Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979)

RHA,Vol. 4, Núm. 4 (2006), 107-130 ISSN 1697-3305

CAMBODIA UNDER THE POL POT REGIME (1975-1979). AN EXAMPLE OF A TOTALITARIAN COMMUNIST REGIME?

Ruth Erken* Recibido: 26 Marzo 2006 / Revisado: 30 Abril 2006 / Aceptado: 3 Mayo 2006

INTRODUCTION 1.1. Definition of terms he name of Pol Pot is associated with one of the The definition of terms starts with the na- Tmost terrible politically motivated crimes of the ming of the unquestionably “inconceivable cri- 20th century. Descriptions such as “Red Holocaust” mes”1. Such an engagement in the establishment of (Horst Möller), “Genocide in Cambodia” (Ben Kier- definitions could be considered unnecessary, pos- nan), “Holocaust in Cambodia” (Ariane Barth, Ti- sibly even irreverent. But certain terms imply poli- ziano Terzani), “a political catastrophe with few mo- tical-historical classifications, and such classifica- dern parallels” (Chanthou Boua, Ben Kiernan), “Pol tions have so far only been very insufficient in the Pot’s reign of terror in Cambodia” (Manfred Hil- case of crimes committed under Communist regi- dermeier) show how difficult it is to name the crimes mes – as the intense reaction to the “Blackbook of committed under Pol Pot’s regime. The above des- Communism”2 has demonstrated. Alex P. Schmid, criptions reveal the efforts to cover both the extent of who scrutinizes the terms “Repression, State Te- the crime and its political background in one phrase. rrorism and Genocide”3, discusses the development Some of the descriptions not only generally define a of the term “genocide”, which was first used in political background, but even specify a very particu- 1944 by Raphael Lemkin in his book “Axis Rule in lar background (‘Red Holocaust’, ‘holocaust’, and Occupied Europe”. Lemkin belonged to those who –to a certain extent– also ‘genocide’). took the initiative for “the United Nations Con- This paper will first explain the important vention on the Punishment and Prevention of Ge- terms in connection with Pol Pot’s regime, then go nocide (1948)”, in which genocide is defined as on to outline Cambodia’s historical-cultural deve- follows: “Genocide means any of the following acts lopment, describe life under Pol Pot’s regime, and committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or finally provide the reader as far as possible with an in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, answer to the question posed in the title. such as: (1) killing members of the group, (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (3) deliberately inflicting on the group con- 1. CAMBODIA UNDER THE POL POT RE- ditions of life calculated to bring about its physical GIME (1975-1979) – AN EXAMPLE OF A destruction in whole or in part, (4) imposing mea- TOTALITARIAN COMMUNIST REGIME? sures intended to prevent birth within a group, and

* University of Köln, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]. 1 Margolin, Jean-Louis, “Kambodscha: Im Land der unfaßbaren Verbrechen“, in Stéphane Courtois et al. (eds.), Das Schwarzbuch des Kommunismus – Unterdrückung, Verbrechen und Terror. München 2000, 643. 2 Courtois, Stéphane et al. (eds.), Das Schwarzbuch des Kommunismus – Unterdrückung, Verbrechen und Terror. München 2000. 3 Schmid, Alex P., “Repression, State Terrorism and Genocide – Conceptual Clarifications“, in Timothy P. Bushnell et al. (eds.), State Organized Terror – The Case of Violent Internal Repression. Boulder, 1991, 23.

