The Stomach-Churning Events Of The Killing Fields Of Cambodia

Sadly, not many people outside Southeast Asia remember the tragedy of the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia, but in the late 1970s and 1980s, when the evil nature of the regime in that country from 1975-79 was publicized in Europe and the United States, the absolutely horrific acts of the Khmer Rouge (“kah-mair ruuj”) regime became front page news, an Oscar-winning movie and a quite popular punk rock anthem, “Holiday in Cambodia,” by the Dead Kennedy's in 1980.
In 1996, an Oscar-winning actor was killed in an attempted robbery outside his Los Angeles home. A tragic thing to happen to anyone, but making this senseless act even more tragic was the fact that the victim was Dr. Haing S. Ngor. Ngor had come to the United States and made a successful life for himself as an actor, portraying another victim and survivor of the regime, Dith Pran, and winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the movie “The Killing Fields.”
Dr. Ngor had been an obstetrician in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, when the communist Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. “Khmer Rouge” means “Red Khmer.” Rouge is French for “red”, the color of communism, and the French had ruled Cambodia for ninety years until 1953. “Khmer” is the Cambodian word for the dominant ethnic group in the country.
The Khmer Rouge were on the extreme left of the political spectrum. The very extreme left - by the time they took power in Cambodia, Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong's China was coming out of a radical period itself - the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, and Mao himself would be dead within a year, beginning a shift in Chinese politics. You can find out more about this strange and amazing time in “A Day in History's” “The Most Bizarre Events in Chinese History” on our channel, but suffice it to say that the ideology of the Khmer Rouge made Mao look like a man living in the past.
Though the Khmer Rouge looked to Mao and China for both guidance and financial support, the leaders of the movement, most notably it's #1 and #2 men, Pol Pot and Nuon Chea, known also as “Brother #1” and “Brother #2”, saw North Korea and Albania, the two most isolated and repressive communist regimes on Earth, as their role models. All three nations believed in “autarky” - complete self-sufficiency, though the smallest of the three, Albania, was the only one to come close to its goal.
During the time of French control of the country, many Cambodians rebelled. Some carried out a small-scale and largely unsuccessful guerrilla war. Many people supported the Cambodian royal family, even though they were a puppet of the French military government. However, the heir to the throne, Prince Norodom Sihanouk (1922-2012), known within Cambodia by his traditional title of “Samdech Euv,” or “King Father,” became head of state in 1960 and again when crowned king in 1993, eventually led the country to independence in post-WWII talks with France.
#killingfields #khmerrouge #history #cambodia #cambodiahistory
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[@ADayInHistoryOfficial]

The rabbit hole of the CIA runs deeper. Proceed with caution => kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmG1mHVrhsd6Y9U

[@hugh2hoob668]

meh i watch deep gore tube i have no doubt the CIA does such things

[@aldelta19]

be careful

[@tickytacky8078]

Fk this is PhD level of information

[@fortunefair]

Anytime someone is exposing a public facing organization which everyonehas heard of, they forget to consider the organization behind that organization.

[@lmak-rf9fn]

​@@tickytacky8078this time in history, including the cultural revolution, is some of the most interesting.

[@mikeys7536]

I used to work with a Cambodian man named Sam who went through this. They killed everyone in his family but him. They stabbed him under his chin. The knife went up through his tongue and into the roof of his mouth and he was left for dead along with his family. He cried when he told me the story. It’s horrific what these people went through.

[@xavierdionne6514]

Damn, this man must’ve had a great trust in you to tell you about it. It was probably a relief for him to talk about it, thanks for being an empathic human!

[@fritztopher]

This is wat the American lefts wants as well the left always resorts to violence at some point

[@noneofyourbuizness]

Poor man living with ptsd

[@maxxibro]

We, Cambodians, are not afraid to tell the story of our horrific past because the world needs to know how much we endured and what we had to go through. For 3 years and 5 months, the world forgotten about Cambodia and leave millions of people to die. We will forever remember the time that we were ignored by everyone. But we will not let the past stopping us from moving forward.

[@gobblegobble831]

Sam Hyde origin story

[@Oiu1410]

My mom and dad are survivors. I never really asked about their past until recently, and the stories of their struggles are unimaginable. They live a very simple and frugal life and I always questioned why they never wanted to do much. After hearing their stories and the suffering they went through every single day, I realize why they live the life that they live and that we take so many things for granted here in the USA. My parents lived a decent life before the war. My mother lived in the capital while my father on the outskirts. My father told me stories where they would drink water from puddles left from a buffalos imprint in the mud. Sometimes the water was fine, sometimes it had urine in it. My father, being the oldest, worked out in the fields from morning until night and only given a bowl of rice throughout the day. It's amazing that his entire family survived - he was 12 years old with four younger brothers and a younger sister. My mother had a different story. She watched her two sisters, brother, mother and father all die from starvation and disease. My mother also watched her friend get blown up by a bomb. My mother hardly even remembers what her dad looks like because she blacked out so many of the horrible memories at the time. My mother now has cancer and is only giving weeks to a few months to live. The fact that she was able to survive the war only for her life to end with cancer is truly unfair. Edit: After two long years of battling cancer, my mother passed two days ago. She can finally eat all the good food in the world and live pain free. Rest in peace, Ma.

[@zachwells5049]

Always remember that she loves you and that she was able to move forward with her life and raise you and to insure that you had a better hand in life then she did

[@aniiraqigawad6693]

God Bless your mother bro, I pray Jesus Christ rids her of all cancer and may she see many more years with you. I really wish you and your loved ones the best.

[@logicrealitytruth]

😢 Mankind’s inhumanity is truly a heart-wrenching evil .😱 God will stop these Satanic acts before long, and the suffering will end. The wicked will not survive. God also will resurrect the dead to an earthly paradise where cruelty will no longer exist. I have complete faith in these promises❣️Love will conquer, and evil genocidal acts will no longer exist. 🙏🏼😊✌🏽

[@ZyciewKanadzieAnitaBeataVlog]

I have visited Cambodia two times and the people there are among the kindest that I've ever met. some of them were telling me about those terrible times and at the S-21 I was able to met Mr. Chum Mey - one of the very few survivors of this awful place. God bless your mom's soul.

[@alexdevries8761]

wishing you nothing but strength.

[@LostLegendTrance]

I read Haing S. Nor's biography 'Survival in the Killing Fields' a few years back and it is one of the most harrowing books I have ever read. When you read what he went through and how his entire family died under the regime, the circumstances of his death are a literal gut-punch. For those that don't know, Haing managed to keep his wifes ID card when he escaped the country, the tiny mugshot on the card was the only picture he had of her and the only thing he could remember her by, so he had the picture cut out and made into a pendant which he wore all the time. When he was robbed, he handed over his wallet and cash but refused to hand over the pendant, so the robbers stabbed him and took it anyway. RIP Haing S. Nor. You deserved so much better! 😔

[@vedantmehra6970]

Did he die of the stabbing?

