The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide

[@IamKingSleezy]

A kid from Cambodia transferred to my high school and one day while discussing the Khmer Rouge at lunch I jokingly said, “Is Pol Pot your uncle or something?” He got angry and threw his drink in my face and slapped me. I didn’t understand what I had done wrong so instead of getting mad we sat down in the office with a counselor and I asked what him how I offended him. The most I’ve heard of Pol Pot at this point was The Dead Kennedy’s Holiday In Cambodia, so it was little at most. He explained his grandparents, uncles, and a few of his aunts all died during the killings by the Khmer Rouge. I apologized to him and later that day read into Khmer Rouge more and realized the monster the party was. The next day I apologized again only this time well informed about the monsters and he accepted my apology. We’ve been good friends since and even invited me over for dinner with his family. Ever since I’ve been obsessed with learning about other nations cultures and history.

[@noeenricodomanais2517]

You really deserved that.

[@IamKingSleezy]

@@noeenricodomanais2517 rightfully so. That was just over a decade ago and to this day hate the person I was back then and have strayed so far from that version of me I’m almost unrecognizable to the people who knew me then and I’m glad.

[@Talinight]

Norodom Sihanouk was behind the Cambodian Genocide

[@BambiTrout]

@@Talinight...because he supported Pol Pot and his insane revolution in order to retain power under the new regime. Everyone in the Khmer Rouge leadership was behind the genocide.

[@blin1776]

@@IamKingSleezy honestly, good for you to become a change man. It is very hard for anyone to change. U admit your mistake, addressed it and moved on. Good for you!

[@MC-vp4eg]

My dad lived through the killing fields executions in Battambang. He witnessed his 2 older brothers beheadings because they couldn't speak Khmer well enough due to being ethnically Chinese/Vietnamese. The rest of the family spoke fluent Khmer so their lives were spared. Both of his parents died of disease from bad drinking water. He was separated from his siblings due to the war, ending up on the streets at the age of 13. He was, unfortunately, one of the many children who would become child laborers by the Khmer Rouge. Dad would constantly remind me, when I was a kid, of what he went through. He worked for about 4 years,20 hour days farming and piling bodies/ throwing bodies in ditches. He said that bodies were piled high everywhere that it was impossible to count. He told me that a 10 pound rice bag had to feed his camp of 200 people. He had to eat fish and frog tadpole, snakes, and other undesirable things to survive. Among other stories he told me, he had a gun pointed to his head while relieving himself to ensure that he wouldn't run away He tried escaping twice, first time to the mountains to the border of Thailand, to which many were turned away. The second time, he was able to enter Thailand and was rescued by the Red Cross. He told me when he boarded the plane that he was wearing rice bags as clothing. Out of his entire family, he was the only one who sent to the US, the others went to Australia. He did very well for himself despite only having the clothes on his back. Because of his work ethic and survival instincts, he worked his way up in the restaurant industry to becoming an executive chef and managed several restaurants and eventually owning a few restaurants. Every year in August he celebrates his refuge to the US, paying respects to the country that brought him in, giving him an opportunity to become successful and have a better life, and expressing his thankfulness to President Jimmy Carter for taking in refugees from his country.

[@AR15andGOD]

carter was trash

[@imperator692]

Don't forget that the United States supported the Khmer Rouge and the UN sanctioned Vietnam for intervening in the country to save it from genocide.

[@bendover7841]

Jimmy Carter is super underrated. The only president in decades who seemed to have any semblance of humanity.

[@ineedmorecarrots6063]

your dad is a tough guy if i were him i would probably jumped the rouge just so he could kill me and end my suffering

[@mikemoscato2995]

@@bendover7841 carter was a good humanitarian, but lousy at economics and most international affairs.and don't forget reagan took in countless refugees from communist cuba,and other from the eastern bloc such as Poland etc.

[@MetlKen87]

I work with a guy who escaped Cambodia. His entire family was murdered. He walked for 6 days straight and had to hide multiple times. One night, he stayed at a lake and drank the water out of it. In the morning, he saw dead bodies in the water. He finally made it to a refugee camp and found his way to America. He still breaks down when he talks about it. It's crazy.

[@Suo_kongque]

My Yaey (Grandma) escaped the Khmer Rouge and even helped her family escape. While pregnant with my dad. He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. I would need to talk to her again to know all the details, I was in Junior high when I heard her story for the first time.

[@loriijanee]

rest in peace so sorrh ops

[@si4632]

did he thank the americans for bombing the shit out of cambodia lol

[@oliverjames8580]

You know US and China supported Pol pot back then

[@EleKtraWolf]

I'm the daughter of Cambodian refugees living in America. Thanks for explaining in details what happened in Cambodia during this time. This was well detailed and made me felt more brave to asked my parents what they experienced.

[@EleKtraWolf]

@@anthonygipson265 Thanks for serving the country and for taking your time to read and respond.

[@anthonygipson265]

@@EleKtraWolf thank you for responding back always remember you are beautiful intelligent lady

[@willd0047]

Cambodians are some of the most lovely people I’ve spent time with. I’ve always felt welcomed by them

[@hunterq4202]

When I was fishing with my dad as a kid a guy he knew when he was younger who escaped Cambodia came across us and fished for a bit with me, very nice and funny guy. Glad your parents were able to escape too, I hope you’re doing well

[@josm1481]

I was in Cambodia during the elections of 2001(?). It was still effectively run by the Khmer Rouge. There was a crime outbreak by political opponents that were killed by the police in the act of committing crimes. Phnom Penh was still only 2/3's full and it was still not possible to visit a lot of the North West because it mines etc. I've since read Ngor's biography. It's incredible such a beautiful country with lovely people can bring such atrocity.

[@jessicajujubean5004]

When I was a kid in the 80s we had these neighbors who were Cambodian refugees.A woman and her two nephews. I asked the one kid why they moved over here and he said "they were killing people". I didn't think much about it because I was only 9. Not long after my mom told us the heartbreaking story about how they got here and that always stuck with me. The first time I watched The Killing Fields I was a teenager and I cried because all I could think about were my neighbors and what they went through.

[@KhmerMinnesnowta]

The S21-Genocide Museum was my former high school and my house was only a few blocks away. I was in my senior year when Pol Pot forces took over the country. I learned about the WWII genocide in school and suddenly I had to live through this hell on earth myself. Sadly, most of my family members did not survive. As the locals said : "They went to hell and came back with smiles" People had suffered so much because of these few evil leaders. Only memory lives on from a genocide survivor!

[@Cherry-bq4oh]

Thank you for telling your story, I can't imagine what it would have been like to live through those times. Have you been back to S21 since you were a student?

[@SaltySteff]

My God, I can't even begin to imagine what you and your people went through. My sincerest condolences to those you lost. We CANNOT forget that this terrible event happened not even 50 years ago, well within living memory for people such as yourself. Thank you for sharing your story, I hope you continue to educate others on what happened. I know I will.

[@KhmerMinnesnowta]

@@Cherry-bq4oh Actually, I just walked through this S21 now and still can't imagine how human can be so kind and yet some others can be so cruel!

[@KhmerMinnesnowta]

@@SaltySteff It seems just like yesterday and only memory lives on. Cambodia has come a long way. Peace out!

[@richardschneller7674]

❤ I’m sorry for your suffering. I had a good friend named Sa Un Pol for years when I lived in Arizona, I have strong affection for your people.

