The Khmer Rouge

One of the darkest moments in recent world history was the genocide that occurred in Cambodia during the 1970s.  During the dislocation of the war in Vietnam, the monarchical government of Cambodia collapsed.  What replaced the king was frightfully bizarre and somewhat hard to believe. 

The guiding principal of the Khmer Rouge was radical self-sufficiency.  In other words the revolutionaries wanted to do away with all vestiges of modern civilization. All cities and towns were abandoned. The entire population of Cambodia was placed on collective farms. Think of the incredible dislocation!

Pol Pot, the leader of the new Khmer Rouge, declared a new era of communism known as Year Zero. The urban centers were depopulated, the collective farms set up, and then the killings began.

Special targets of the Khmer Rouge were the educated and people with initiative. In all about 1.3 million people were exterminated.

 

The infamous Tuol Sleng Prison in Phemn Pehn

 

The Khmer Rouge took photographs of their victims and had them sign confessions before executing them.