide
Museum

19. Vann Nath
❖ Show the world of the Khmer
Rouge’s brutal crimes
❖ His paintings, depicting scenes
he witnessed, hung in the
museum today
❖ One of the few public reminders
of the regime’s brutality

21. Inside Pol Pot Secret Prison
INSIDE POL POT SECRET PRISON (THE S-21) PART 1 (10:43)
http://youtu.be/jtn7ar95NYY
INSIDE POL POT SECRET PRISON (THE S-21) PART 2 (11:15)
http://youtu.be/sBqOXf8cMGw
INSIDE POL POT SECRET PRISON (THE S-21) PART 3 (9:57)
http://youtu.be/IWAAyaqxAhs
INSIDE POL POT SECRET PRISON (THE S-21) PART 4 (10:19)
http://youtu.be/oXdAxnRf0vY

22. Dith Pran
❖ Cambodian Journalist
❖ Suffered 4 years of abusive
treatment during Khmer
Rouge
❖ Escaped and lived in the US,
dedicating the rest of his life
for justice in Cambodia
❖ Movie: “The Killing Fields” in
1984

23. 1. What was the Khmer Rouge’s vision for Cambodia?
2. Why did the Khmer Rouge kill educated people?
3. What did Dith Pran do in order to survive during the reign of the Khmer
Rouge?
4. How was Dith Pran’s life changed by the genocide?
5. What was Pran’s attitude toward his profession?
6. Why were all journalists deported from Cambodia during the reign of the
Khmer Rouge?
7. What did Pran dedicate his life working towards after moving to the US?
8. What was Dith Pran’s last message?
Questions

24. Dith Pran’s Last Word
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y541yRMDaiE

25. References
❖ For further readings
❖ http://pythiapress.com/wartales/vann-nath.html
❖ http://vannnath.com/bio/
❖ http://www.killingfieldsmuseum.com/
❖ http://hmd.org.uk/genocides/cambodia/survival