[@camille.c]

Simon, I can't explain enough how glad I am that you cover some of the lesser-known modern atrocities. The recent episodes on Colombia, the Rwandan and Armernian genocides, Mai Lai, Partition, the Japanese wartime scientists etc. have all been excellent and i hope they'll bring greater awareness. here in Southeast Asia i've always known about Pol Pot's killing fields but I have met many people who didn't even know Partition happened. Have you considered covering recent Ethiopian history (Haile Selassie onward) and the current conflicts in Tigray? lots of very complex ethnic and geopolitical aspects

[@dogtownoon9791]

LESSER KNOW ,ego

[@RightTurnClyde]

The many apologists of Pol Pot kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZ6ZYXuVncuHq6s

[@usonumabeach300]

@Tom Foster I'm 38, aside from a very basic level of history taught in school growing up, most of what I learned about the last 200 years outside of WW1 & 2 outside of the US came from2 classes I took in getting my BA: North American Seafaring and Dictators, with the latter teaching me the most. Both were electives. Outside of those, Simon's channels (and to a lesser extent a couple of others) have far outstripped all of my education in educating me on history. I don't mean to degrade what he does, but I think it's pretty pathetic that a KZbinr has taught me more about the world than an American education including college *AND* the media.

[@rossrennie182]

Yes it's a forgotten War but not much has changed there my Wife is Cambodia and was 1 year old when her country went in to this Hell she was 8 years old when the Vietnam took the country back and things were not much better 1990 United Nations brought freedom 1991 very clever you said nothing about who in charge now I wonder why Simon

[@matty6848]

Yes and it’s usually countries where western nations have got involved with the politics appointed certain people then when it hits the fan they pull out. The Belgians did the same in Rwanda left hundreds of thousands of innocent Africans to be slaughtered. Have you seen the movie or read the book “Shake Hands with the Devil” very good movie it’s about a Canadian U.N peace keeper who was stationed in Rwanda and while he was there it all fell into civil war with Idi Amin commanding his rag tag army in killing & taping a tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children. He stayed behind with the U.N to try and save lives but it was hopeless. His one memory was the Belgian forces running onto their Hercules transport planes leaving everything behind just so they could get out of there and watching them fly off into the sunset back to Europe without a care in the world about the fate of those left behind. The guys name is Romeo Delare I thwink. There’s also a book he wrote Shake Hands with the Devil. He said shaking hands with militia leaders who’d butchered women and children with machetes was like doing it with the Devil, hence the name of the book and movie..

[@mysterious-benefactor]

Iv heard the stories of these atrocities from a close and dear family friend. Our "uncle" lived thru this. He managed to get his family out before things got very very bad. Is stories are devastating... He rejoined his family as refuges in Canada after spending years locked up in the schools. This humble man lives on today surrounded by his great grand children. Thank you for telling me what he struggled to express. Keep up the good work Whistler.

[@judithsmith9582]

Recommended reading: "First They Killed My Father" Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung recounts the horrors she suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge. Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung recounts the horrors she suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge.

[@malcomx1924]

Isn’t it crazy to see how many North Americans are becoming marxists nowadays? It’s like they refuse to learn from history…

[@anna-gt2mu]

Ear

[@MrMarinus18]

The Kmher Rouge were just utterly insane. Not just with their killing but also with them antagonizing Vietnam. Vietnam has over 10 times the population of Cambodia and had just won a war so it had a massive army of veteran soldiers with proven equipment and led by experienced and battle hardened commanders. It's no surprise that when they invaded they crushed the Kmher Rouge easily.

[@codyj1162]

You know it's a serious subject when it fades out and Simon doesn't even ask if we liked the video. Chilling subject but treated with the utmost respect. Well done Sir.

[@pv2639]

why? the word "genocide" in the title didn't do it for ya?

[@chitlitlah]

This is Into the Shadows. That's how all the videos end.

[@bryanrx337]

he's just off to start another channel

[@codyj1162]

@@bryanrx337 lol probably.

[@codyj1162]

@@pv2639 I would say thats partially a given... wouldn't you?

[@michaelgreaves2375]

I heard Dith Pran speak 36 years ago at University of Riverside. As horrific as The Killing Fields was, he said that the atrocities he witnessed were far worse than could be expressed on film. The amount of suffering the Cambodian people experienced was truly mind boggling.

[@theawesomeman9821]

I feel bad for the people of Cambodia and find it rediculous that many of Khmer Rouge members were allowed to live out their days peacefully without any punishment for their crimes against humanity.

[@RightTurnClyde]

The many apologists of Pol Pot kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZ6ZYXuVncuHq6s

[@BambiTrout]

@@theawesomeman9821 I think the reasoning was that the sheer scale of the horror and death made it difficult to punish everyone involved. Additionally, even after the regime was ousted, they continued to fight a guerrilla war for another 2 decades before Pol Pot finally died. Finally, I think the people were too tired and traumatised to seek retribution, and had no desire to relive the events even in the pursuit of justice. How can you even appropriately punish such things without just becoming like those who committed them? They stopped the cycle of violence before it could begin again, and I think that while it seems completely unfair and unjust that the perpetrators and collaborators will never be truly punished, I think true justice for the victims means ensuring that their families can live on without ever having to experience such atrocities ever again, even if that means turning the other cheek.

[@theawesomeman9821]

@@BambiTrout I get your reasoning

[@jwenting]

yeah, the movie was watered down quite a bit in order to make it palatable to western audiences. Wouldn't do to have half the audience in the movie theater choking on their own vomit halfway through the move after all.

[@Monatio79]

"A darkness will fall on the people of Cambodia. There will be homes but no people in them. There will be roads but no travelers upon them. The land will be ruled by barbarians...Only the deaf and the mute will survive." (Cambodian Buddhist prophecy) To this day, many of the older generation refuse to talk about what happened. To do so is to rekindle past memories of unimaginable privation, misery and horror. Behind every smiling face, one can glimpse the sorrow and suffering that they have endured. Although there has been recent development and economic growth, Cambodia as a nation is still struggling to catch up with its regional ASEAN neighbors. Despite current ongoing problems, namely endemic corruption, there is hope for the younger generation. For this reason, the extreme primitive communism espoused by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge and the subsequent nightmare of the Cambodian holocaust must never be forgotten. Thank you Simon for your detailed video. This is a topic which is so often glossed over for the sake of political expediency. Outside powers did indeed play a significant role in Cambodia's tragedy, as did its own leaders.

[@yourcryingroblox6614]

It's Sihanouk's fault.

[@yourcryingroblox6614]

Prince Norodom Sihanouk went exile to China and North Korea and he encouraged Cambodians to fight the new regime (Khmer Republic) and backed the Khmer Rouge during the civil war and then he went back to Cambodia as the figurehead Head Of State after the Khmer Rouge victory. But their relations soured and he was placed under house arrest until the Vietnamese Army overthrew the Khmer Rouge in early 1979.

[@kkyykao189]

@@yourcryingroblox6614 Read this paper by Ben Kiernan to see if it's all Sihanouk's fault. This video never talked about the effect of the US bombing and the regime change conducted by the CIA. Roots of Genocide: New Evidence on the US Bombardment of Cambodia

[@Hagunemnon]

There's a lovely older Cambodian gentleman who runs the local international store near where I live. Its painful to know that there's a very real possibility that someone so nice could've had to suffer and/or flee from something so horrifying. I truly can't fathom it, and I genuinely hope that his life in America is a prosperous one.

[@haroldpearson6025]

Im an 80 year old Brit. I lived and worked in Cambodia from 1998 to 2017. As an engineer I was designing special equipment for detecting and destroying explosive devices. I married a lovely Cambodian lady who as a young woman went through the Khmer Rouge period and was left with two kids. I was heavily involved with raising her kids, now two super young adults. When my wife tells her story many start to cry. Its sad that many under 30 have never heard of Pol Pot or the Khmer Rouge.

