Dispersion:
Pol Pot declares Year Zero. He then begins to expel foreigners,close embassies, abolish the national currency, and abolish all markets, schools, the press, religion and privately held property.
Phnom Penh's population held approximately one million residents and refugees. When Pol Pot came into power the city was emptied virtually overnight. Days after entering the city as heros the Khmer Rouge order everyone out of the city. Many do not take the order seriously and decide not to leave their homes. The Khmer Rouge then sends squads into neighborhoods across the city, randomly selecting a family per street and they kill the males. The news of the purges spreads quickly and soon government employees, Lon Nol military officers, police, teachers, ethnic Vietnamese, Christian and Muslim leaders, members of the ‘bourgeois middle class’ and 'intellectuals' are separated from the hordes leaving the city and are executed. (Carver, 2010) |
Re-education of the Population:
A mans memories about being sent to the killing fields and seeing the prisons("Killing Fields," 2012)
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The Khmer Rouge placed people in collective living arrangements in order to re-educate them.The Khmer Rouge then divided those who were willing to be re-educated into categories which showed how much trust the Khmer Rouge had in you. The most trustworthy were called the "old citizens." Any pro-West and city dwellers were given the name " new citizens" and were able to move up to "deportees" then "candidates;" and finally "full rights-citizens," as long as they complied with the Khmer Rouges demands and decided to be re-educated. Most citizens comply but not very many ended up moving up. Those who refused to be re-educated were killed in killing fields. They died from starvation, execution, overwork, and disease.("Genocide in Cambodia,")
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Physical Tactics:
Those who needed serious re-education were sent to special prison camps to break them of their pro-west tendencies. The most notorious prison camp was in Tuol Sleng and was named S-21. Originally a school in Phnom Penh, this prison claimed an estimated 20,000 lives, and only 7 people were said to escape. At this camp victims were forced to confess to imaginary crimes and were tortured until they confessed.They were then taken to killing fields and murdered for their "crimes".
Torture examples:
("Pol Pot," 2009) |
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Video of S-21 and explanation of some of the atrocious acts that where committed here. ("Inside Pol-Pot," 2012)
Psychological Tactics:
One major goal that the Khmer Rouge had was to create a simple society based on farming. In order to do this they create a society with the education they wanted everyone to have. Many people stopped wearing their glasses as to not look intelligent. Also no one would speak French or read books because these were considered capital offenses. The new education system taught children to read and write but under strict control of the regime. Other psychological tactics such as stripping citizens of their personal identity and family also left a lasting impression on many people. Those who survived the purges and relocation also had many psychological problems long after the Khmer Rouge was taken out of power. (Chigas, 2010)
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Propaganda:
Some examples of propaganda that they used from Henri Locard's book: Pol Pot Little Red Book: The Saying of Angkar
("Khmer Rouge Propaganda,") |
This video shows some of the propaganda used to make the citizens support the Khmer Rouge. ("Cambodian Genocide- Pyramid," 2013)
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