(5) forcibly transferring children of the group to today. Do we have to accept the fact that they are another group”4. living in freedom? If not, for what crime could they 9 Besides the political-historical classification, be sentenced?” . there is another significant aspect to these efforts to The Allies already posed these questions when define, namely the attempt to provide a legal fra- they decided to hold the Nuremberg Trials: “The mework by which to judge such crimes by means delegates unanimously agreed to hold the trials. of their conceptualization. The Geneva Conven- They therefore tried hard to avoid any conflict tion of December 9, 1948, defines genocide as a among themselves”10. This means that they were “crime under international law”5. In this context, not willing to include the genocide of the European the definition quoted above shows certain weak- Jews – which was not yet called holocaust at that nesses, e.g., regarding the proof of intent concer- time – among the charges in the Nuremberg ning the macabre question of how many human Trials”11. They were afraid of a potential compari- lives are meant by the words “in whole or in part”. son, for in particular the United States and the Herbert Jäger deals with the criminological pro- Soviet Union had severely abused minorities in blems of state-sponsored mass killings6. He points their own countries. This example demonstrates out that criminal law is basically not equipped to the high risk of the judgment of such macro-crimes deal with the cold functioning and lack of human and their comparison being politically instrumen- emotions which are typical features of mass killings talized. Above all, stating how many people were carried out by a state. It is precisely this “phenome- killed under a certain regime can easily give the non of coldness” which links all types of mass des- impression that an attempt is being made to classify truction – this applies to genocide outside of war one crime as more or less severe than another one. situations and to modern warfare – and distingui- Steven T. Katz, who stands up for “the Uni- shes it from individual crimes. Herbert Jäger has queness of the Holocaust”, realizes this risk: “In ar- repeatedly underlined the difficulties of such com- guing for the uniqueness of the holocaust, I am not parisons, but he nevertheless strongly advocates is making a moral claim, in other words, that the holo- in order to recognize dangerous moments which caust was more evil than the other events (i.e., geno- “are not only of one-off, but of continuing impor- 12 7 cide / R.E.)” Katz explicitly refuses to discuss the tance” , above all, though, to “find assessment cri- number of the victims. He gives the following reason teria and categories which facilitate a moral and for his insistent opinion that the holocaust – accor- legal understanding of the phenomenon of mass 8 ding to his own definition – is the intended murder destruction by the state” . of the European Jews during the Second World War: Jean-Louis Margolin comments on this as- “[...] the holocaust is phenomenologically unique by pect: “This (the classification of the Khmer Rouge’s virtue of the fact that never before has a state set out, crimes / R.E.) is at the same time also a legal neces- as a matter of intentional principle and actualized sity: Many members of the leadership of the Cam- policy to annihilate physically every man, woman, bodian Communist Party still live an active life and child belonging to a specific people”13. Katz

4 Ibid, 32. 5 Ibid., 23. 6 Jäger, Herbert, “Über die Vergleichbarkeit staatlicher Großverbrechen – Der Historikerstreit aus kriminologischer Sicht”, in Jesse Eckart (ed.), Totalitarismus im 20. Jahrhundert – Eine Bilanz der internationalen Forschung. Bonn 1996, 344. 7 Ibid, 346. 8 Ibid, 349. 9 Margolin, Jean-Louis, “Kambodscha…”, op. cit., 138. 10 Hennigsen, Manfred, “Der Holocaust und andere Demozide”, in Horst Möller (ed.), Der rote Holocaust und die Deutschen – Die Debatte um das Schwarzbuch des Kommunismus. München 1999, 138. 11 Ibid, 137. 12 Katz, Steven E., “The Uniqueness of the Holocaust – The Historical Dimension”, in Alan S. Rosenbaum (ed.), Is the Holocaust Unique? Perspectives on Comparative Genocide. Boulder, 1996, 19. 13 Ibid., 19.