[@markrook6085]

I was in Ho Chi Minh City five years ago, and while visiting the Reunification Palace/ South Vietnamese White House (where the tanks broke down the gates in 75) , I had a lengthy conversation with a Lt. Le Dao Ky, Vietnam Peoples Army, retired. His daughter was fluent in English and translated. Ky was in the army for 20 years. He was a tank crewman, and rolled into Saigon the day it fell. Later, he fought the Khmer Rouge. One comment he made was on the treatment of prisoners. Explaining Vietnamese Army policy, he said “we allowed the French and Americans to surrender, and took them prisoner when we could. In Cambodia, we took NO prisoners”. The steely look in his eyes said it all. I was proud to shake that old soldiers hand. In my book, every Vietnamese that fought the Khmer Rouge is a true hero, for the entire human race. It’s shameful that the Carter Administration denounced the Vietnamese invasion, all because of wanting better relations with China. We should have been applauding them.

[@cardinalRG]

Keep in mind that before unified Vietnam fought against Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, only (the former) South Vietnam and its allies did that. The Khmer Rouge were trained and originally enabled by North Vietnam as an ally, and Hanoi had no objection to Pol Pot’s brutality until he began disobeying Hanoi’s marching orders, and making cross-border attacks against his benefactor. So if you give credit to “Vietnam” for putting down Pol Pot eventually, realize that it was only putting down the monster it helped to create in the first place. That the US switched to a position of support for the Khmer Rouge, is indeed to its shame.

[@space4166]

Learn more about Vietnam camps it would have been better for the Khmer Rouge solders to be captured.

[@dr.jones.3832]

Well we can be sure the french and american pow's were never served french toast scrambbled eggs back bacon and hashbrowns and coffee everyday😞

[@khanhtrinh344]

@@cardinalRG actually, that is more “complicated” than that. Khmer Rouge has alot of faction inside, and NVA only train the pretty much nicer faction. But after the war, that nicer one got purged.... so yeah

[@cardinalRG]

@@khanhtrinh344 --Please elaborate.

[@xjdfghashzkj]

I visited Tuol Sleng about fifteen years ago. All I can really say is it's just about the most profoundly disturbing, haunting, and heart-breaking place I've ever been to.

[@eliastravelvlog6517]

Me too. My heart was broken after the tour. Even my fellow tourist cant take it and did not proceed in entering the other buildings.

[@josm1481]

Apparently, the map of human skulls isn't there anymore. Visiting Cambodia made me realise how easy it is to make humans be so brutal in the false claim they're doing it for the greater good.

[@raylouis7013]

I am surprised, reading these comments, at how many people DON'T know about this. One of my uncles went in as part of an Australian team that were trying to help rebuild - doctors, nurses, teachers... So many of the "intellectuals" had been lost...He won't talk about what he saw. An old friend went in to help try to salvage as much as possible from the libraries in Cambodia - to try to save the history and literature of the people. The efforts to rebuild will still take generations. For such a short period of time so much damage was done.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

Because many of these civil wars or genocides that take place in third world countries hardly ever get much media attention.....even in the US to this day, they harp on and on about Nazis and Hitler, despite the fact that the US was never directly affected by him at least not as much as Europe, almost every war movie from Hollywood is always about World War 2, every Call of Duty game either set in WW2 or in the middle East.....other conflicts like the Congo Wars, Liberian Civil War, Rwandan Genocide, the times the Soviet Union invaded other countries, Bosnian genocide, Lebanese Civil War, Korean War and this Cambodian Genocide get completely overlooked, because the West just seems to be overly obsessed with Hitler and even point to him as the most evil person in history when people like Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao,Charles Taylor, Idi Amin and King Leopold 2nd surpass even Hitler's genocide count....but somehow he gets first prize, the world hyper focuses on fascist Dictators but never on communist dictators for some odd reason....I feel like all examples should be paid attention to equally

[@SuperCatacata]

@@cyborgchicken3502 TLDR. Europe has viewed itself as the center of the world over the last 500 years. If it didn't happen in Europe, then it is much less likely to be taught in basic western curriculum. Then again, Asian countries don't teach about certain western events. Where you grow up influences what you are taught

[@cyborgchicken3502]

@@SuperCatacata that's a good point I guess as well

[@johnball320]

@@cyborgchicken3502 No, they don't surpass Hitler's count, except Mao. This isn't to downplay their crimes or deny that crimes elsewhere get ignored, but we don't improve things by downplaying what Hitler did. The way you speak, it's as if the Nazis were trivial, but they spent a lot of their effort into wiping out every Jew and Roma across Europe. The number of dead Soviet POWs was sickeningly high too, and it was high because they were seen as subhumans (Brits and Americans fared a lot better under the Nazis, as they were seen as good Aryan societies).

[@newgabe09]

@@johnball320 Indeed, the Soviet Union suffered the highest death rate in WW2, but almost as many Chinese were killed by the Japanese invasion.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:20 - Chapter 1 - The cold war 5:50 - Chapter 2 - Rolling thunder 10:30 - Chapter 3 - Year 0 17:30 - Chapter 4 - 4 long years

[@marlizavermeulen8615]

When we were there in 2019 you could ask almost any Cambodian on the streets how long the reign of the Khmer Rouge lasted and they could tell you the exact time, accurate to a day. It was chilling.

[@lydethful]

They can definitely say the Khmer Rouge era lasted 3 years 8 months and 20 days.

[@mehere8038]

I'm kinda curious why you would be asking them that. Don't they want to move forward, not be reminded of it every day? I'm not saying they want to forget it, but trivial questions about how long it went for just seem weird to me. I mean if you're going to ask them about it, wouldn't you at least ask them about their personal experiences, rather than just generic information you could easily look up yourself?

[@rico14]

@@mehere8038it’s cause when you’re here you can still feel the wounds. Even now you can see the trauma in the people

[@mehere8038]

​@@rico14 Is that something helpful for tourists to do though? I use a wheelchair, drives me nuts when total strangers come up to me & ask me "what happened?" or similar. Why would I want to talk about that with total strangers? If strangers want to chat with me, that's cool, where I live that's a normal part of life, but I'm a person not a wheelchair & I want to be treated as such. If they want to talk about something interesting related to wheelchair/disability, I'm often ok with that too, but not just using the wheelchair as the conversation, that just objectifies me & I feel like what's being said here is the same thing, just going up to random people over & over again & asking how long it lasted? I had an absolutely fascinating conversation some years ago with a man who lived through "the great leap forward", but it was about his personal experiences, in ways he was comfortable sharing, it wasn't just asking him something like "how long did it last". I can't remember how it came up in conversation now, it was a natural conversation evolution from something he said, not me sticky beaking. I had similar with a guy who lived through ww2 in a certain European country too, he was a teenager during the war & again, absolutely facinating how he was forced into the system. After the conversation, he came back to me & near begged me not to share what he had said with anyone else, cause he realised he had said things that some may judge him for & that he felt uncomfortable having shared, I assured him that absolutely I would NOT share anything he said & he didn't even need to say that, I could tell it was personal & for him to decide who to share with & who not to & I appreciated him choosing to share with me & absolutely respected his privacy. I feel like these sorts of experiences are missed by asking questions like "how long did it last" of everyone you meet, which is the impression I get as to what the OP is doing

[@imjustcrow6268]

My mother and her family were some of the refugees who managed to escape from Cambodia to Thailand and from there, make their way to Australia. My grandma often told me stories when I was a child about how she would spend all day and night praying for the bullets and bombs and yells to move away as they walked and hid. As they lay in jungles and under beds in abandoned houses, she'd lie awake and pray that her family would make it out alive. She arrived in Australia 42 years ago, with a 5 year old and a 2 year old, into the arms of her sisters and brothers, into a safe land. She is grateful every single day for Australia and its people and her safety. I have nothing but respect for her and what she's gone through. She may be 78, getting weak and ill, but she is forever grateful she made it through to the other side, if not for herself, for her family.

