Father Francois Ponchaud.20% of Population Destroyed
It makes my jaw tight. Cambodia's "killing fields" and the existence of the Khmer Rouge are memories that put me in a solemn trance. It was one of the great crimes against humanity in the early 1970's.
CNN.com/Asia has posted an article "Priest tried to warn of Cambodia's insanity." In 1970 the violence of the Vietnam War spilled into Cambodia. By 1975 Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge. Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia.
Francois Ponchaud was a Catholic priest who watched as residents of Phnom Penh were removed to the countryside. He tried to warn people about what was happening but people didn't listen. Further, ultimately, he was held as a semi-prisoner.
Khmer Rouge means "red" Rouge or "Marxist" government. The Khmer Rouge was led by an evil despot named Pot Pol.
The aim of Pot Pol and the Khmer Rouge was to make Cambodia a classless society and return to an early agrarian society in which the farmers were the proletariat.
The people that were forced to leave the city were called the "New People" and the favored Khmer Rouge saying about them was "To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss."
As a soldier in Vietnam during this period, I had friends who were sent on missions to Cambodia and found remnants of butchery that was starting in the early 1970's.
The net result of Pot Pol and the Khmer Rouge's actions was that they isolated people who were part of the previous government, intellectuals; people involved with capitalism, urban dwellers and professionals and, ultimately murdered them through execution, slavery or torture.
By the time the priest, Francois Ponchaud was free to travel on his own, the damage had been done.
The Khmer Rouge murdered between 800,000 and two million people although the typical figure given is 1.5 million. This represents a full 20% of the existing 7.5 million Cambodians living at that time.
I don't like to be reminded of Cambodia. Our country propped up a government for no good reason and yet let 1/5 of a nation die.
I don't like to be reminded of Cambodia. It makes my jaw tight.
References:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/13/sbm.cambodia.ponchaud/?iref=mpstoryview
CNN.com/Asia has posted an article "Priest tried to warn of Cambodia's insanity." In 1970 the violence of the Vietnam War spilled into Cambodia. By 1975 Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge. Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia.
Francois Ponchaud was a Catholic priest who watched as residents of Phnom Penh were removed to the countryside. He tried to warn people about what was happening but people didn't listen. Further, ultimately, he was held as a semi-prisoner.
Khmer Rouge means "red" Rouge or "Marxist" government. The Khmer Rouge was led by an evil despot named Pot Pol.
The aim of Pot Pol and the Khmer Rouge was to make Cambodia a classless society and return to an early agrarian society in which the farmers were the proletariat.
The people that were forced to leave the city were called the "New People" and the favored Khmer Rouge saying about them was "To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss."
As a soldier in Vietnam during this period, I had friends who were sent on missions to Cambodia and found remnants of butchery that was starting in the early 1970's.
The net result of Pot Pol and the Khmer Rouge's actions was that they isolated people who were part of the previous government, intellectuals; people involved with capitalism, urban dwellers and professionals and, ultimately murdered them through execution, slavery or torture.
By the time the priest, Francois Ponchaud was free to travel on his own, the damage had been done.
The Khmer Rouge murdered between 800,000 and two million people although the typical figure given is 1.5 million. This represents a full 20% of the existing 7.5 million Cambodians living at that time.
I don't like to be reminded of Cambodia. Our country propped up a government for no good reason and yet let 1/5 of a nation die.
I don't like to be reminded of Cambodia. It makes my jaw tight.
References:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/13/sbm.cambodia.ponchaud/?iref=mpstoryview
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