108 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA tries to verify his theory of the uniqueness of the following definition: “Democides are the direct re- holocaust by elaborating important differences bet- sult of political commands issued by the functional ween this and other genocides, e.g., of the Native centers of a regime. They do not arise as sponta- Americans, who in his opinion were mainly elimi- neous pogroms or as the culminating action of an nated by diseases brought in from Europe. David ideological development18. Rather they are part of E. Stannard14 disagrees with Katz’s thesis by poin- the “implementation of the mad plans to change ting out that “holocaust” is a very ancient term, the world pursued by leaders such as Lenin, Stalin, which was already used in the 17th century “[...] as Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot”19. 15 a term to describe mass destruction or slaughter” , This definition requires us to investigate the but primarily by emphasizing that although the political conditions which make genocide possible holocaust of the Jews, the genocides in Cambodia, in the first place. The first part of the definition Eastern Timor, Ruanda and in other places of the implies that a regime under which macro-crimes world were unique because of the differences with are possible must by nature allow political com- regard to the number of people killed, the weapons mands from the center of political function to be used, the behavior of the perpetrators and other directly executed; i.e., the center of political func- aspects, they have enough in common “to fall 16 tion is so omnipotent that it is not restricted by ins- within a single large classification” . titutions, e.g., by a parliament or judiciary. This, Another person who examines the problem of however, presupposes a totalitarian regime. In Italy, classifying such macro-crimes is Ben Kiernan, who the term totalitarianism was coined under Musso- also recognizes the risk of debating which crime is lini: “It was Amendola (i.e., the liberal Givonnia more or less severe but nonetheless sees enough evi- Amendola / R.E.) who obviously first accused dence to classify the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime as Mussolini of wanting to introduce a ‘sistema tota- genocide: “In Cambodia today, it is rather common litario’ (totalitarian system)20. The Italian fascists to hear the view expressed that ‘Pol Pot was worse occupied a term which was actually used against than Hitler’ ... ‘the Nazis killed Jews but not Ger- them; they called themselves “totalitarian” and thus mans’, whereas ‘Pol Pot massacred his own Khmer instrumentalized the term ‘totalitarianism’ just a people’ ... The first claim is, of course, incorrect, but short time after its creation, i.e., similarly to the the second is undoubtedly true, a case of genocide terms which named politically motivated macro under the definition of the 1948 UN Convention. crimes. This political instrumentalization became The word “Auto-genocide” has even been coined to especially clear during the Cold War, which obs- describe genocide of members of one’s own race ...”17. tructed critical discussion for a long time. In the In this context, Henningsen points to the crea- context of this paper, we cannot examine this as- tion of the term “Democide”, which stems from pect in more detail. There was, however, consent as the American political scientist Rummel (Universi- to the virtually “objective” criteria according to ty of Hawaii). Rummel wanted to avoid the pro- which a nation could be classified as totalitarian: blem of the term ‘genocide’: In accordance with the “In the 1950s and 1960s, the accepted view was UN Convention, ‘genocide’ assumes an ethnic-ra- that a totalitarian dictatorship could be identified cial group identity of the victims; this does not spe- as having all of the following six features: cifically apply to the victims of many reigns of 1. A charismatic, imperial ideology, th terror of the 20 century. Henningsen provides the 2. one permitted mass party,

14 Stannard, David E., “The Politics of Genocide Scholarship”, in Alan S. Rosenbaum (ed.), Is the Holocaust…, op. cit., 19. 15 Ibid, 190. 16 Ibid, 191. 17 Kiernan, Ben, “Genocidal Targeting. Two Groups of Victims in Pol Pot’s Cambodia”, in Timothy P. Bushnell et al. (eds.), State…, op. cit., 207. 18 Hennigsen, Manfred, “Der Holocaust…”, op. cit., 140. 19 Ibid, 140. 20 Wippermann, Wolfgang, Totalitarismustheorien – Die Entwicklung der Diskussion von den Anfängen bis heute. Darmstadt, 1997, 9.

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3. a command economy, technical equipment, designed to secure total con- 23 4. a terrorist secret police, trol” . 5. a monopoly of weapons, Both authors consider the use of modern 21 technology to be so essential that from their point 6. a monopoly of news and propaganda” of view, some former states (e.g. Sparta) or other These six features provide important orienta- entities such as monasteries could not be called tion for the assessment of a regime; however, the “totalitarian” because of the absence of such means, concept shows certain weaknesses. It is rather rigid although they substantially controlled and regula- and does not leave any room for a change of regi- ted the entire lives of the population (members / me (e.g. in the former Eastern Block). Moreover, it inmates). fails to take into account some important aspects Burkhard Hirsch deals with the problems which are characteristic of a democratic regime involved in the use by the state of modern techno- and the absence of which points to a totalitarian logy to supervise and control the citizens. In his state, i.e., an independent administration of justi- opinion, “the disregard of privacy is the fingerprint ce and the possibility to non-violently remove the of totalitarian states”24. This “right to privacy” is ruler from power. The following definition of increasingly jeopardized by the use of modern mo- Manfred Funke seeks to capture the process-like nitoring technology –which has meanwhile been nature and avoid the mentioned weaknesses: legalized by appropriate laws–, since the right to “Thus, totalitarian dictatorship means the ambi- safety, which originally, “according to the European tion to achieve undivided power and ensure its Human Rights Convention, was a right to protec- specific safeguarding through the application of tion against arbitrariness by the state”25, is given a most modern steering strategies ... We can speak completely different interpretation, namely as the of a totalitarian regime when it combines the abo- government’s right to limit individual liberties in lition of political party pluralism and of democra- favor of the protection of a super-individual legal tic control by means of secret elections, and the system. Even if Hirsch regards the disregard of pri- elimination of an independent judicial system vacy as a general feature of totalitarian states, the while at the same time ensuring complete control idea of conflict between individual liberties, on the of the instruments of power, legitimized through one hand, and the general legal system of the state, an ideology which aims at enforcing a new model 22 on the other, is characteristic of Western Christian of society” . culture. It is questionable whether such a concept From the very beginning, the term ‘totalitaria- can be applied to a country such as Cambodia, nism’ was inter alia characterized by a specific refe- which has an entirely different cultural and reli- rence to modernity, to the specific novel nature of gious background and is in a different stage of a totalitarian regime. The novelty is represented by development; the question is not about the degree the desired model of society, on the one hand, and of damage, because the Pol Pot regime was establis- by the “steering strategies”, on the other. The latter hed within a different cultural context: “Individual were highlighted by Friedrich Brzezinski: “The dis- freedom and human dignity are inalienable values tinctive characteristics –and thus the novelty of the to which every system should aspire”26. The histo- totalitarian regimes– are the organizations and me- rical/cultural development of Cambodia will be thods developed and supplied by means of modern described in a separate chapter in order to facilita-