[@mehere8038]

and yet, I was a child in Australia at the time your Grandma arrived, but I was being taught to hate "Asians", especially once from places like Cambodia & Vietnam. Makes me sick now to realise how messed up my father was to have such hatred & racism & to hurt those people who had already been hurt so much, just cause he was insecure or something. There was a family from Vietnam that moved into my street when I was young, but I never played with those kids, none of us "Aussies" did, because of the racism we were being raised with. I'm glad your Grandma had a more positive experience, but I'm sorry I couldn't contribute to it

[@medusax4883]

I actually went to Cambodia and one of the sites we visited was the school that was used as the jail for the important prisoners. Saw the individual rooms with the single bed in the middle, the shackles where the prisoner was chained to the bed, and the splatter of blood beneath the bed where they had been executed. Everything was left as it was. There was also a larger room ( I believe it was the assembly room) and the individual cells that were used to house each prisoner where still left there. Basically, each cell was the size of a tatami mat. Comfort was NOT part of the plan. There was an exhibition room that showed the paintings of what actually took place and some torture devices. The painter was personally hired by Pol Pot to draw all the atrocities that happened. I later looked him up and his artwork had turned really dark, almost demonic. Most of the artists (not a lot of them since they were the first to be killed) that lived through this period were completely f*ked up. Their artwork are very similar to what disturbed/haunted children would draw. One of the things that the guide told us was that Pol Pot recruited children. He would make these children watch the execution of their family and then cut flesh from the corpse and feed it to them. He said it was a way to make sure these children had no fear and no morals. Yeah....very disturbing.

[@devinreis5811]

I had an instructor in college that has been to Cambodia. She visited S-21 and Tuol Sleng, and she told us all that they are places you can only see once because of the disturbing nature.

[@annohalloran6020]

Capitalism makes orphans.

[@mehere8038]

comfort might not have been part of the plan, but discomfort certainly was

[@ferretyluv]

@@annohalloran6020Pol Pot wasn’t a capitalist.

[@sircashew1097]

@@annohalloran6020you’re really going to sit here and defend Pol Pot and his communist Khmer Rouge on a video about their crimes against humanity? Really?

[@Shado_wolf]

Spent a few weeks on a tour around Cambodia back in 2014... wasn't until after going to the "killing fields" in Phnom Penh that I started to wonder how on earth they could seem like such a happy people, especially when our guide said as a kid, he was "employed" as a scarecrow, while many in his family were killed.... this was one of the happiest people (on the surface) I had met

[@TactlessGuy]

They don't take life for granted.

[@josm1481]

The killing field outside Phnom Penh was only a small one. The largest slaughter happened in the North West.

[@andiward7068]

When you escape Hell, everyday is a good day.

[@Trip_mania]

I'm really not sure, a lot of people suffer with terrible PTSD after such things. But there are other things in life. You learn things for the first time when you go there and you only see this. But they have a life too with happy things, not just the things you just learned. It reminds me of a guy I met as a teenager, a couple years after my father had died. He asked me with disbelief how I could still be happy and laugh after that. Just because it's the only thing he knows about me doesn't mean it's the only thing that exists.

[@lindsyfish6704]

​@@andiward7068I wish this was true for everyone.

[@jesusc9972]

My wife is Cambodian. She was born here after her mother fled from cambodia. At their church every year they hold a ceremony for the genocide. I've never asked in detail what she saw or went through (my mother in law) I guess I don't have the heart to ask. I asked her son and he said that her father was a police officer and was killed in phnom penh when the city was first purged. The pastor at their church is also a survivor. Again I don't know in detail what he went through but he said his entire family was killed and he was the only survivor.

[@jesusc9972]

@Lawiet B I've heard the opposite from members of my wife's family. It doesn't live up to the true horrors of those that witnessed it first hand.

[@joeobrien196]

Maybe you should ask. They will tell you or not. Hopefully they will. When they are gone the story’s will be gone with them.

[@BambiTrout]

@Lawiet B I think that almost makes it more horrifying. The idea that those who survived didn't see the worst of it, and even what they saw was worse than anything we could witness on film.

[@labronrobinson3656]

I became fully aware of this genocide after watching The Killing Fields. After doing further research, I am still disturbed and saddened every I listen to Cambodian Rock or read books written by the survivors of the Khmer Rouge.

[@ff985]

My family moved to Cambodia from China in the early 19s and we all wear glasses... We don't know what happened to four of my uncles. Thank you for covering this

[@theawesomeman9821]

Its hard to believe China would support the Khmer Rouge despite what they did to ethnic Chinese

[@RightTurnClyde]

The many apologists of Pol Pot kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZ6ZYXuVncuHq6s

[@angkear6267]

@@theawesomeman9821 Look what they did to their own people within their border during the cultural revolution. Do you think China would give a **** about those outside their border?

[@Seymourjohnson69]

@@theawesomeman9821 what does china do to its own people?

[@bendover7841]

@@theawesomeman9821 never expect anything better from Chinese Communists.

[@lamb5504]

Thank you for teaching this, I’m second gen in America and my parents and my older family members never like talking about the Khmer Rouge. My two grandpas died, one serving as a lieutenant in america before the war and one being taken in. My cousin lost his arm to a minefield too but he’s fine now. If I explain how grateful I am it would take a long time to type it out but even though I haven’t had these experiences I still suffer with their traumas and burden in America having to help work at our donut shop and translate papers time to time. But thank you so much we may not say it but it means a lot

[@lamb5504]

My grandpa who served was hunted down for context, he was captured in the Cambodia and in Thailand being confused as a Khmer Rouge member, sorry I didn’t clear up on context^

[@Orthane]

The Khmer Rouge was such a short lived state yet I'm sure the people who suffered under it must have felt like it lasted an eternity. No amount of horrible treatment by the French, Americans, British, or Chinese could come even close to what the Khmer Rouge did to their own people.

[@sakurakou2009]

I always hear asians say that japanese occupation was way worst them europeans imperalism , yet in africa did you not hear what french and Belgians and germans and british did to africans just cuz they treated natives in asia as second or third class citizens doesnt mean they were good , these people didnt even treat africans as humans , and did mass genocides on natives I think all conolism is disgusting

[@jpadzlon]

He was a puppet led by Vietnamese and Chinese

[@MrMarinus18]

The Kmher Rouge killed 15%-20% of the population within just 4 years. The Nazi's killed 10% of the German population and that was with constant warfare.

[@shayla106]

@@jpadzlon Proof?

[@paolotorres8537]

I heard Cambodia’s prime minister was once one of them.

[@DroneStrike1776]

As a Cambodian American, I was born right after the war and this war has took a toll on my ancestors. This war started with the CCP's attempt to flood Southeast Asia with communist ideology. My dad was a pharmacist, an educated man, which made in a marked man by the Khmer Rouge. My mom and aunt had to burn everything that could be used to identify him, because he refused to burn his college diploma and books. I still have plenty of family there still living under a dictator who's hellbent on controlling the people.

