The Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979, in which an estimated 1.7 million people lost their lives (approximately 21% of the country's population), was one of the worst human tragedies of the last century. The Khmer Rouge, headed by Pol Pot, combined extremist ideology, ethnic animosity, and a disregard for human life to carry murder on a massive scale.
n the years that the Khmer Rouge was in power (around 5 years), almost 1/3 of the country's men, women, children were killed. Many were tortured for long periods of time, sometimes for more than 3 years. For years there was mass-murder in progress and the world didn't even know about it until it was almost too late. Much of what we understand about the Pol Pot regime was depicted in the movie "The Killing Fields."
By talking to natives of Cambodia that lived near the killing fields we were able to hear first hand accounts of the atrocities that went on at Cheung Ek. It is chilling to hear about the bloody past that this country had gone through, with millions of people being executed in the public, starved to death and severely tortured. For a better understanding of what had happened.