[@LostLegendTrance]

@@vedantmehra6970 Yes, sadly.

[@todddddddd3696]

Idk but I respect that. That was something worth dying for, for him.

[@BIGBLOCK5022006]

Some folks believe that he was killed in order to keep him from testifying in the event that a tribunal was held at The Hague in order to punish the members of the Khmer Rouge.

[@circumcisionismurder7415]

Who stabbed him in America

[@mikekennedy4572]

My hair cutter here in southern California is originally from Cambodia, and one day while she was cutting my hair, I asked her how she came to the US. I was stunned to learn that she and her younger sister made a dangerous escape from one of the prison camps where people were tortured and executed by the Khmer Rouge. She told me that several members of her family were imprisoned and it was a nightmare in the camp as she saw people die. She and her sister decided they would attempt to escape at night, knowing they would be executed if caught. But the way they looked at it, it would be better to die trying to be free than to await almost certain death in the camp. They had nothing to lose. So, they made their escape and traveled west through jungles for many days, hiding when they had to. Finally, they entered the safety of Thailand and lived in a refugee camp for a time. Eventually, she and her sister sought asylum in the US, and she is today a successful businesswoman and an American citizen. Sadly, however, she and her sister never saw their other family members again. FYI, her eyes were watery as she told me this story, and I had no idea it would unfold as it did. She is definitely a survivor.

[@Daniboy0826]

She's brave!

[@Glenn-F-Rice]

​@@Daniboy0826that sounds like the stories of people breaking out of North Korea.

[@J_Eusebio]

who TF says hair cutter 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@viktorbirkeland6520]

​@@J_Eusebio people who speak English, largely. Hair cutter is obviously not what we say in other languages

[@J_Eusebio]

@@viktorbirkeland6520 🤣

[@lomdisharma]

After visiting the killing fields, I have found that not only was the Khmer Rouge more brutal than I ever imagined, but their crimes were pretty much denied of ignored by much of the western world as Vietnamese propaganda.

[@rcane6842]

Is this worse than what the Black Americans experienced during the slavery period? Also with that of Japan towards China during world war, how do the atrocities compared to what happened in here (I'll watch the video soon) I'm also watching about medieval punishments during medieval ages and wanting to compare what period and events are worse. Edit: No one is crying, guys 🤣 just some questions thrown out in the comments section 🤣

[@dogman-fx9ub]

@@rcane6842 Do you know what Whataboutism is?

[@socialreject2156]

@rcane6841 There is no need to compare them; just think of it like this. Slavery is the epitomy of greed and what humans will do to gain benefits even if it's violates others' rights to live and the rights of freedom The Khmer Rouge is the epitome of human's savagery where people will kill each other just because of their beliefs in a singular twisted delusional individual And the Japanese occupation of china is the pure sadistic nature of a nation being brainwashed into willingly committing some of the worst war crimes to ever exist Major war and genocide events can not be compared to each other simply by the death counts; we can just take the details of the atrocities and acknowledge them for what they are, comparing them is a bit disrespectful to the victims of the atrocities.

[@alligatorwithwifi6111]

@@dogman-fx9ub A made up term used to deflect comparisons in an argument by people who can't intelligently defend what they just said without feeling some type of inferiority. Common use among African Americans.

[@torpenhigalak5909]

@@rcane6842 No, but it's ignorance is.

[@mauriciojulianramosdiaz4213]

I've been to the Genocide museum in Phnom Penh, it is absolutely horrific, I literally needed to sit down and calm down after the tour and there were people who cried while walking through the rooms. The torture mechanisms, the endless pictures of victims, all the skulls on display. The paintings from an survivor artist are horrific. I was horrified at a painting of a baby being murdered by slamming it, head first, against a tree. These were very dark times for Cambodians and humanity as a whole.

[@maz5557]

And yet things like these still are happening now to Rohingyas, Africans and elsewhere...it just never ends :(

[@lzbhcvm6747]

That's what happens when you believe communism

[@lzbhcvm6747]

@@sovatty507 somehow all communist countries have decided to went extreme.

[@HmlsDarkOps]

@@sovatty507 It is communism. Name a time when it wasn't evil. It's human nature. Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts.

[@Ped0P1gYOUTUBE]

@@maz5557 Rohingyas aren't innocent saints. There's no comparison of this and that.

[@AdamB12]

My dad befriended a Cambodian refugee at work who escaped from the Khmer Rouge with just the clothes on his back. Was truly a horrifying period of history.

[@menthalostekjvt3352]

Bro their snaketounge is something else.

[@connievida4089]

ALL are burning in HELL for eternity!

[@swiftshirt1712]

As a Cambodian, I would like to show gratitude to you for creating this documentation video and insights. It was a really tragic that is instill in most Cambodian’s memories.

[@thinkingmushrooms2943]

I went backpacking in Cambodia several years ago without any knowledge of the killing fields or what had happened. A taxi driver talked me into seeing the killing fields and the museum. It forever changed my view of the world.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

See the 1984 film.

[@indrajeet]

I visited the killing fields in 2019 - very soul shaking......

[@fighterjetsteve]

The world learned nothing from Nazi Germany that's for sure.

[@chriskolb3105]

How do you go to Cambodia and NOT know about the killing fields?

[@kichop]

So you went to a country without knowing anything about it huh

[@thainotthai6456]

When my parents decided to escape Vietnam during the war, we traveled through Cambodia. During that time we got caught by the Khmer Rouge when my dad was out foraging for food. When the soldiers brought us to the general, my mom thought that were were gonna get killed. Instead the general and a few of his trusted associates hid us and fed us while waiting for the right time to help us escape through the night telling us where we need to go to escape their sight. Eventually my dad found us and we went on our way towards Thailand where we lived in a refugee camp for a while until US missionaries helped us immigrate to America in 1983. I was 4yrs old at the time we immigrated. My mom did asked the general why he helped us and he told her something she’d never forget. He said “ I am not a bad person. I am who I am because it saves my family. It helps me save those I can from a torturous death. I saved you because I know I won’t get caught and my family will be safe. I know I will still go to hell“ Probably not his exact word but it should be pretty close. My mom said he was our savior so she never forgot his words.

[@abimon76]

" i know i will still go to hell" oh god...

[@chayo4537]

Your dad was probably in cohoots with them or you guys had money cause how did you get away?

[@thainotthai6456]

@@chayo4537 there are such things as luck and miracles. Not sure if our case was luck or a miracle but we are alive and greatful.

[@thainotthai6456]

@@abimon76 he probably knows that too.