[@Joe-pc3hs]

I ran into a girl in LB that was half Khmer/Viet. She was proud her dad was Khmer Rouge, then I found out being pro Khmer Rouge wasnt limited to her. The ideology is apparently popular again.

[@dimitrijejovanovic5939]

@@Joe-pc3hs Burn it before it lays eggs!

[@supernova7966]

Yes

[@josm1481]

Thanks for the story. I've been to Cambodia, the killing Fields, seen the map made of skulls at S21 and read Ngor's biography. It's truly a tale of how authoritarianism takes over and can decimate people's.

[@PinoyAbnoy]

are you pround to be an american.. do you know how many countries usa bombed/invaded since early 1900s

[@zoos_lol4106]

In 2010 I spent 2 weeks travelling through Cambodia with my cousin. On the day of my 19th birthday we were in Phnom Penh and visited the killing fields. Our guide was a Cambodian man who had been a slave during this time, forced to dig a man made lake. He told me how one day he had gotten sick with dysentery and knew how if the guards found out he was sick that they would have shot him on the spot. So his friend, in an attempt to save him, placed a bit of opium in his water for him to drink. The next morning he was no longer sick and quickly jumped in the lake to clean himself from his diarrhea. I'll never forget that story. Out of the 2 weeks I was there it was the only day it rained, and it rained for only 20 minutes as we were driving away from the fields.

[@Undercore-nx1fe]

My father survived the genocide and has dealt with the horrors. Even when he escaped and came to the US. He remembers all what was done and I lost my great grandpa who I never met and countless cousins and my fathers village is only a handful of families left.

[@jaye2491]

One of my best friends from work is a 60 year old Cambodian guy. Some of the stories he has told me from when he was a child during the Killing Fields are horrifying. We live in Australia, and he is the best worker I have seen in my life. He says that he works so hard and enjoys it so much because he knows how blessed him and his family are to live in a country like Australia, especially after the horrors he experienced in Cambodia.

[@bobhill3941]

I watched both movies "The killing fields and "First they killed my father". Excellent. This is informative as always.

[@judithsmith9582]

Book by the title of "First They Killed My Father" too "Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung recounts the horrors she suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge. Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung recounts the horrors she suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge."

[@bobhill3941]

@@judithsmith9582 Very interesting

[@Lijax63]

I went to school with a Cambodian boy in 6th grade in Taiwan, in 1974. I just remember him being so full of life with the best smile. I do not know his circumstances. I pray he has lived a happy, full life.

[@teesart1972]

Myself and my brother have become great friends with a Cambodian family, we help out financially to send their children to a school where they will learn English. I love Cambodia but it became noticeable that they are missing an entire generation of people because of the mass killing. We have sent many books to our friend about the history of Pol Pot as many are not taught about this period in their history. It is hard to understand how this happened to a country that is so visually beautiful with a people that are so wonderful

[@juliapiccoli6313]

I’ve been to Cambodia several times and I find it amazing that the populace can still smile while keeping the memory of their families alive. We supported a family financially while we could and it helped them break the cycle of poverty, but as their only real hope for income is tourism, I cannot encourage everyone to visit enough. There is so much to see and do, so many amazing local dishes to try. And the people are just BEAUTIFUL! Big love from Australia 🇦🇺

[@sovannypond-tor8867]

thank you for this video. my dad was forced to be a child guerrilla soldier under the khmer rouge regime @ 14 years old, living in the jungle with them for two years. before that, my grandpa was killed…@ 11 years old my dad was forced to flee his home in fear of being killed and forced to work @ a rice field at gun point. today, my dad is the most kind, strong, happy man i know.

[@themockingjay8645]

It was undoubtedly brutal, and its impact could also be seen in its estimated life expectancy at birth, which crashed from 41.57 years in 1970 to an extreme low of 18.91 years in 1977. Some estimates even put it as low as 14.49 years in 1978, which is extremely yikes statistic

[@FruitsandCoffee]

In 2013 about 60% of the population was under 35. At that time, I was one of them. It was brutal but it's strange to outsiders when I say it...really wasn't noticed? I didn't know any different. That things could be better, that there were other countries that's had entire decades where their population is perfectly protected and free. Even after coming to the US, I kept the same thought patterns. I.E. I had no idea I could visit the glittering towers of glass and steel and marble that I can see from the area the US does us in. I knew it was "downtown" but I didn't understand I could visit it any time I wanted. I didn't need permission from anyone. There's no passport or slips of paper I needed to show anyone. It wasn't until I was in my teens when I understood. Freedom was so strange.

[@salemantoinette8701]

Its incredible how many things we weren't taught in school. The respect and dignity this channel displays is so incredible, from the introduction of the facts to the atrocities then a fade out - A voice to unearth the upporant and faceless evil in our society.

[@johnball320]

Tbf, there is only so much time in the curriculum, and history tends to focus on that of their own country. It would be impossible to cover every major event from every nation. What schools need to do better is to somehow instil a curiosity in the student, which allows them to explore the untaught parts.

[@VividFizzy]

I was taught this in school

[@jagx234]

It's more incredible how many times I see this sentiment under videos about things that were(at least in the 80's to '00 and then there's a gap in my experience until my oldest started school in the 10's) are taught in school.

[@Thoralmir]

Some young Cambodians escaped to Los Angeles, but the traumatic memories they had of the Killing Fields gave them severe night terrors. They'd wake up screaming that "they" were coming to kill them. Several of these kids simply died from these nightmares, despite being in perfect health. If this sounds familiar, it's because Wes Craven used the story to base his film "A Nightmare on Elm Steet" on. Remember, all the best horror movies are based on real incidents.

[@infiniterer287]

Really?? I didn't even know one could die of nightmares 🤯

[@mehere8038]

nice story, but researching it & it's not actually as you say, average age of death was 33 & cause of death is called "Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome" which apparently affects Asian genetics & is seen across the board in Asian countries, it just happened to be that the Asians in the US where this condition was noticed were predominately refugees from Laos & Thailand

[@xyzpdq1122]

While the absolute number is shocking, it is the percentage that is so painful. 20%+ of an entire country killed in four years or less.

[@Oxtocoatl13]

Everyone was guilty in this horror show. The Khmer Rouge could never have attained power if they hadn't been at various points supported by China, North Vietnam, Thailand, king Sihanouk, and diplomatically as well as almost certainly covertly, the UK and the USA. All of them engaged in blatantly cynical machinations with utter disregard to the survival of ordinary Cambodians.

[@intelligence1300]

Can't blame them, I give an example: your child is very good, supported by everyone and elected as a leader in a region, so do you think your child deserves it? But after being a leader, having power, your child becomes a bad person. Are you going to blame the people and organizations that have supported your child? What I don't like is that before Vietnam attacked the Khmer Rouge, they repeatedly reconciled and reported their crimes to the UN, but no country stopped Khmer Rouge. After Vietnam attacked Cambodia, the US, China, Thailand, and Singapore still supported the Khmer Rouge until 1993. I still can't understand these 4 countries.

[@bichphung72]

@@intelligence1300 They hated Vietnam because USSR backed them. Just stupid politics. Would rather support your enemy's enemy regardless. Everyone saw us as a virus spread by USSR that time :). A lot of people still don't understand that we fought for our country, not communism. Communism was the means, not the goals.

