Facts on the Khmer Rouge

Here are some basic facts about the Khmer Rouge:

The leader of the Khmer Rouge was Pol Pot, and it was during his reign that over a million Cambodians were murdered, starved to death, or died from a widespread disease in the diminishing country.
The group also made a strict set of guidelines for all citizens of Cambodia to follow while under the power of the Khmer Rouge.
The demoralizing years of the Khmer Rouge’s rule, the worst of which occurred between 1975 and 1979, left an overwhelming impact on a crumbling Cambodia that still lingers today.

Rules of a New Cambodia

To understand the key facts about the Khmer Rouge, it is important to understand how they controlled the Cambodian people:

When the Khmer Rouge came to power, they began to take radical measures to isolate Cambodia from the rest of the world.
Schools and hospitals were closed, and eventually the banking system was eradicated along with currency and religion. This meant that Cambodians would not only be cut off from the rest of the world, but would be denied basic human rights by their own oppressive law system under Pol Pot.
Cambodians were also not allowed to own land privately, and were forced to work on farming collectives which the Khmer Rouge oversaw.
In addition to these demeaning rules, the group oversaw the rationing of food and the hours of labor the citizens put, and often demanded too much for an individual to handle.
This treatment, coupled with a countrywide famine, led to the deaths of countless people who could not survive the abuse of the cruel regime.

The terrible death toll is another key fact about Khmer Rouge:

It is estimated that during the reign of the Khmer Rouge anywhere from 750,000 to 2 million people died, from a combination of working too much and being starved, or from execution at the hands of the group.
After the Khmer Rouge fell from power, Pol Pot himself estimated a body count of at least 800,000.
Over a million bodies have been found be found in mass graves around Cambodia, often referred to as the "Killing Fields."
In addition to the high number of execution-style deaths at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, there were many people who were tortured if suspected of conspiracy against the group.
These artifacts of cruelty have been collected and are on display at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum along with many records and photographs left behind by the Khmer Rouge.
In 1979, the Khmer Rouge fell from power after Vietnam seized Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. Sadly, it was not the late 1990s, after the death of Pol Pot, that the Khmer Rouge was finally held responsible for the crimes committed.

So, now you know many of the key facts about the Khmer Rouge.