[@dancarter6044]

That's funny since the Khmer Rouge had a racial animus against the Vietnamese

[@MegaCocobunny]

As Vietnamese, we were taught about the crime of Pol Pot Khmer Rouge and are proud to defeat them. The stories of their brutalities and cruelties are not only written in History books but also told by adults to children.

[@thebuddhaofknowledgemichae2486]

Vietnamese army saved Laos.

[@billcorbell5362]

Vietnam is a pillar of stability in South East Asia. What you did for the people of Cambodia did not go unnoticed in the U.S.

[@TingTingalingy]

​@@billcorbell5362 ok commie

[@damianwashington8844]

Your attractive trang

[@Musslewhite]

good, keeping the oral tradition alive is invaluable.

[@pl0shiee]

My neighbor survived the Killing Fields and she eventually went crazy from the PTSD and killed her granddaughters. I still remember horrible sounds of screaming and gunfire coming out of her house. I remember being so worried about my neighbor, she was just a sweet old lady. Now knowing exactly what she experienced, I get why she went crazy. I wish the killing fields had never happened. It has harmed generations.

[@CW95981]

🧢

[@HoneyLee-r3q]

Did this happen in Cambodia?

[@Nickolas35543]

I'm sorry

[@martymarta]

@@CW95981na it’s true lol googled it, hectic story lol killed her daughters husband and two daughters, in Seattle

[@pl0shiee]

@@HoneyLee-r3q No, it happened in US. I’m sure if you dug around you could figure out where it happened, but I don’t want to share because privacy!

[@muckamucka8294]

i have a Cambodian coworker and she was telling me about what she went through in Cambodia when she was a child ( i had no idea this had even happened in Cambodia) and she told me about how her and her siblings had to hide in the forest while men killed her father and uncles. She has the nicest heart out of the whole crew and its just terrible to know that she had gone through this.

[@frjcde9392]

Meanwhile westerners openly welcome communism. Marxism has already taken over the media/education system.

[@johnhaworth7034]

My tattooist who is buddhist monk grew up in cambo during the kymer rouge. The kymer rouge were rounding up all the intellectuals in his village, anybody who wasn't a rice farmer essentially and father was a dentist. All he remember is his father, two older brothers and a cousin. Being driven away on the back of flat bed truck to be 'processed'. He never saw them again. Truly heartbreaking beyond words.

[@jamesclark6487]

Both Pol Pot and China's Mao had Buddhist pasts, interesting eh.

[@jcdenton1635]

@@jamesclark6487 Both Pol Pot and Mao Zedong were also atheists and imposed state atheism on their respective regimes, killing their monks and destroying much of their historical artifacts.

[@vinayj1763]

​@@jamesclark6487 it doesn't matter, both these leaders were educated, Pol pot had studied in Paris.

[@brandonandujar2289]

​@James Clark Marx also had a long family history of rabbais, didnt stop him from wanting to remove their sort from standing in the way of his goals

[@alexmartin3143]

Yeah my tattooist is an Ex-Crusader Templar commander… I get it…

[@kietack1203]

My father was a young Vietnamese soldier who was amongst the first unit to enter Phnom Penh, he was just 18 at the time and just entered a prestige University of Technology, studying computer science. My maternal grandfather right after the Vietnam war, not too long after reunion with family after a long war, had to dispatch to Cambodia and stationed there for 10 years to train the Cambodian army, we still have all his letters he sent to my grandmother during the period. My father still keeps in touch with his Cambodian comrades who fought alongside him during the war.

[@maciejguzek3442]

Computer Science in 1979? Perhaps it was still under some other name, more like 'electronics' or something? Anyway it had to be a really rare/elite direction at that time

[@gametri-eq6lj]

⁠@@maciejguzek3442just searched it up it seems that the computer science major came out on the early 60’s

[@joaogabrielcoelho9744]

​@@maciejguzek3442 apparently, the capital city was very modern

[@elmcompanylimited5818]

@@maciejguzek3442 At that time, in Vietnam, they called that major as "electrical calculation" later it became "Computer science"... in 1973, in north Vietnam, they could build their own personal computer as same as starting point with western country but Warsaw bloc did not allow Vietnam commercializing that product because Vietnamese were not granted responsibility in Computing domain... They had some computing centers with Minsk and IBM 360 computers, after 1975, Vietnam government knew the importance of computing in future then they invested to educate their new undergraduate students in this domain immediately...

[@ILikeCat-sm5nu]

​@@maciejguzek3442 I think he thought he was using the right word, maybe something related to computer

[@ADayInHistoryOfficial]

We don't shy away from challenging subjects, as you guys are aware. What else should we make videos on? Correction: Pol Pot died in his sleep of heart failure in 1998* Thanks everyone for pointing that out!

[@karmapeople1735]

Imperial japanese army and manila.

[@timothybogans3905]

beatrice cenci

[@TeddyBelcher4kultrawide]

West Pakistan bus pretty hype

[@hieunguyenrileygekko]

times beach incident Saigon coups

[@ham1530]

The Spanish conquistadors or the Spanish Inquisition

[@marchelinogeorge]

At 18:00, Pol Pot did not die in a cave. He was kept under house arrest during a power struggle and died in his sleep due to heart failure. And no, Sihanouk does not rule today. He's dead. You even mentioned in the video, that he died in 2012.

[@casecao8412]

Wait what he died in 2012?! What fucking disgrace of the justice system allowed him to live that long?

[@Monatio79]

@@casecao8412 Yes, Sihanouk died in 2012. Pol Pot in 1998.

[@Monatio79]

"Pol Pot died in a cave" LOL I did a double-take when I heard that.🤣

[@lego5745]

@@Monatio79 yeah I have no idea where they got that information from. I had to do a double take as well.

[@Monatio79]

@@BobAg_ Really? I Never knew that he was "hung". You mean he was "hung like a horse"? I don't think there was ever any official anatomical autopsy carried out on the lower half of his body.🤣 Now, if you mean that you thought he had been "hanged" then I guess you mean a la Saddam Hussein. A quick Google search would show that Pol Pot was overthrown in an internal power struggle and kept under house arrest in a hut near Anlong Veng, not far from the Thai border. He died in his sleep/committed suicide, according to some accounts. His hut may have been simple, but I wouldn't exactly call it a "cave". Fast forward to the present day, and the former hut and his nearby cremation site have become a macabre tourist attraction.

[@Ryunoku]

I lived in Cambodia for 6 months. People are still recovering from this event and people highly respect the elders who lived through this. The local Khmer still refers to Cambodia as Kampuchea though in their language. They say Cambodia when they're speaking English, but when they're speaking Khmer, they'll say Kampuchea. There's even a beer called Cambodia and they jokingly call it Kampuchea.