[@TheBikeOnTheMoon]

Vietnam did come to wipe out khmer Rouge and even sent report of the atrocities to the UN but no one helped the Cambodians, heck the US and China even out right supported them, like wtf?. The moment Vietnam sent troops to fight the khmer then these war criminals goes ape shit and pained Vietnam as the bad guy. Heck Vietnam even followed UN law not to send troops to Cambodia until the khmer rouge directly invaded Vietnam's border killing thousands of Vietnamese in the process. The UN, the US , NATO and China are truly clowns

[@saromom4558]

@@intelligence1300 Because they know Viet-Nam was behind the killing field, and the real murderer.

[@sleepybraincells]

a good take

[@misslittledove]

The fact that in the US we were never taught any of this history in school is just sad. Most the time I was lucky if I had a teacher that even covered WW2. Even in college I think I had one history professor that covered this subject. Such atrocities shouldn’t be forgotten. The fact that so many innocents had to suffer through such hell is horrifying.

[@FacitOmniaVoluntas.]

Most countries rarely teach history that didn’t affect their own country. I’m German and we learned nothing about it either. Also nothing about Vietnam, Mao in China or Stalinism in the Soviet Union.

[@colgateplax]

im malaysian, went to school between 1994 and 2004, and barely learned anything about this crazy thing that was happening to our neighbours

[@duckyymomo5714]

Probably because the US backed Khmer Rouge. "The United States (U.S.) voted for the Khmer Rouge and the Khmer Rouge-dominated Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) to retain Cambodia's United Nations (UN) seat until as late as 1993, long after the Khmer Rouge had been mostly deposed by Vietnam during the 1979 Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia and ruled just a small part of the country."

[@pavelsokov]

I have visited that school and other genocide areas, and it was incredibly intense. Hard to believe humanity is capable of such horrors, but we are.

[@EyeoIsis]

Very well done Simon. I am old enough to remember the Vietnam war and Pol Pot's atrocities. My sister in law is a survivor of the Cambodian genocide. Her first person account of what she saw and how she survived, still make chills run down my spine.

[@Bubbaist]

Something to think about: I was looking through the New York Times archives from the time the Khmer Rouge took power. All the journalists were herded into the French embassy and were out of touch with their respective newspapers. There were no reports about the mass evacuation of the cities, though there were a few articles about rumors of the large scale movement of people. Three weeks later the journalists were released to Thailand. Only then, three weeks later, the headlines announced that the KR had evacuated the cities. Think about that: less than 50 years ago, a government could do something as enormous and insane as scattering the entire population of the country, and still keep it a secret. Today it would be totally impossible to keep such a thing secret. It would be all over KZbin, even if the government tried to cover it up.

[@MrTexasDan]

No, it's easy to cover up even today, as long as you have the media and FaceTweet working with you. (Hunter Biden's laptop is a great example)

[@RightTurnClyde]

The many apologists of Pol Pot kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZ6ZYXuVncuHq6s

[@taniaburton7559]

And having been so largely, mesmerizingly, lied to, odds are they won't believe what they see, because if you don't agree with what you see, it can't be reality.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

All I know is Noam Chomsky can f**k right off after finding out he denied and played off the atrocities happening in Cambodia bEcAuSe mUh sOciALisM

[@lydethful]

You may read the book The River of Time by Jon Swain. He was one of several journalists who was at the Embassy during the fall of Phnom Penh, along with Sydney Schanberg, Dith Pran, Al Rockoff and several others from the movie, the Killing Fields (1984). He's still alive. In fact, I've just seen his interview with al jazeera about Le Royal Hotel in Phnom Penh. He was crying....

[@markw6672]

well done Simon. I work in Cambodia and honestly it is near impossible to explain what happened to the people. You have only touched on what they went through. I have been to S21 and met 2 of the survivors. Their stories are beyond belief.

[@brandiesodensaint-claire5792]

Henry Kissinger deserves his own episode on this channel for the amount of deaths he always seems to be behind.

[@buriedpet]

An episode? No, it would take an entire series to cover his war crimes. I do hope it gets made though. Too many people still think of him as a patriotic hero, not the psychopathic monster that he truly was.

[@user-pz1wn7mp4e]

I feel as if this genocide is not talked about enough. This whole thing is very sad/upsetting. It’s almost hard to believe that someone/people can commit such atrocities, but here is one example. Condolences to all those who lost loved ones and to those who lost their lives during this time

[@Demos_Jeff]

Sometimes I’ll take a pretty long break from Simons videos. Not due to any sort of negative feelings toward his content just because my interests shift and every time I come back the beard is even more amazing and he always has a new channel. Love this man lol

[@brontewcat]

One of the most chilling and important episodes in history. The tape presentation that visitors hire at Cheoung Ek to explain the site and history ends with references to the Holocaust, Rwanda and other attempted genocides. It asks us to remember and be on guard.

[@LTKhuon]

My families suffer a lot during that time, my mother side lost both her parents and three siblings of six, my mom, my uncle and aunt able to survive this hellish camp they were in. I’m glad you make this video because you kept this history from not be forgotten even though some Khmer people want to forget horrific events but it’s a great way to remember those innocent men, women and children that were wrongly murders because of the stupidity ideology and politics during that time. I hopefully and maybe my family too that this video will teach future generations of Cambodian and also the whole world about this dark time so that it eventually not going to repeat again.

[@ekki6820]

I'm ashamed to say I didn't know jacksquat about this, and I'm in my 30s.. I knew the name, and that a genocide happened but I did not know any of these details. Saying 'thanks' kind of feels a little hollow, but thanks all the same for some educating moments, albeit a bit grimmer than I expected, honestly.

[@TheUneducatedTeacher]

I have a coworker. 16 members of her family was killed by the Khmer Roughe. She takes no breaks at work. She eats standing up I suspect she must have been traumatized. She is ethnically Chinese .... and is of age to have come up during this time KM Hemmans The KZbinr

[@alexhennigh5242]

I could watch you discuss the color of orange juice for hours on end. Thank you for all of the excellent content you make across all 9000 of your channels.

[@chandlerkirkland475]

I never even knew about this tragedy until I met someone who had a Cambodian parent and he told me about it. It’s insane that this isn’t more well known or taught about in American schools.

[@paradoxicalpotato8927]

Very underated topic! Keep up the good work!

[@jimvick8397]

In college I worked with a really great guy on our landscaping crew... He was a late 50's Cambodian who worked and moved like a guy in his 30's... After getting to know him better, he told me his story about how he escaped from Cambodia to Thailand over 4 months through the jungle with his 2 young children to escape the slaughter. And how he eventually made it to America. It's a story worthy of a script and a film...

[@752reaper]

My mom's boss was a little girl when her siblings and parent's escaped. She wrote and published a book about how her family of 8 spent 4 years evading and making their way here to the states. Beautiful Hero: How we survived the Khmer Rouge by Jennifer H Lau

[@levand3673]

I like that jibe at Chomsky in the video. He has a history of denying the Cambodian Genocide and denying other Genocides as well!

[@rtasvadam1776]

The Bosnian Genocide

[@levand3673]

@@rtasvadam1776 yep and The Holocaust as well.

[@czechmatey]

Get your facts right, bestie. Open a book or watch a video where the man actually talks. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGSshohrbqdpotk

[@czechmatey]

@@levand3673 Literally never happened and you know it. Also, prove it.

[@levand3673]

@@czechmatey Wow, someone is deep in the Chomskian Rabbit Hole! Cambodian Genocide happened and you know it!

[@hmutandadzi]

When it comes to narrating atrocities and horrible disasters, you Sir (Simon Whistler) are simply the greatest.