21 Funke, Manfred, “Braune und rote Diktaturen – Zwei Seiten einer Medaille? Historikerstreit und Totalitarismustheorien”, in Jesse Eckhard (ed.), Totalitarismus…, op. cit., 153. 22 Ibid, 152-153. 23 Friedrich, Carl Joachim; Brzezinski, Zbigniew, “Die allgemeinen Merkmale der totalitären Diktatur”, in Jesse Eckhard (ed.), Totalitarismus…, op. cit., 226. 24 Hirsch, Burkhard, “Der Große Bruder und das Recht auf Privatheit”. Vorgänge, 3 (2001), 368. 25 Ibid, 369. 26 Backes, Uwe; Eckhard, Jesse, Totalitarismus, Extremismus, Terrorismus – Ein Literaturführer und Wegweiser im Lichte deutscher Erfahrung. Opladen, 1984, 63.

110 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA te an understanding of the historical context, the ty, although described with regard to China, never- workings of Cambodian society (before Pol Pot) theless applies to Asia in general: “A recurring and the differences to our system, as well as of the theme in Chinese Marxism has been the attempt to different cultural and religious background, and to make an ideology born of the social conditions of avoid the disparaging tone of J.-L. Margolin, nineteenth century industrialized Europe into an which is particularly striking in the chapter “The ideology of practical significance in an unindus- Causes of a Deranged Policy”27, where he states: trialized context with a predominantly peasant po- “The nationalism of the Khmer Rouge is strangely pulation”31. reminiscent of the nationalism of their predecessors Thus, at the beginning of the last century, Sihanouk and Lon Nol: A fanatical ideology of suf- 28 Chinese intellectuals considered the writings of fering mixed with megalomania” . If we disregard Marx to be too much influenced by historical con- Lon Nol, Margolin fails to provide any evidence of ditions in Europe to be useful for China’s develop- Sihanouk’s fanatical ideology of suffering and his ment. This view changed after the Russian revolu- megalomania. On the other hand, the arguments tion of 1917: “Russia’s society was predominantly used by Margolin almost give the impression as if agrarian, and her population largely peasant, her the author criticizes pre-Pol Pot Cambodia for not economy backward and largely traditional like being a Western industrialized state: “There were China’s”32. few companies, a small middle class, almost no experts and skilled workers, and the agricultural From this point on, radical Chinese intellec- sector was predominantly characterized by subsis- tuals –in particular Li Dazhao– associated Marxism tence farming”29. with the hope for a solution to China’s immense problems. Li Dazhao, –one of the authors of the The references to the different culture, reli- influential magazine Xin Qingnian (New Youth) gion and society system of Cambodia point to the and librarian at the university of Peking– had con- need to look at the ideology which, by definition, siderable influence on intellectual young people, is a prerequisite for the existence of a totalitarian among them Mao Zedong, who shared his teacher’s state system; in the case of the Pol Pot regime, the “emotional attachment to the peasantry and the underlying ideology was communism and, more belief that the Chinese revolution would be an specifically, Asian communism, because: “Compa- essentially peasant revolution”33. red to the communist regimes in Europe, the Asian regimes have three important characteristics. With Mao developed these ideas further, emphasi- the exception of North Korea … they developed zing that the rural population significantly favored without foreign interference and therefore were the idea of a Chinese revolution; but he insisted able … to constitute independent political systems that the peasants needed the leadership of the pro- with a reference to their own history and to Soviet- letariat if the aim was a revolution, and not just ata- style Marxism-Leninism, each system being stron- vistic protests of the rural population. Mao saw the gly influenced by nationalism”30. class divide between the landowners and the mas- ses of landless peasants. But despite his awareness This paper will in particular focus on com- of the class divide, Mao’s ideas differed significantly munism / Marxism as practiced in China and Viet- from the original Marxist doctrine which believes nam, which both had an important impact on in antagonism between proletariat and bourgeoisie. Cambodia’s development. One particular difficul-