[@reassmeaychuon7766]

Thank you for bringing light to the topic as being the only pure Cambodian in America in my generation. Only the last of my people who escaped the regime, my mother and father did not forget the horrors, screams and gore that happened. It is heartbreaking that when people hear "Cambodian" we're only known for the genocide. Our people are trying so hard to seem more than the bloody past. Thank you

[@reassmeaychuon7766]

@xenomorph that is true besides many of them never had a bite

[@simpinator2376]

For me, when I'm hearing the word Cambodia, all I remember is the beautiful traditional clothes tbh😅 Probably because beautiful clothes just fascinates me, especially traditional clothing from Asian countries. Anyway, I hope you and your parents have a very good and enjoyable life overseas, no one would ever know how horrible and devastating that event was without witnessing it firsthand, so I wish you and your family all the best.

[@tatarchan5212]

For Thais, whenever we heard of Cambodia we mostly think of their dark magic and supernatural tricks. The old big boss that once ruled South East Asia that have fallen from grace and become tragic little country lived next to us.

[@jordanbabcock9349]

Yeah, not at all. Cambodia makes me think of food and smiles.

[@thetoecutta5716]

That's horrible your parents are good people who never deserved to witness such atrocities if it helps in any way when I hear Cambodia I think of amazing food and lovely lovely people I've worked with a few Cambodians and so has my dad and they were some of the kindest people I've ever met aroha (wich means much love in my countrys native tongue) to you and your family

[@baarbacoa]

I've been to the prison and the killing field site. At the killing fields site you can still find pieces of human bone and teeth on the grounds of the site. The stories are horrible.

[@raulquiroz7492]

Damn that's crazy.

[@juancarlos-uv4lh]

@@cudanmang_theog you clearly know how to write on a foreign language, off to the field you go.

[@haydenzzz9997]

@@cudanmang_theogcry 😂

[@davywavy6457]

Not more horrible than what your name represents

[@baarbacoa]

@@davywavy6457 My guess is that you are referring to the "666" and assume it refers to the Book of Revelation. It doesn't.

[@aasalaha]

I am Cham. Hearing my families stories sbout fleeing the war haunts me to this day. My grandma passed away about a year ago, and they were never able to get the fragments of a landmine out of her leg while she was escaping with my family. I remember looking at her legs and seeing massive dents. She never compalined and was the hardest worker.

[@johnd9357]

There is a family in my neighborhood that survived the Cambodian genocide. Their eldest daughter doesn’t even have a definitive birthday because their lives were in such flux when she was born. They don’t say much about it, other than it was a nightmare.

[@TheKissyfer]

One of my very good friends in high school, his family escaped the Khmer in the mid to late 70's when he was a small child. It broke my heart when he told me and, yes, especially the part about he has no idea what his birthday is. They just had to kind of guess and pick a date once they came to the US. He became a citizen shortly after we graduated.

[@KodeyB]

My fiance was born in Cambodia but was adopted and brought to the United States as a baby, her parents talked about how even in the late 90s you could still see the scars from this time on the country. Truly a tragic time and event

[@chantallamb8652]

Pepole refuse to learn from the past and the scary part is all these evil acts can happen again anywhere 😢 Poor pepole who suffered under this regime is heartbreaking .

[@chickenfriedrice2932]

I live in Cambodia. I am Canadian but have lived here for a bout six years. Let me tell you, these people have been through hell but they are some of the kindest people I have ever met in all my travels. True perseverance.

[@godrilla5549]

Got any stories?

[@chickenfriedrice2932]

@@godrilla5549 Many, but you should come here and make your own. Come see Angkor Wat!

[@godrilla5549]

@@chickenfriedrice2932 you're just trying to steal my organs.

[@gosnooky]

@@godrilla5549 Ignorant comment.

[@gamebawesome]

My mother is Cambodian, and told me the horrid and fear she had to experience. On how she was separated from her mother and siblings, forced to work in the fields while scrapping for whatever she can eat. On how she had to fear for her life every day. It was truly a horrific regime

[@davy209]

Both of my parents were survivors of the Khmer Rogue. My mom was able to escape when the Khmer Rogue took over Phnom Penh in 1975. She got separated from her family but she did made it to Thailand all by herself. Her mother had miraculously survived all throughout Pol Pot’s reign, but her father was killed during the siege of Phnom Penh, including several of her own family members. Even after all of that, she was one of the lucky ones, who had the chance to escape. My father and his family were captured by the Khmer Rouge, and the only reason why they’re still alive because they were illiterate poor farmers. The Khmer Rouge gave everyone a main job and my dad was a grave digger, and he literally lost count how many bodies he had to bury in those mass graves. Fortunately he was able to escape the prison camp with most of his family and made it to Thailand. That’s when my mom and dad met each other, in a refugee camp along the Cambodia-Thai border.

[@hackice5343]

My grandma was caught up in this mess. All of her siblings were murdered and only my grand aunt survived. Her step mother also survived. My grandmother, grandaunt and step great grandmother are all alive today.

[@ssoyboi7273]

My father and mother would always tell me stories of what they went through while under the regime. Their stories always hit me hard and made me appreciate where we are today. I really appreciate this video that will inform others of what horrors went on during that time in Cambodia.

[@davy209]

Both of my parents were survivors of the Khmer Rogue. My mom was able to escape when the Khmer Rogue took over Phnom Penh in 1975. She got separated from her family but she did made it to Thailand all by herself. Her mother had miraculously survived all throughout Pol Pot’s reign, but her father was killed during the siege of Phnom Penh, including several of her own family members. Even after all of that, she was one of the lucky ones, who had the chance to escape. My father and his family were captured by the Khmer Rouge, and the only reason why they’re still alive because they were illiterate poor farmers. The Khmer Rouge gave everyone a main job and my dad was a grave digger, and he literally lost count how many bodies he had to bury in those mass graves. Fortunately he was able to escape the prison camp with most of his family and made it to Thailand. That’s when my mom and dad met each other, in a refugee camp along the Cambodia-Thai border.

[@madrx2]

Every time I revisit the Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime I end up in tears. I cannot even fathom how much PTSD this caused people that actually experienced it. My heart goes out to them.

[@mickcraven980]

When I read "Sideshow" by Shawcross, I caught myself tearing up several times.

[@DaveEntity]

My mother, grandma and uncles are all survivors of the khmer rouge. They came in 1980 through missionaries from refugee camps. My mother succumbed to schizophrenia and ptsd and my oldest uncle as well. One uncle got psychological help and is doing well. Two of the uncles were too young to be psychologically affected but they're def not quite right.

[@anonview]

I once read a Reader's Digest article about the Killing Fields when I was twelve years old. A very hard read at that age, but definitely something that helped me learn about the negative effects of power, idealism, and violence.

[@akira28shima32]

As a two-year old, just barely conscious of the world, I remember thinking, “this can’t be the world I am born into!!” Thank God a family of 7 made it out!