[@celebrityrog]

I had a friend in high school, we had many classes together, she's from Camboia, born but not fully raised there. First 5 years or so. We both were born in the 70s after the genocide which was still recent when she lived there. She would play in the "killing fields" not fully realizing what it was about. And then she told me the real horrors she faced out there. Things that chill me to the core to this day. Things no one should ever have to experience or hear about. Let's just say that while the genocide was over, the atrocities that came from it were still very much alive and part of her life until coming to the USA. She's probably an even more amazing person with a golden soul and a shining spotlight of compassion because she lived there through some really fucked up shit than she already would have been without. Some people survive the unimaginable, she's one of them.

[@elchapo2041]

I think you would do an amazing job on the Bosnian-Serb genocide, and I think I might learn something.

[@calebcostigan2561]

Noam Chomsky denies that genocide too. No surprise there as that too was carried out by communist.

[@swecheekypanda]

I have an old classmate who works as a protester for hire, which basically means she travels around the world to protest with different political groups. I always thought that it was a weird profession but never questioned her because we can do whatever we want with our lives. But when she started saying that Pol Pot had the right ideas but just didn’t execute them well enough I cut all ties with her. I knew she idolised people like Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh and even Mau Zedong but Pol Pot was where I drew the line. That man was just a tyrant that exploited his people for his own amusement.

[@thanhhoangnguyen4754]

pretty sure she is out the question. Even my country was at arm when Polpot started to launching raid and skirmish into our border. We just got a heck of our war with American and we try to rebuild. Now we have to deal with Pol pot and his Khmer rouge. Then we have to face the Chinese force coming from the North to support them. And people think us the Vietnamese fight for Communist when we just want independence in the first place. If everyone recognizes us as independence country after WW2 rather than let the France get back in the first none of this war is needed. I can felt why our Ho Chi Minh felt so heartbreaking all the time. One bad politics lead to a stupid that cause unneeded damage.

[@saromom4558]

she got more brain cell that you.

[@saromom4558]

Karma existe . I know Viet-Nam is behinds the genocide. I believe karma existe, it will eventually go back to you.

[@mymymy9452]

*You're on your way to be the history teacher of all of KZbin.*

[@Ye4rZero]

The most chilling thing I heard was in a documentary from a Cambodian woman who had been a young girl at the time. SHe said they snuck over to the killing fields after the government vehicles left to see what had been going on. She said "the ground was moving"

[@88ひびき]

@boitrash4279i also want to know

[@codyc8138]

This man has the perfect beard. I wish I had a teacher like him in high school. It would have made learning alot more interesting and fun to experience.

[@islandblind]

This is a very good video on a very difficult topic. Good work Simon. I studied the Khmer Rouge extensively while doing graduate studies in history. I really have nothing to add to the discussion since you pretty much covered everything here. Once again, good job.

[@adrianainespena5654]

Vietnam invaded Cambodia on December 25. That was a HUGE Christmas gift.

[@geraldmartin7703]

I was in graduate school when the Khmer Rouge seized control of Cambodia. At early news reports on the forced evacuation of the cities into the rural areas my proudly leftist sociology instructor gleefully predicted that "the crime rate will go down".

[@KWMQ]

Years ago I went out briefly with a woman who as a young kid was one of the survivors who'd escaped via Thailand to the US with her siblings and father; they'd all been interned in a work camp where her mother had died. It took them several weeks to get to the border on foot. Last I heard of her she was back in Cambodia doing humanitarian work.

[@davidcoleman757]

Terrific, concise summary of a very complicated topic. Research into survivors of this period and their children and grandchildren proved beyond all doubt that PTSD can be passed on. Cambodia is at least two further generations away from anything approaching healing. I taught there for 12 years and learned very quickly not to set western-style textbook exercises entitled 'write about your family.' I'd lie to students and apologize for spilling water on their homework. I cried rivers.

[@JunkPhuJP]

No personal stake in this, but as part of 8th grade reading, we had to read “Clay Marbles”, as well as a ton of post-war, survivor literature (two different ones about leaving North Korea, one from a Japanese perspective, and another from a Korean perspective). After reading Clay Marbles and doing some research on Cambodia, and the Khmer Rouge’s philosophy and methodology, we all sat down to watch “The Killing Fields”. My class were particularly quiet through the whole movie. Thanks Simon. This is a story that needs to be told.

[@rejvaik00]

I think the worst part of this is that Pol pot never suffered any consequences for his actions Much like the Chilean dictator and the Spanish dictator Pinochet and Franco they lived their entire lives and died peacefully never seeing a jail cell or courtroom

[@JudicialBrat]

Don't worry, nobody escapes from God's Judgement. They will be trialed for their sins.

[@chuckclark3214]

You’re a friggin champion for being able to read through some of this stuff and keep your composure. Bravo, my man.

[@darithjimchhou1034]

My mother gives me a more, in depth and horrific story of this time. It’s chilling but the endurance of the my mother’s spirit is why I am here as an American. Whenever i feel like I’m having hard times, I would remember what my mother went through. She is the ULTIMATE dream and the most heroic person I know. God Bless and I shall do my mother, father, and people…Greatness!

[@dant3l0k18]

To the parents in their 40s it's like a fever dream where they explain their trauma but it doesn't sound believable... to the ogs who are in their 80s and 90s they don't talk about it because it's too hard on them. To the generation now they don't belive it. To our generation in our 25-30... we are the by product of our parents ptsd and stress. We are the "year one plan". Little cambodian seeds planted across the world. American, Australian, French, German and other ally nations ideals have cambodian refugees till now. I'm American first but will never forget my khmer roots, It's quite sad, though. I know of my people but I do not know my people.

[@detroyes2]

When the movie The Killing Fields came out, I remember that members of various Communist student organizations from my University protested it, claiming it was vile CIA propaganda and denying the genocide even took place. Sadly, I still see the denials to this day, mostly from radicals who will reflexively deny any atrocities committed by Leftist regimes. Videos like this are very helpful to rebut the denial.

[@awfan221]

These aren't just basic leftist regimes, these are extreme, ultra-leftist regimes.

[@unman3882]

Even as a leftist, the acts of the Khmer Rouge was pure evil. There is no excuse or denial for these actions

[@dekuthetechpriestoflondon6791]

I have seen a lot ignorant fools but not too this level.

[@kosmokat111]

keep in mind there's a difference between a leftist and a tanky, true left leaning people imo aren't the ones who deny this kinda thing, most of us poke fun at tankies like ya know, normal people do

[@ActiveAussie2024]

The West is currently full of people, often young people, who are apologists for communists, or whom even openly worship it. There are people who idolize the current CCP, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Jim Jones, and many others. Scary thing is that the universities are full of them, and they are infiltrating every level of government now. There are MANY people in USA or Australia who would do exactly what Pol Pot did if they had the chance. We must never think this could not happen nowadays.

[@Foxiz]

This may be a futile or very small thing, but when I was a kid, I saw a picture of a sign from Cambodia, that also was translated to english. It has stuck with me since I was ~10 years old, and the sign said all of these horrible things that would happen to the ones that broke some extremely mild laws, such as complain about anything, wich would be punished with torture. The last thing really got me; making any sound when being tortured, was punished with more severe torture. As a kid, this was totally incomprehensive and brutal, I still can see that sign in my head 30 years later.

[@glow1815]

Well covered in details. I was born Dec of 1975. I don't have any memory of what my family went through to escaped the the Khmer Rouge. Except bits and pieces living in the camps. My dad offended tells us the horror stories when he starved as Lun Nol solider. We did not endured the events as many Cambodians did As my family flied to Thailand prior to the Khmer Rouge invaded Phnom Penn thank god or I might not be here to write this. Thank you for telling this story this means a lot to me. RIP to Khmer whom perished.