27 Margolin, Jean-Louis, “Kambodscha...”, op. cit., 82. 28 Ibid, 682. 29 Ibid, 683. 30 Margolin, Jean-Louis, “Kommunistische Regime in Asien: Zwischen Umerziehung und Massenmord – China, Vietnam, Laos und Kambodscha”, in Stéphane Courtois et al. (eds.), Das Schwarzbuch…, op. cit, 508. 31 Knight, Nick, “Mao Zedong and the Signification of Marxism”, in Colin Mackerras; Nick Knight (eds.), Marxism in Asia. New York, 1985, 62. 32 Ibid, 64. 33 Ibid., 65.

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Mao believed that the typical characteristic of was at least confirmed during, some years spent Marxism was class analysis and that by contrast, in among the rural population. With regard to the the case of China, a good Marxist had to recognize role of culture in general, Mao kept his orthodox the revolutionary potential of the rural population Marxist position and considered that literature and and use it for a political strategy. This included the visual arts were tightly connected to class structure. development of the Red Army, an army “subordi- Mao believed that artists and authors should work nate to party direction and control”34. These ideas for the people. Their works should be understan- led to conflict between Mao and the “Returned dable for the often illiterate workers and peasants. Students Fraction” (i.e. the students who had come Given this idea of a virtually educational function back from their studies in Moscow), who advoca- of the visual arts and of literature, it is worthwhile ted for China’s communist party a Russian / Soviet- looking at the question of how Mao viewed the style course oriented on traditional Marxist ideas. role of marriage and family the primary education There is a certain parallel to the situation in institution. In his early writings, he called for the Cambodia about 20 years later, when the students liberation of women and stated his negative attitu- influenced by France’s CP - including Pol Pot and de vis-à-vis the traditional Chinese family. The his circle of friends - met the executives of the com- underlying assumption was that problems would munist party that had developed locally. The resul- largely solve themselves with the emergence of po- ting power struggle, however, produced entirely litical and economic “success stories”. In those different results: While in China, Mao and the regions which were already under the control of local cadres stood their ground, the “Returned Chinese Communist Party, the authorities mostly Students” prevailed in Cambodia. Mao remained focused on reforms rather than on tearing families relatively close to traditional Marxist ideas by con- apart. However, they expected the influence of the ceding that China would have to undergo certain family to decrease as the Soviet-style cooperative stages on its way to Socialism and that an imme- models were established. The nature of this “sinici- diate transition was impossible. There are other key zed Marxism” can be summarized as follows: “[…] aspects of this “sinicized” Marxism which are of for Mao, Marxism was a complex ideological importance to the situation as it emerged in system constituted of various elements and only Cambodia in later years: The enforcement of a capable of finding complete definition within a Chinese nationalism, which was still considered a historically specific setting. […] Mao believed that problem: “Can a communist, who is an internatio- this union of the universal and the particular allowed the completion of the Marxist system, and cre- nalist, at the same time be a patriot? We hold that 37 he not only can be, but must be…”35. Furthermore, ated a genuinely Chinese Marxism […]” . Mao’s aversion to “book learning for its own sake or Marxism / communism in Vietnam also con- intuitive theorizing was based on his conviction that tains some genuine elements, which do, not, howe- knowledge only derived from actively seeking out the ver, correspond to a noticeable elaboration of the ‘facts’ of empirical reality, …”36. ideology, but primarily focused on the strong patri- Mao’s aversion to mere book knowledge was otism aimed at freeing Vietnam from the yoke of in no way tantamount to an aversion to the deve- colonialism. Marxism / communism had a some- lopment of theories as a whole or to debate on what instrumental function, i.e. as a set of instruc- tions for liberation. “The father of the Vietnamese these theories; the statement quoted above was also 38 used in disputes with the faction of the students revolution, Ho Chi Minh” , writes: “At first, patri- who had returned from Moscow. His belief in the otism, not yet communism, led me to have confi- peasants’ revolutionary potential stemmed from, or dence in Lenin. […] I gradually came upon the fact

34 Ibid, 72. 35 Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung. Peking 1967, cit. according to Knight, Nick, “Mao…”, op. cit., 78. 36 Ibid, 75. 37 Selected Works…, op. cit., 89. 38 Kelly, Sean; Mackerras, Colin, “The Application of Marxism-Leninism to Vietnam”, in Colin Mackerras; Nick Knight (eds.), Marxism…, op. cit., 203.