[@Bigdrip-jp9tp]

My mother is from Cambodia, born in 1972 but she told me she grew up in Thailand. Never really thought much of it but as I get older I can understand the history and makes me really curious on her story to America

[@KC_Smooth]

Whether it’s over religion, politics, resources, or power, humanity has always found an excuse to do absolutely brutal things to each other.

[@thevein4571]

Excuses are irrelevant, and is sidestepping the issue, power and greed is the problem here

[@Ped0P1gYOUTUBE]

@@thevein4571 About everything Hate for something different is the problem.

[@thekamotodragon]

@@thevein4571 but the ideology is also the problem here, communism facilitates these things to happen.

[@de_lontekk8019]

We’re the cancer of Mother Earth

[@cpte3729]

@@lavenderface9875 could you shut the hell up about wokeness for one goddamn second? This guy killed professors for being professors

[@martinhardcastle9970]

My granddaughters father was Cambodian, I have spent a lot of time with his parents, what they went through was HELL on earth considering the father was a teacher, but let me tell you no matter the crap they went through these people are forgiving and are beautiful human beings.

[@Vourne]

My father in law went through this with his entire family when he was 8. My wife retold the events when we first met, I then learned more from his first hand accounts. Truly horrific. The only reason his family survived was because his father at the time learned how to repair watches and jewelry the khmer rouge were looting from houses and corpses. He taught the skill to his 2 sons and so the three of them became valuable. He had a couple friends die though when they cut the tongue off a cow to eat it. They were caught and executed immediately. Horrific events and truly a stain on humanities history.

[@donniekellerman5833]

'Killing Fields' is a FANTASTIC movie!! Its the only movie that makes me cry....every time I watch it!!! 15-18 times now.

[@MarlonBrando414]

the fact that Ngor had to essentially relive what he went through for the film is incredible

[@galemusgrove4589]

I also loved this movie, It taught me much- I think iwas about 18., And the year was like 1980,,82,,.. Made me awake to the world..

[@heavyduty1776]

How did you come up with 15-18 times?

[@clarysstoryboard3317]

The Cambodian Civil War and Genocide is one of the most haunting chapters of history I have ever learned about. It's difficult to even remotely grasp the horrors and levels of senseless violence that happened but I'd like to share a piece of information that really put it into perspective for me how big the scale of things must've been: in 1978, the life expectancy in Cambodia was less than 14.5 - almost a quarter of the entire population had been killed by the time the genocide ended.

[@mstx1007]

Late 70s grade school a Cambodian transfer arrives in my school.... good family as I got to know him. He told me his his family made it to America. Horrific stories that shocked me as a teen. Horrific. They literally lost many family members and had to keep running knowing your sister was found hiding and, well just horrific. Put became a good friend and did well in school, lost track of him but never will forget what he told me happened. It changed the way I look at the world.

[@namchau7712]

Guess who supported Pol Pot to did all that to your friend and his family ?l 😂😂 Jimmy fkin’ Carter 😂😂

[@noobsmasher123]

"it changed the way I look at the world." Pfff. Yeah ok. Did you take the vacksine? Do you trust your gov?

[@37Kilo2]

We knew a family when I was growing up. They went to the same church as my parents. The older family members had escaped from the Khmer Rouge regime. One of the women was describing their escape, down a river, where they were being shot at by the military. Unfortunately, her brother was shot in the head and died. They busted their asses off to ensure their children and grandchildren lived a happy and peaceful life.

[@seanyoung9014]

When I was in elementary school in the 80s, there were lots of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Hmong Chinese at my school. It wasn't until I started hanging out with them that I understood their parents were mostly refugees. Can't imagine having to go through something like this and then relocate to a country you never thought to even visit.

[@gungalgeno-7077]

Where did you live at the time? I heard most Cambodians moved to California although I’m not sure how true that is

[@seanyoung9014]

@@gungalgeno-7077 I lived in the suburbs of Washington DC. I had also heard that most of them moved to California as well as the Minneapolis area. I know that during that time a lot of people were moving to my area from the Midwest because two of my friends had just relocated from Kalamazoo and Los Angeles, respectively. Just remembering my friend from Laos told me years later that lots of them landed in California and hopscotched across the country until they got to NYC, Philly and DC so I guess that's probably what happened with those kids.

[@415avenues]

@@gungalgeno-7077 all the Asians in California … they gang bang out there.

[@lapensulo4684]

When I taught World History in the late 90s I would teach a lesson in the Khmer Rouge. The students were always completely stunned by what they learned.

[@markw6672]

From someone who works and lives with modern Khmer people. They are amazing. I have been to killing fields and S21. What they went through. Most of us would be in pieces. Thank you

[@Eddietheteddie]

I live in cambodia. The most insane thing about this genocide is the populations strength and willingness to move on.

[@relaxingmusicchannel3224]

Hows the situation in cambodia today, man?

[@DrunkenDarwin]

as a khmer descendant in the U.S seeing the trend of uneducated people distrusting doctors, lawyers, teachers and journalist makes me fear that what my family escaped from is coming to where I'm at now

[@21DaHoagie12]

lol based on your comment you are the ones that will bring that evil here… you seem to blindly trust a lying, government controlled media and the trouncing of individual rights and freedoms… please do not bring your evil here

[@mr2garage]

My parents are survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide. My dad was a teacher during this time and he was separated from my mom. They both lost family members through horrific means at the hands of these monsters. I never asked how my parents were reunited, but I believe he was helped by a friendly Khmer Rouge officer. My parents paid coyotes to help our family escape Cambodia to Thailand. They had to turn around the first time and try again. My grandma and other family members stayed behind. I was probably around 5 years old and my brother was around 2. My parents said the Thailand refugee camps were also horrendous because the Thai guards would rape, steal, and were ruthless to the refugees. Eventually we were sponsored to America in 1982. America, the land of the free where one has liberty and opportunities to pursue the American Dream.

[@davy209]

Both of my parents were survivors of the Khmer Rogue. My mom was able to escape when the Khmer Rogue took over Phnom Penh in 1975. She got separated from her family but she did made it to Thailand all by herself. Her mother had miraculously survived all throughout Pol Pot’s reign, but her father was killed during the siege of Phnom Penh, including several of her own family members. Even after all of that, she was one of the lucky ones, who had the chance to escape. My father and his family were captured by the Khmer Rouge, and the only reason why they’re still alive because they were illiterate poor farmers. The Khmer Rouge gave everyone a main job and my dad was a grave digger, and he literally lost count how many bodies he had to bury in those mass graves. Fortunately he was able to escape the prison camp with most of his family and made it to Thailand. That’s when my mom and dad met each other, in a refugee camp along the Cambodia-Thai border.

