Through almost 4 full years, there was barely anyone left. From April of 1975 to January of 1979, there was a genocide. This genocide is known as the Cambodian Genocide. Majority of the time people don’t even know about this genocide, while they never even heard of Cambodia because it is a small country in Southeast Asia. There were around 1.7 million, almost a quarter of their population, who was killed either by diseases, starvation, or was even tortured. This was all led by Pol Pot, who had a goal of creating a communist society which then resulted in killing millions of Cambodians. During this time, the Khmer Rouge had its power over the people. So, from 1975 to 1979 that this genocide took place was important, important because of the impact it had on the society, its culture, and the economy. All this caused so much trauma that affected Cambodia then, and Cambodia today.
Starting from the year 1953, right after World War II, Cambodia had gained their independence which allowed them to govern themselves. Being that Vietnam was a nearby country, they soon allied themselves with them. According to the source, “Genocide in Cambodia,” it says, “However, that sentiment was soon tempered by the 1962 outbreak of the Vietnam War. Determined to halt the spread of communism, the United States provided huge sums of economic aid to Cambodia and bombed communist bases at its eastern border.” This explains how Cambodia got involved into conflict. Then in April of 1975, the Khmer Rouge starting to take power. Pol Pot, the dictator had many of the Cambodians tortured, killed, or enslaved. He had restricted everything from the Cambodians such as their education, religion, and even what clothes they wore. Pol pot, or Saloth Sar, who grew up in a Cambodian village during when the French was ruling, where he grew his communist mindset. Once they had full control of the capital city, Phnom Penh, they evacuated the whole city to the fields where they had to walk for days. At these fields, they put the civilians to work, and if they didn’t reach their goals or expectations, the men, women, and children were beaten. On a daily basis of productions and labor, these men, women, and children were barely fed. This led many to die from starvation, leaving piles of lifeless bodies on these fields. They had killed most of the doctors or other medical staff, so those who caught diseases could not receive any help, leaving more bodies dead on the fields or other places they were kept hostage. If there were civilians alive who did not end up on the working fields, they would be put in prisons. The Khmer Rouge would place these prison from already build buildings, such as schools. The most known or famous prison from the time was called “S-21” and only 12 people had survived this prison. But in total, there were around 14,000 to 17,000 prisoners held in the prisons or execution centers. Overall, the communist party, were most focused on their productions using mass forced labor. Because of that, their management over the people was terrible, leaving shortage of food and medicine, causing even more deaths.
With the culture within Cambodia is similar to the cultures of nearby countries but is unique in its own way. Nearby countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. What is shared between their cultures is seen in their languages, food, and traditional clothing. The language that is spoken in Cambodia is Khmer, which is kind of hard to learn. What’s unique about the Cambodian culture is their type of art. The types of art include their traditional, classical dancing. These performed dances consisted of hand movements and gestures that tell a story. But what’s these dances without their music? The music is very traditional, using instruments such as a flute, fiddle, drum, and a xylophone. But many years later, to present day, art in Cambodia has been evolving. As art to Cambodia has been so traditional, it has been recently mixing with more modern styles of art. These new arts still hold meaning behind them. These meanings address cultural, social, and political themes.
Because of where the country is, it influences the food Cambodians ate. A lot of the area is very country like, so they had to pick up or pick off what they could find, and even go to their nearest stream of water. A lot of those who lived in the more country part of the country would eat bugs. Bugs including insects, bats, frogs, and some reptiles. But during the present times, people still do eat bugs but not as much as they did in the past. Cambodians would also have to climb the trees to get whatever they could find on a tree such as bananas. Climbing these tree were something a lot of them put their lives at risk for food, but mostly everyone was poor so many had to do what they had to do. But this explains why present day Cambodians have many foods that are associated with fruits such as bananas. And lastly, the Cambodians who travelled to streams of water. Most of the time, they were getting water whether it was for drinking or to bathe with. If it wasn’t to get their buckets of water, it was to catch fish. This very much explains why there are so many different food options that are made out of fishes. But fish was the most popular ingredient to incorporate into their food. Fish was so important to them that there was a traditional dance made to symbolize them catching fish and being proud of catching it. Overall, their place in geography played a big role in what they ate now and what they ate then. But there was definitely a difference in their foods before and after the genocide.
In conclusion, the Cambodian genocide created an impact on Cambodia in different ways. Even though these ways don’t sound like a big deal, it does in fact change them socially. It affected the way these Cambodians live as they were able to slowly advance their lifestyles.
Works Cited
Cambodian genocide program. Cambodian Genocide Program | Genocide Studies Program. (n.d.). https://gsp.yale.edu/case-studies/cambodian-genocide-program
What is genocide?. The Cambodian Genocide – The Holocaust Explained: Designed for schools. (n.d.). https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/what-was-the-holocaust/what-was-genocide/the-cambodian-genocide/
Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. (n.d.). Genocide in Cambodia. https://thgc.texas.gov/learning/overviews-of-the-holocaust-and-genocides/cambodia
Quackenbush, C. (2019, January 7). 40 years on, Cambodia grapples with Khmer Rouge aftermath. Time. https://time.com/5486460/pol-pot-cambodia-1979/
Hok, S. (2022, November 29). From Cambodia to California: Survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide need access to Mental Healthcare. KVPR. https://www.kvpr.org/community/2022-11-28/from-cambodia-to-california-survivors-of-the-khmer-rouge-genocide-need-access-to-mental-healthcare
Oliver, M. (2022, January 11). Child soldiers, mass graves, and the killing fields – 33 harrowing photos of the Cambodian genocide. All That’s Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/cambodian-genocide
