Cause And Significance Of Cambodian Genocide

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Webster Dictionary defines the word genocide as; the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. Cambodia was a mostly peaceful, small country in South Asia with a population of about 7 million.
Imagined being brutally ripped from your family and never seeing them again, being run out of your home, and never knowing what will happen next. In 1975, Cambodia hit all 8 stages of a genocide, being one of the deadliest genocides.The genocide began after The genocide first began after the Cambodian war with the Khmer Rouge taking over Phnom Phen with the help of U.S bombings. About 2 million people died during the genocide because of the Khmer Rouge.
Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, claimed that this would …show more content…

They were treated like animals, some even worse than animals. Genocide survivor Yasuko Naito, Japanese widow of a murdered Cambodian official, say “The life is worse than a cow’s…. There is no rice ration unless we work. I ate a rat. It was delicious… God please forgive me with the ordeal I have suffered.” The Cambodian genocide was very important to the history of Cambodia. The Cambodian genocide was very unique because it is the first time people have followed through with separating the educated from the non-educated and killed the educated. It was also unique because they didn’t only physically harm them but mentally harm them. Many people were brainwashed. By brainwashing them they were convinced to join the Khmer Rouge.
The genocide ended with Vietnamese forces overthrowing the Khmer Rouge troops in Phnom Phen. The Vietnamese only intervened in the genocide because the Khmer Rouge forces began to launch attacks on Vietnam’s borders (8 Stages of Genocide Cambodia). The reign of the Khmer Rouge, finally ended in the year of 2000. After the genocide the country of Cambodia was left in ruins. “Since production began five years ago, the television show, "It's Not A Dream," has reunited members of 54 Cambodian families shattered by the genocide” states CNN in 2015. This is just one example of the many ways in which Cambodia's traumatized society is beginning to undertake the fraught, painful business of reckoning with their history

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