[@rinhonjo6479]

My grand ma was a teacher and my grandpa was a school principle, they had to hid their identities to survive. They got separated to other provinces at the start of the khmer rouge but the somehow reunited half way during the time they were escaping and was on their way to find each other. They sadly lost their daughter (my aunt) to starvation and my great-grandma (on my grandmother side) was taken away and never return. Back when my grandmother was telling me about her story I was only 6 or 7 so I don’t really remember all of it, but I do remember her telling me that the so call “hospital” was just a place where they left the sicks to the death on their own. My uncle had to crawled under the beds of other sick people to get the little bit of porridge that my grandma left for him from her share which was already very little. My grandma told me that she secretly exchanged her gold jewelries that she hides for a little bit of uncooked rice from the khmer rouge, put it in a glass bottle and buried it under ground, when she dig it out the glass was kinda broken mixed with the rice but she had to cooked and eat that glass mixed rice anyway because they were hungry. When they were escaping they had to run across the bridge while the bullets were flying around and my uncle was being carried by my grandfather, my uncle was already a teenager but because of sickness and starvation he was on only skin bones. Now his left leg is not working properly, my grandmother said it was because of the sickness during that time. I don’t remember anymore of the story and my grandfather never talk about his story but he did said he was one of the cooks for the khmer rouge. When I was young I lived with grandparents I was almost traumatized by my grandma’s cleanliness and very afraid of my her. My grandma she is obsessed with hygiene, everything must be in order, she actually has four phones for four radio channels and her room is full of old stuffs that are very much useless. She is of course absolutely not wasting any bit of food. She also had night terrors very often which absolutely scared me. I always wondered why is is she like that. Only in recent years when I started to learn about mental health that I realized, she might be suffering from OCD and PTSD. The aftermath of the khmer rouge left damage to everyone health mentally and physically.

[@jimmygerano7163]

S21 is so surreal. You see all the photos of the people taken there and realise they were tortured to death in the very room you're stood in. The driver of the van we travelled in was an older gentlemen who talked about jumping from the back of a truck the rest of his family had been bundled into after the Khmer rouge shot his father and brother. He was younger than 10, never saw his mother or siblings again, nearly starved. Started off melting rubber to fix tires, eventually bought a tuktuk and a van making him a wealthy man by Cambodian standards. What brought me the biggest sadness was he couldn't remember folk songs from his childhood in his old age and he had realised there was nobody left alive who could possibly remind him. Beautiful country, beautiful people, such an ugly but brief part of their history that still scars them to this day.

[@neilmclachlan3931]

British troops trained the Khmer Rouge during this period. This info. wasn't released until about 25 years later, and went unnoticed by the media, mostly.

[@Monatio79]

Yes, British troops trained the Khmer Rouge during the 1980s. After the Khmer Rouge surrender in 1999, Ta Mok was rather emphatic that Margaret Thatcher had used the SAS to train them along the Thai border. But let's not forget that during this period the US, the UK, ASEAN, Japan and most of western Europe gave at least tacit support to China's continued sponsorship of the Khmer Rouge on anti-Soviet and anti-Vietnamese grounds. The Khmer Rouge government in exile were even recognized as the legitimate Cambodian government by the UN.

[@neilmclachlan3931]

@@Monatio79 That's right, we supplied them with stacks of non military aid, eg food, medicines, so they could spend their own money on arms. Nice friends we have.

[@chandy3859]

@@Monatio79 all because they hate the Soviet. They would support any genocidal bastard that don't like the soviet

[@horsefootrot5654]

Yep go watch a few John Pilgers reporting and documentaries. The UN were supporting PP. Read Kisseningers Shadow by Greg Grandin. They allowed the Genocide of over political agendas.

[@ariana8713]

i am second gen american. my grandpa worked with american forces and allowed my grandmother to seek asylum. the stories my grandma would tell me would bring me to tears. she's such a kind, loving soul and i can even begin to imagine how horrifying it must be to have your family and homes destroyed. i wish cambodia would one day heal from our dark history

[@ariana8713]

@Vertiegrief how?

[@arwenmenna9679]

I went to Cambodia 5 years ago, travelled the country. It was just humbling and aweful to be at S21 and the killing fields, such horror. Ankor Wat was a nice joyful ending to an awe inspiring trip.

[@phina8392]

Agree I was there 6 yr ago…

[@Suo_kongque]

My yeay (grandma) was lucky enough to have been able to escape these horrible events. Just listening to her stories was enough to make me understand how horrible these events were.

[@CheetahUser24]

As a Cambodian, I'm so interested in hearing my country's history from Non-Cambodian perspective. Cambodia suffered so much from political struggle. Your video is a theory but there's another side of the story from the people who lived in Pol Pot regime but led a normal life.... it's a complicated and controversial topic regarding our neighboring countries and how the world closes their eyes on us. And there's no exact answer to the question `Who exactly is Khmer Rouge?`. They might not even Cambodian..... A mystery only time could tell and I hope I live to that day...

[@the_timinator77]

When I was a teenager I read "To Destroy You is No Loss" and this was my first intro to the Khmer Rouge and their brutal, bloody regime. It was very sobering to say the least.

[@ActuallyJozu]

I used to have a math teacher in middle school, around 2009-2010, that fled Camobia when he was a young boy, because of the brutalilty Khmer Rouge. He never went into explicit detail about the violence or ideologies, but he would talk about how he barely escaped with his brohter. He had a lot of family there that were killed or starved to death. He didn't even know exactly how old he was, because in the village he was from they didn't really keep strict dates like that and all of that information was lost. He was truly one the funniest and best teachers I had in middle school. He really was an amazing guy, even after going through all that.

[@Giovanni-ow5nc]

This is such a heartbreaking period in Cambodian history. The Cambodian people are very compassionate and kind. Buddhism flourished there for centuries, until all of those political problems during the 60s and 70s. I hope Buddhism is making a comeback in Cambodia, and that peace will reign again.

[@Sisamuth]

I’m a Cambodian and this story is being told in textbooks and we do have field trips to visit the killing field.

[@johnschroeder1545]

a guy i work with , is from Cambodia, his mom lived through this, and immigrated to united states after the killing fields, her sons didnt come until 4 years later, he is a good man , hard worker, climber, biker, and in general , a good person, I'm thankful for his stories, because it helps me as a combat veteran of iraq.......

[@thatkidingym3122]

I’m Vietnamese my dad fought in the Cambodian war there’s a picture of my dad shirtless but he has his military hat,cargo pants and his scandal standing next to his buddy or friend. My dad said he got sent to Laos and fought against the Pol Pots. I asked my dad how many confirmed kills he got and he replied “none” but I have that feeling that he did and he said he also don’t like guns. There’s also a picture of him holding an AK while smoking a cigarette the AK he was holding didn’t have a stock

[@Drugsinmybutt]

So as a heads up its generally regarded as poor taste to ask a soldier how many people he killed, family or not.

