Life Under the Khmer Rouge
Pol Pot’s plan was to create a self-sufficient agrarian society that had neither rich nor poor people. His intention was to completely start over in a new society, one without any class competition or exposure to outside forces that the Khmer Rouge believed to have tainted Cambodia. They believed that labor was the only true form of work and anyone else working for any other occupation needed to be exterminated, for they feared anyone who would object them. Hundred of doctors, lawyers, teachers were killed. Those who did not accept the Khmer Rouge’s new policies were instantly killed. Ethnic and Religious groups within Cambodia such as Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai were all deemed as impure in the eyes of the Khmer Rouge. People who spoke different languages were also killed.
Within the first couple of days of Pot’s dictatorship, he had ordered the closing of government buildings, schools, hospitals, and took control of all other property. The vacancy of these buildings motivated the Khmer Rouge to create interrogation centers, where they incidentally tortured and killed their prisoners. Formerly a high school, S-21 was one of these interrogation centers that the Khmer Rouge controlled. It was in this building alone, that an estimated 14,000 Cambodians were tortured and executed. People who were spared execution, were separated from their families and forced to work long hours harvesting crops, and sent to labor camps. Those who were unfit to work in the fields, such as the elderly, children, and the handicapped were killed. The Khmer Rouge say no use for them so there was no point in keeping them around. The labourers often starved and die from lack of nutrition. Family relationships, showing emotions, or taking breaks during work was punishable by death. The killing fields are notorious mass grave sites where many of the victims were buried. Life under the Khmer Rouge was unbearable, it was during this time that Cambodia faced the most devastation and pain in the country’s history. |