Khmer Rouge facts
While investigating facts about Khmer Rouge Killing Fields and Khmer Rouge History, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Killing Fields, a movie about the Cambodian Genocide, starred Haing Ngor, an actual genocide survivor. Co-star John Malkovich defended Ngor's lack of prior acting experience, saying he had to be a pretty good actor to survive the Khmer Rouge. Ngor went on to win an Oscar for his performance.
how khmer rouge came to power?
During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, there was a prison camp, named S-21, that had a death rate of 99.96%. S-21 was directed by a former math teacher who ordered "living autopsies," had prisoners' blood completely drained for use in hospitals, and used a "baby-smashing tree" to kill children.
What was the khmer rouge’s plan for cambodia?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what happened to the khmer rouge. Here are 44 of the best facts about Khmer Rouge Regime and Khmer Rouge Cambodia I managed to collect.
what does khmer rouge mean?
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A former Khmer Rouge member in Cambodia named Aki Ra has been spending the last 20+ years disarming landmines all over the country, with no pay, and no armor.
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A cambodian citizen named Aki-Ra cleared 50,000 land mines, many of which he planted himself years ago as a child soldier during the communist Khmer Rouge regime . He can dig out, clear, and defuse a standard land mine in about two minutes .
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About Haing S. Ngor - a Cambodian doctor who was sent to a Khmer Rouge concentration camp in 1975, was tortured for 4 years, escaped in 1979, won an Oscar in 1985, wrote an acclaimed memoir in 1988, started a charity in 1990, and was murdered by an LA gang in 1996.
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The Khmer Rouge killed ~25% of Cambodia's populace by making everyone work 12 hours daily on farms. Intellectuals were killed. Schools, religion, freedom to travel, money, factories, & hospitals were eliminated. The K.R. exerted control by limiting married couples' visits & scattering families.
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Wes Craven came up with the idea of Nightmare on Elm St after reading of some Cambodian refugees haunted by nightmares of the Khmer Rouge who refused to sleep. When they finally gave in to sleep, they died even though there was nothing physically wrong
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During the Cambodian massacres, Khmer Rouge tricked intellectuals working/exiled abroad by asking them to come back to rebuild Cambodia. When the special plane sent to collect them arrived,they were killed.
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Cambodian rock of the 1960s and 1970s was a thriving and prolific music scene, but was abruptly crushed by the Khmer Rouge communists in 1975, and many of its musicians disappeared or were executed during the ensuing Cambodian genocide.
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The star of"The Killing Fields", himself a survivor of a Khmer Rouge concentration camp, was murdered by gangbangers in the U.S.
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The Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields" genocide spilled over the border into Communist Vietnam, resulting in the massacre of over 3,000 Vietnamese. Vietnam responded by invading Cambodia and overthrowing the Khmer Rouge.
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In what is considered the last battle of the Vietnam War, three US Marines were left behind alive on Koh Tang Island. They are believed to have been captured, tortured, and beaten to death by the Khmer Rouge, but their fate is uncertain.
Why khmer rouge killed intellectuals?
You can easily fact check why did the khmer rouge happen by examining the linked well-known sources.
The Domino Theory proved to be correct in regards to southeast Asia, as Cambodia became communist under the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975.
The Chankiri Tree. A tree in the Cambodian Killing Fields against which children and infants were smashed because their parents were accused of crimes against the Khmer Rouge. - source
Coconut water has been used as an emergency intravenous rehydration fluid when medical saline was unavailable. Although substituting coconut water for saline is not recommended by physicians today, it was a common practice during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. - source
Under the Khmer Rouge regime, at least 100 detainees died after having all of their blood drawn for transfusions for wounded soldiers.
it is not uncommon for visitors to find bones or teeth scattered on the ground from the millions killed and buried at the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields. - source
When did the khmer rouge end?
Right before the takeover by the Khmer Rouge, government troops, who hadn't been paid in 4 months, killed and cannibalized a paymaster. Within hours the government started paying the troops.
How khmer rouge end?
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retained their UN seat until 1982, this was after the torture and genocide of an estimated 2-3 million people in their native Cambodia. Western forces refused to recognise the new Cambodian government becuase the country had been liberated by Vietnamese forces.
In 1978, the Cambodian government let three Western journalists into the country. Two sought to investigate the ongoing genocide, while the other was a Khmer Rouge sympathizer. For no known reason, the Cambodian government had the sympathizing reporter killed, yet spared the other two.
After the Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, they had to reintroduce money as the Khmer Rouge had banned money. The new government then merely gave the new bills away to encourage use.
Khmer Rouge regime wiped off one-fourth of the Cambodian population between 1975-1979 and even after they were thrown by Vietnam, western democracies such as US and UK continued to support the ousted regime, and terminated the UN investigation into Khmer Rouge crimes by their influence.
Henry Kissinger told Thai foreign minister about Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot: "You should tell the Cambodians that we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs but we won't let that stand in our way."