[@aaronbaron3155]

I lived with a guy whose parents escaped these fields and somehow found each other it was a gripping story

[@squarebear619]

I had a World History teacher in 7th grade named, Mr. Chim, who was from Cambodia. He'd tell us of some of his experiences. I could sense his sense of pride of where he was from.

[@livingonthetyne]

I visited Cambodia and also read a book about a man who survived and tried to save his family but unfortunately he never seen them again, the worst part is he found his wife but lost her during the final escape to Thailand and he never saw her again. It was a heart breaking story. He never knew what happened to his kids either.

[@user-tn2qg5pz6j]

I visited the museum during my trip to Cambodia when I was quite young. Although I did not know much about the history at that time, the museum was so memorable as I could feel the horror experienced by the victims in that place. Even until now, I still remember the paintings...

[@afrikasmith1049]

As an American I am more concerned that no teachers in schools want to talk about this.

[@Ky2Quick]

a lot of world history isn't taught in schools unfortunately. But it's free for us to look into.

[@afrikasmith1049]

@@Ky2Quick But we kinda had a hand in that. It shouldn't necessarily count for world history. We should learn from our mistakes.

[@Tekirai]

Because curriculum outlines what can and can’t be taught in classrooms. Remember years ago a new textbook tried to mask American slavery as indentured servitude

[@afrikasmith1049]

@@Tekirai I haven't been in Highschool since 2005. I never heard of this back then.

[@Ky2Quick]

@@afrikasmith1049 that is true, US bombed part of Cambodia part of which was the area where my aunt lived. can't even grow anything in that area

[@psyso999]

I visited the killing fields when I was 13, changed my life and the way I looked at the world forever. Seeing a tree covered in ribbons and asking why? That’s where soldiers would take babies and smash them against the tree. Cambodians are great people, I wish them well.

[@dparis2172]

Spaulding Gray’s outstanding monologue on this subject, Swimming to Cambodia, was made into a film in 1987. The monologue centers around this era of Cambodian history and Gray’s experience in the production of the film The Killing Fields as well as exploring the odd tangent, here and there. Gray’s mastery of storytelling and Johnathan Demme’s direction make for a mesmerizing watch. Highly recommend.

[@mylastaccountgotdeletedtha6936]

I read a book about it back in High School, “First They Killed My Father,” back in late 2017. We learned about how a third of the Cambodian population was killed, how the actions of the Khmer Rouge weren’t so different from that of the Nazis. It’s baffling how people still say that communism/socialism can work when history has a number of examples to the contrary. Know your history or be doomed to repeat it.

[@berke2336]

I worked for an NGO archiving and recording stories of former KR soldiers and killing field survivors. This video only scratches the surface, the survivors and soldiers are STILL dealing with it as well as having to live alongside people that wanted them dead 40 years ago.

[@t-rex7726]

Our family survived this tragic, but most of our relatives was not fortune to survive this. My mother cousin’s family was all killed during this regime except her. Even though our family did survived but we been through a hardship and the most desperate time, living with fear of killing and fear of hunger. And millions of Cambodian been through the same.

[@reneedennis2011]

I read an article many years ago about Dr. Haing S. Ngor. He said that they showed in The Killing Fields was tame in comparison to actually happened. I remember that movie. Thank you for this video.

[@lofikiwii]

I've visited the killing fields when i was in cambodia, you can opt into an audio story book which is like a small mp3 player that they provide to you with and it has audio stories from survivors or children of the ones killed that recount the tales of how they witness the killings happening. The place has place markers that correlate to different stories stored on the mp3 player its a lasting experience. I still remember the site and all the stories - The infamous schools are just as bad. That was well over 5 years ago.

[@ridemfast7625]

Their is also a Killing Cave memorial near Battambang. Very sad...

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

I’ve lived and worked in Cambodia for about 20 years. This is a good summary. Two minor corrections: 1. The Khmer name for the country is Kampuchea. It wasn’t a Khmer Rouge name. The French pronunciation became ‘Cambodge’ which became in turn ‘Cambodia’. 2. The Cambodians still eat bugs, eats and snakes, especially in the countryside. And dogs too. It wasn’t that they were driven to eat these things. However as the video says, anyone found eating any private food stocks was in deep trouble.

[@sylkiContent]

I got my uncle and father who fought during the war to liberate Kampuchea, however when I was born my father and mother took me to one of the village that was massacre by the Khmer Rouge that is located next to Kampuchea.

[@barcelonaryan9141]

My Grandfather was part of the UN troops sent by the Philippines and he told me many stories about Cambodia. I miss my Grandfather 😢

[@codiwonkanobi9788]

There's a large community of Cambodian people who I went to Highschool with they're really hardworking good people. They have an interesting culture, but the things the parents went through were horrific.

[@domzzcardzz7985]

@@Dwight511u have it coming lol

[@Michelle-rdz17]

@@Dwight511 tf why ?💀

[@jamessoth1479]

My grandfather, Soth Im was killed in the fields, he was a scientist. My grandmother told me the story of soldiers invading their home and having them dump all their money into the river. My grandmother fled the country with her four children, it wasn’t easy. My mother was 7 years old at the time. They made it to the USA and thankfully was able to build a life. My grandmother kept working hard into her old age before retiring at like 68. She’s still kicking it, enjoying gardening and frequent visits from her grand children.

[@coertmommsen837]

Dear D I H, Thank you for a very informative and detailed summary of the background of Vietnam(as we knew it) tragedy. What a terrible part of our history. May God grant us the insight and understanding to foresee and prevent a repetition of this at any time in our existence

[@alexandrasymeon5893]

What do you think is happening in Occupied Palestine and other parts of the world? Look into it.

[@bigb5206]

I went to a Methadone Clinic and I met someone who had to endure this first hand. He had stated that he had to tread under heavy fire. He said that he had 2 five gallons buckets that he packed over 10 miles to and from completely filled with water. It was the only way to get clean water. He acquired a very bad habit with Heroine. He came to America 🇺🇸 after he saw his entire family killed right in front of him. Wife,Daughter and Mother and Father. Ya know what? When I feel like I have it so bad and alone I think about what he went through on a daily basis!!

[@zanethind]

I'm glad chamnels like yours and others bring to light the horrifying story of what the khmer rouge was doing in Cambodia. It's not talked about enough and lots still don't know about this tragic event

[@jackmagnell]

During my travels in Oceania I once worked at a farm a few hours south of Darwin in Australia. My boss there, whose name was Mark, had a wife called Darny. She was from Cambodia. She lived through the tyranny of Pol Pot and lost much of her family. She described hiding in the smallest of holes and crevasses for long periods of time during her youth. Despite these tragedies she went through each day with a blinding smile cooking the most delicious meals and tending to the gardens. Such a strong soul and one I will never forget and admire til the end of my days.