112 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA that only socialism and communism can liberate the lop only a very weak middle class which was abso- oppressed nations. [...] Leninism is […] the radiant lutely Francophile and did not have the same inter- sun illuminating our path to final victory […]”39. est as the Vietnamese people. Since pre-colonial One major characteristic of Vietnamese com- Vietnam was a feudal and predominantly agricul- munism / Marxism, unlike in China under Mao tural country, Ho Chi Minh and others –in a simi- and the Soviet Union under Stalin, is the almost lar way as Ma– addressed the role of the rural po- complete absence of a personal cult. Ho Chi Minh pulation for the revolution. An awareness existed of is considered the father of Vietnamese communism a specific class divide between the rich land owners with regard to both its theory (during his years in and the large number of landless peasants: “[…] France around 1920, he studied the works of Marx they identified some stratification among the pea- and Lenin and published theoretical papers) and santry and noted that the interests of rich peasants organizational structure (in June 1925, he founded tended to be similar to those of the bourgeoisie, while the poor and landless peasants have interests “the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League, the 42 first truly Marxist Organization in Indochine”40). closer to the proletariat” . There was, however, a large number of renowned As a result, the Vietnamese leadership had two and influential political leaders – I would like to inseparable aims for the revolution (in Vietnam), refer to the theoretical writings of authors such as le firstly, to expel the imperialist aggressor (at first Duan, Truong Chinh, Vo Nguyen Giap. The Viet- France, then the United States) and, secondly, to namese leadership was much more of a collective overcome the internal feudal structures, i.e. enfor- than was the case in other communist parties in that ce land reform. The achievement of this aim or it was able over decades to resolve its internal con- these aims was also the reason why the Vietnamese flicts in a way that enabled it hold on to power as a leaders –depending on the general political mood unitary group, unite Vietnam and lead it to inde- of the moment– sometimes sought closer relations pendence. Ho Chi Minh considers the emphasis of with China, at other times with the Soviet Union, unity to be a special characteristic of Vietnam. depending on the level of support offered. As re- Shortly before his death in 1969, he called for its gards the specific ideas about what a revolutionized preservation in what could be considered his perso- society should look like, they were not backward- nal legacy: “[…] unity is an extremely precious tra- looking, unlike Mao’s approach (the “Great Leap dition of our Party and people. […] all comrades, Forward” paradoxically built on very low standards from the Central Committee down to the cell pre- of technology) and, in an extreme way, that of Pol serve the unity and oneness of mind in the Party Pot. On the contrary, the Vietnamese plans corres- like the apple of their eyes”41. This urgent desire for ponded more to the Soviet industrialization policy. unity may have been what gave rise to the various The new culture was to emphasize the Vietnamese efforts of Vietnamese leaders to establish and main- identity, and the change in social structures was to tain a unitary communist party of Indochina – ine- bring equal rights for women, whose situation was vitably dominated by Vietnam. similar to women in feudal China and Cambodia, To a far greater extent than Mao, the Vietna- the historical development of which will be outli- mese leaders emphasized the role of internationa- ned in the following chapter. lism. This was due to Vietnam’s status as a French 1.2. Outline of Cambodia’s Historical Develop- colony, as the fundamental class antagonism bet- ment ween the Vietnamese proletariat and the French 1.2.1. Short Description of Cambodia’s History bourgeoisie was clearly recognized. All important positions in Vietnam were held by members of the Cambodia is part of Southeast Asia, a name French bourgeoisie. Therefore, Vietnam itself deve- that denotes “a region that comprises what are to-

39 Chi Minh, Ho, “The Path which led Me to Leninism”, cited according to Kelly, Sean; Mackerras, Colin, “The Application…”, op. cit., 203. 40 Ibid., 203. 41 Ibid., 226. 42 Chinh, Truong; Giap, Vo Ngaych, The Peasant question (1937-1938). Trans. Christine P. White, cited according to: Kelly, Sean; Mackerras, Colin, “The Application”…, op. cit., 207.

