Khmer Rouge: Pol Pot GenocideBy Jessica Sokol, Chris Laug, Kristen Oettinger, Corin Geoghegan, and Sophia Bastedo

Background of the Khmer Genocide

● A man named Pol Pot who was a part of the Cambodian Communist Party and he had to go into the jungle to escape Prince Norodom Sihanouk who was the leader of Cambodia.

● While Pol Pot resided in the in the jungle he came up with an armed resistance movement which was called Khmer Rouge

● The Khmer Rouge began by guerrilla warfare against Sihanouk’s government.

Goals of Pol Pot GenocideThe goals of Pol Pot in Cambodia were to…

● Have a “purified” society, or a utopian society that he once observed in China● To have absolutely no western influence (be isolated)- No religion, western culture, and capitalistic ideas

● Adapt on a communist peasant farming society

● Create his own “Super Great Leap Forward” - Strict form of communism and tension between enemies

How did people allow this?Many groups of people were being killed, the educated, the wealthy, Buddhist monks, police, doctors, lawyers, teachers… Etc.

- If the majority of people are being killed who is there to stop it? Many people were afraid of the Government. If

they spoke up they would be killed

Foreign Interaction ● In 1970 Prince Sihanouk was banished by a U.S group

called the Right wing military coup.the U.S joined the once enemy to end Combondia new military government

● Mao Zedong also had an impact on Cambodian government giving them the idea to do there own great leap forward to help purify their government

Outcome of the Pol Pot Genocide

- 25% of the country’s population was dead.- Death due to overwork, starvation, and execution.- Ethnic groups were attacked; Chinese, and cam muslims, along with twenty other small groups.

- 50% of the population of about 425,000 chinese living in cambodia in 1975 were dead.