[@bouce6995]

Thank you for doing this important and informative video. The sadistic and atheistic communist Khmer Rouges’ Regime was from April 17th of 1975 to January 7th of 1979. Col. Kharn perished in the First Purge in 1975, and Madame Sok La, along with her youngest daughter, were killed during the Second Purge in 1977. I’d survived the Children Bridge, harsh labor, sheer starvation, etc… the Southern Zone of Comrade Ta Mok, known as “the Butcher,” during “the Killing Field,”… Khao I Dang refugee camp. 89%-93% of Khmer intellectuals were tortured and starved and imprisoned and the. annihilated, mainly in “S-21,” the Auschwitz of Cambodia. With love and respect, Bo K.S. Uce, JD

[@RT-qd8yl]

This is why I listen to Cambodian music. The Khmer Rouge tried to eliminate their budding rock/pop music scene as part of his "cleansing", killing amazing artists like Sinn Sisamouth, Pan Ron, and Ros Sereysothea. They may have died but their music didn't, and it evolved into great artists today like VannDa, Sreyleak, and HENG. The Khmer people are amazing musicians.

[@chrishenniker5944]

Who’s the Cambodian Morrissey?

[@jyangers24]

I went to Phnom Penh a few times to do volunteer work and had the opportunity to visit the killing fields. That experience had to be one of the most sombering, it literally felt like all the joy and happiness had left me whilst I was there.

[@LamLong2000-1]

Never forget that Vietnam saved you from genocide, my uncle died there to save you.

[@namchau7712]

They ain’t never acknowledged that brother … When our men saved the day in Cambodia , people talked like we invaded Cam and around 150 countries in UN voted to punished Vietnam as they did with Russia right now and ignored the fact that Polpot killed thousands of our beloved Vietnamese fellows 🥲 now they talked like Cambodian freed themselves 😓😓

[@xxxdpgxxxx1389]

Duma

[@Redasurc]

I went to school in a small town in Texas called Angleton south of Houston. There’s a small runway with a cafe in it on the outskirts of town. The guy who runs the place was from Cambodia and was a young man when he escaped after pol pot took power and he told us about how he came back and saw the carnage

[@bkk1996]

To clear something up, just because world leaders claim to be part of certain economic theories, it doesn't make it true. Cambodia was never communist in it's true form. Nuance matters and should be inherently implied when discussing history.

[@WillJohns-tr1zt]

My fiancé is khmer and I spend a lot of time in Cambodia . I find the people absolutely beautiful and happy even after everything they have been through

[@donaldreed7977]

I have no idea why, but several years ago, I read a pretty thick book about this very subject. I believe the name of it was "Cambuchia". The spelling could be wrong, my apologies for not remembering. I knew nothing about this until I read the book. It was a story of young kids being separated and the boys being sent to "re-learning" camps. The beginning and middle of the book were heartbreaking and evil, but I'm happy to say in the end, they were reunited. Unbelievable that these tjings happened in my lifetime and I only know because I accidentally read it in a book

[@jumpydino3015]

cambodia is called is campuchia in vietnam (at least south vn)

[@AngTrg]

@@jumpydino3015 wdym the whole country calls it like that

[@jumpydino3015]

@@AngTrg i didn't really remember what it's called from my childhood, so i said "at least where i lived" to not assume

[@Deadsh00t]

Heartbreaking to hear another country has experienced the same horrifying think like in my country Albania my prayers go to those who are no more may they rest in peace

[@mo_k7041]

I'm currently a highschooler and my father and his parents went through this, the stories they told are such a big part of my childhood and i feel so bad even thinking about the stories but i can't imagin living it

[@nickvillano5264]

Found out a guy I worked with's family was from Cambodia when I was just kinda zoned out and muttering "holiday in Cambodia" to myself. He was amazed that I knew who Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were. from what he told me, his grandparents got tf out of there early when they started taking over and made their way to the states.

[@elliotthalsey2810]

That's marxism standard stuff. Not extreme.

[@look_into_it]

Wait till they learn about Holodomor

[@quangnhat5345]

And then The Vietnamese came to end this terrible regime, but everyone else don't bat an eyes at the suffering of the cambodian, they just call the Vietnamese "invader". Smh.

[@zersky495]

And sanctioned them as a response for deposing their ally Pol Pot lmao

[@David_a_journeyman_curmudgeon]

The only time I ever saw my father cry was while watching the Killing Fields.

[@jackiemurphy1524]

Terrible! A real human tragedy. This actually happened. May those victims rest in peace!

[@mlisaj1111]

Some fall out from this: The US took in a number of Cambodian refugees families and they were given status as permanent residents, and would need to pursue full US citizenship on their own. As many were busy just with life in a new country, and because you can live legally in the US pretty normally as just a permanent resident, many stayed as permanent residents. But as the kids grew a few had brushes with the law, even just breaking a window as part of a bar fight, which meant they could be deported. So there are some refugees raised in the US who were permanently deported to Cambodia, a country they barely remembered.

[@yja496]

The film Killing Fields was a Master Piece.

[@Splooie128]

Friends don't let friends become Marxists.

[@whensomethingcriesagain]

Cambodia is a horrifying reminder of just how dangerous reactionary movements harnessing the anger of a repressed population can be. One minor complaint I have is that the Khmer Rouge weren't really communist at all, they showed disdain and hatred for the urban/cosmopolitan workers as much as they did for intellectuals or the bourgeoisie, and their violence was much more of a reactionary agrarian riot than it was a communist revolution. In general, actually nailing down Pol Pot's ideology is pretty damn hard, as his beliefs were not even remotely consistent. What's horrifying to me as a communist is the degree to which the ideals of Marxism can grow so warped as to betray the very people it speaks in service of, and the sheer extent to which it can be converted into a reactionary slaughter. This is an especially disturbing reminder as an American, wherein many of our own proletariat are similarly reactionary and in particular anti-urban and anti-intellectual, and so I often worry at the efforts of many of my comrades in attempting to appeal to them, as I worry that doing so could turn into the kind of slaughter the Khmer Rouge enacted on Phnom Penh, only targeted at the kinds of people who modern rural folks hate. Regardless, the brutality of the Khmer Rouge is a reminder of just how horrific humanity is capable of becoming, and their history is one that must be remembered such that it may never happen again, especially for any (such as myself) who stand with nominally similar revolutionary ideals. Glory to Vietnam for putting a stop to this barbaric cruelty.

[@Mr_Mistah]

Rural Americans like me just want to be left alone. How does that make us anti intellectual? Because we don't adopt soulless megacorp "eat the bugs" nonsense?

[@midleno8364]

“It isn’t real communism”

[@gabiausten8774]

It’s ALL our job to NOT let this happen again! Sadly most do not stand up, for anything, ever…