His name was Pol Pot - Born May 19th, 1928 in Kopong Thom, Cambodia.
Her grew up in a poor family but was able to obtain a radio scholarship in France and his adolescnt years were spent there, but rather than studying he spent most of his time becoming involved with the Communist Party.
(Communists: believe in revolution to create a society in which the means of production—land, factories, and mines—are owned by the people as a whole rather than by individuals.)
He returned to Cambodia in 1953 and for years he built up his reputation and gathered followers. 10 years later he became General of his group the CPK (Communist Party of Kampuchéa) and for the next thirteen years Pol Pot and other CPK members disappeared from public view and set up their party organization in a remote forest area.
After years of democratic struggles involving the government Pol Pot became premier in 1976, this was the start of a dark, horrific and tragic era.
Because of his communist ways the people of Cambodia were forced to reform, driven in to labour and denied food and medical care. Most amazingly anyone that upheld any education or had any political views was seen as an opponent and therefore executed.
Foreign languages were banned.
TV and newspapers shutdown.
Mail and telephone use restricted.
Bicyles banned.
Money forbidden.
Religion a sin.
Education removed.
Business shuttered.
Health care eliminated.
Parental authority removed.
Cambodia became sealed off from the world.
Their cities were evacuted and their inhabitants, on foot, travelled to Pol Pot's "Killing Fields" at gun point to begin their reform. Astonishingly.....20,000 died on this journey alone. Many began to die due to overwork, malnutrition and infection.
Facts: A day of labour started at 4am and finished at 10pm. Only two rest breaks were provided
One tin (180 grams) of rice was given to each person, every second day.
Old society was removed with the slaughter of the educated, the wealthy, Buddhist monks, police, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and former government officials. Pol Pot's slogan was "What is rotten must be removed".
Fact: Fifty percent of the estimated 425,000 Chinese living in Cambodia in 1975 perished.
On January 7, 1979, Phnom Penh fell and Pol Pot was deposed, with the Vietnam finally taking over the Cambodian government.
The anger builds up inside me when I discovered Pol Pot's death. Aged 73 he died in his own room of a suspected heart attack.......he had just been put on trial for his 1975-79 events. Most definately not a death similar to those murdered by his own regime.
25% of Cambodia's population was murdered throughout these 4 years of tyranny.
A memorial temple was built in memory of the victims taken during the genocide and commonly, bones and clothing surface after heavy rainfalls due to the extremely large number of bodies still buried in the area.
SOOOOOO......... I know this was a random history lesson but I found it fascinating how I had never heard of this tragedy before and was fascinated by the facts and some of the stories I had seen from videos. Therefore I thought, out of respect, I would take the time to share what I had uncovered.
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