[@basichomebrew610]

I was dreading the day you've cover this (in a good way). One of the most horrible moments in modern history

[@geoffhill6992]

Great stuff Simon - I love Cambodia and plan to live and work there soon - all the while knowing its brutal and tragic past.

[@paulwally9007]

The situation for many was: torture and kill or be tortured and killed. And escape to another country was simply not an option for most people.

[@phiraksok8840]

Due to starvation, my great grandparents had to eat leftovers sewage rats from other families to survived. But at last, they were not safe from rat-borne diseases and passed away short after. I even heard that in some provinces people would resort to cannibalism.

[@bradley163]

Your S-21 Geographics video is still one that haunts me to this day. It may be your most eye-opening and unsettling video, in my opinion.

[@codyj1162]

Indeed. For me that and the Rape of Nanking was pretty brutal to listen to.

[@TheJuris1973]

part of me is extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to see S21. part of me wishes I could go back in time and remove the memories of it

[@bradley163]

@@TheJuris1973 oh, God. I can understand how seeing that place in person is a double-edged sword. I'd imagine the same could be said after seeing Auchwitz or Birkenau.

[@HelloWorld-f5m]

I love how modern Cambodians blame Vietnam for invading them and don't say anything negative about Pol Pot.

[@owenparris7490]

I just watched the documentary "The Donut King" so this video is perfectly timed! If anyone hasn't seen it, I'd highly recommend it.

[@phil2082]

What does genocide have to do with crappy donuts and coffee?

[@ElizECraig]

@@phil2082 he was a Cambodian refugee who also helped Cambodian refugees. Do you not have google?

[@RightTurnClyde]

The many apologists of Pol Pot kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZ6ZYXuVncuHq6s

[@sambolambo5414]

This video is the most detailed and unbiased at all. In every video explained clearly what happened and the cause of it correctly. I would love more people to check out your video!

[@jaimyjerchig5240]

Had an archaeology prof in grad school focus on Cambodia and the Khmer. The pathologies on skeletal material from the Khmer is horrific. The entire intellectual class of the country were decimated ...So Simon, everyone commenting on and listening to this channel would've been decimated. Sobering when one thinks of it that way.

[@CookiesNMilf]

My dad is a retired US Marine who was 27 miles in Cambodia when he read in stars & stripes that Nixon said there were no US troops in Cambodia or Laos and personally walked through the Cambodia Killing Fields.

[@GlamorousTitanic21]

Anyone else ended up here after hearing about Henry Kissinger’s death?

[@jsaiz681593]

Yupp

[@Omm3693]

The greatest explanation of history i've seen. I have been living in Cambodia 11 years teaching English. You can see that the wounds are still open with alot of older people.

[@verickbou9350]

I lived through the killing fields, and our family was evacuated from the capital Phnom Penh on 4/17/1975 to the countryside until 1979. I was 8 years old and still remember everything, our family has to act ignorant and uneducated in order to survive the Khmer Rouge Regime.

[@damienwit]

"First they killed my father" is an amazing book about a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, and I would highly recommend it if you want to learn more about the genocide from someone who experienced the horror.

[@JonMartinYXD]

The Khmer Rouge used waterboarding as torture. Waterboarding is torture. Don't let anyone ever tell you differently.

[@hensen5309]

I just learned of the fields and the trees. The trees of which people were completely discarded. We must always remember how lucky we are to wake up free

[@zimattack9994]

Ok now we need a video game channel and a movie channel and his conquest of KZbin will soon be over

[@RiggsBF]

And a comic book channel.

[@BigSirZebras]

I taught English at a high school in Phnom Penh. When I asked one class of students if they had lost family during the Khmer Rouge almost all said yes. The best student said his grandpa worked at a university and was killed along with his wife. At the time I asked it his father sold pork and duck meat near the school. It was so strange. Like it had skipped a generation. Not that his father was stupid, just that he had not yet received an education and so made it out alive and while all he did was sell chopped meat his son was one of the brightest kids I came across in the school. His younger brother was in my class a year later. Same thing. He was obviously born with a keen intelect but to a butcher whose father was a professor before the KR.

[@comradeiosif2794]

Communism itself began with good intentions, I don't think Karl Marx intended for madmen to use his idea. Communism can be best described like this: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

[@shadymcnasty5920]

Exactly. All men are equal despite how well or uneducated you are. All shall work and All shall be fed and housed. Unfortunately it never works out like this...

[@jordanhicks5131]

It is still the deadliest form of government seen in the modern era, good intentions or not it is evil.

[@comradeiosif2794]

@@jordanhicks5131 I'd say autocracy in any government form is worse.

[@jordanhicks5131]

@@comradeiosif2794 its not a competition, and its despicable to view it as such. My point was simply to point out that regardless of their intentions, communist governments have been the deadliest mistakes in modern history by the numbers. Not to make it a competition.

[@BambiTrout]

@@jordanhicks5131 I think it largely comes not necessarily from the tenets of communism itself but from the fact that most nations are not communist to begin with, so dictatorial leaders/groups have to rip their nations apart in order to reshape them into their image before they are ousted or killed. It's like if you want to rule a capitalist dictatorship, you mainly just have to put yourself at the top of an already existing hierarchy by removing the existing government from power. You don't necessarily have to change much unless you want to. On the other hand, if you want to become the dictatorial leader of a primitivist communist nation where EVERYONE is either a farmer or a soldier, you're going to have to burn the entire nation down and kill everyone who doesn't feel like becoming a farmer, because neither the infrastructure or the population are set up to allow for such a drastic change in just a matter of months. If the majority of people in a particular nation agreed with transitioning to communism and were willing to make the necessary changes to do so over an extended period of time through a democratic process, then you probably wouldn't see the same brutality and instability that you see in these violent revolutions. To make an analogy, it's like calmly asking a tour bus if they'd like to go to a different city with you and then calmly discussing the best route to take, vs slitting the bus drivers throat, pulling out an assault rifle and gunning down everyone in the front 4 rows, before spinning the bus around, causing a multi car pile-up, and driving STRAIGHT to a city which YOU chose with no input from anyone else. The issue isn't necessarily where you chose to go - the issue is how you decided to get there. (Although, to be clear, I don't think there are any redeeming qualities in Pol Pot's form of communism) communism Just to clarify, I'm not saying this to excuse the actions of communist nations, but I think it's very easy for people to treat it as a black and white, capitalist good, communist evil, and then apply that logic to come to the conclusion that socialised healthcare is just one step away from genocide. People focus on the label and ignore the methods and the outcomes, which not only results in people dismissing helpful policies because they're "communist", but it also often allows us to ignore atrocities committed by non-communist leaders - something that was all too common during the Cold War as the US propped up more and more violent dictatorial anti-communist regimes in order to fight communist ones, both democratic and non-democratic.

[@mackenziekarsonovich1073]

A man who owns a donut shop in my town is from Cambodia, as is his wife. They have the best donuts I’ve ever had, and they are such sweet and lovely people. I even trained their two dogs. He fled Cambodia with her and told me how he survived the Khmer Rouge. Really harrowing story, but the detail that made my skin crawl the most was him telling me about how he had to hide his money and family jewelry in a gash in his leg so he wouldn’t be caught with it and killed.

[@bridgettepierce7144]

wow

[@bencooper7944]

Could you please do a video on the atrocities committed by Japan in WW2. So often glossed over and forgotten.

[@KonradAdenauerJr]

Thank you for the more nuanced treatment of the Cambodian genocide, and thank you for calling out Noma Chomsky for his denials of it.

[@nilnil8411]

This is the beauty of true Communism/Socialism.