113 RHA,Vol. 4, Núm. 4 (2006), 107-130 Ruth Erken day the countries Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, bration of the new moon year), as well as animistic Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippi- ideas and practices (belief in dragons and water spi- nes. The term was first used in 1943, when the rits) have remained almost unchanged for very long Supreme Command for Southeast Asia was formed periods: “The ‘changelessness’ of Cambodian his- to conduct the military operations against the tory was often singled out by the French, who in Japanese in these areas”43. the nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw them- There is no doubt that the peoples of this selves as introducing change and civilization to the region are very different from each other with re- region. Ironically, this theme was proked up by Pol gard to language, religion, level of development Pot’s revolutionary regime, which claimed that Cambodians were asleep or enslaved for two thou- and experience with colonial rulers, to mention but 46 the most significant differences. Nevertheless, the sand years” . This remarkable perseverance may be geographical position, characterized by relatively due to the fact that the population considered the steady temperatures, high air humidity and regu- existing system (including the social system) a good larly returning Monsoon winds, has led to nume- one and that any experiments were associated with rous similarities between the various cultures in the fear of deterioration, and especially famine. this region. “It was a culture characterized by the Nevertheless, there have been noticeable deve- cultivation of artificially irrigated rice both on hill lopment processes in the history of Cambodia, the terraces and on the plains, by advanced methods in most important one of which was the “India- fishing and the cultivation of fruit, by the develop- nization”, which began around the beginning of the ment of village communities under a chieftain and Christian calendar and continued for about 1000 by a religion based on nature and ancestor worship years. During this process, “[…] elements of Indian and fertility cults”44. This religious basis has survi- culture were absorbed or chosen by the Cambodian ved to different degrees, despite the Indianization people”47. It was a peaceful process, extended to of the region and the resulting expansion of Budd- most spheres of life, but did not destroy the original hism in particular, as well as of Islam, due to Ara- culture. Thus, the Cambodian cultural identity bic-Persian influences, and – in later centuries – of developed from the amalgamation of Indian cultu- Christianity, which was introduced by European re in the broadest sense (literature, poetry, social missionaries. Since pre-Christian times, Southeast and political ideas, astronomy, architecture, reli- Asia has been part of an important commercial and gion) with the geographical characteristics and with transport network which connected the Mediterra- social and religious traditions. It is significant that nean in the West with Japan in the East, but which the Indian cast system was never adopted by Cam- also boosted regional trade. bodia. The adoption of the Indian religions, i.e. Present-day Cambodia was not just a stable Hinduism and Buddhism, plays a special role here, part of this network for thousands of years; it also with the latter still being the predominant religion demonstrated extraordinary stability in many other in present-day Cambodia. The expansion of Budd- regards: “[…] it is likely that by the beginning of hism was supported by a relatively clear health doctrine and by the fact that “you can become the Christian era the inhabitants of Cambodia 48 spoke languages related to present-day Cambo- Buddhist…, but you are born a Hindu…” . Mo- dian, or Khmer”45. reover, Buddhism tended to syncretism with both Hindu and indigenous animistic cults. This contri- There is also evidence that the cropping me- buted to the development of a Cambodian culture thods used in agriculture, nutritional habits, cer- which, while being influenced by Indian Budd- tain traditions, especially in rural areas (e.g., cele- hism, still retained its original character.

43 Villiers, John, Südostasien vor der Kolonialzeit. Frankfurt, 1993, 11. 44 Ibid, 14. 45 Chandler, David P., A History of Cambodia. Boulder, 1983, 9. 46 Ibid, 10. 47 Ibid, 11. 48 Villiers, John, Südostasien…, op. cit., 47.

114 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA

Buddhism spread to present-day Cambodia not although paying tribute, were essentially free peo- only directly from India, but also through the influen- ple. This social system was “outside history”51. It ce of missionaries and merchants from Chinese Budd- existed up to the beginning of the French colonial hist centers. It is for this reason that the earliest sour- period (Cambodia became a French protectorate in ces about a state in the area of present-day Cambodia 1863): “We know very little, in quantitative or po- are Chinese ones; this state was a kingdom which is litical terms, about the mass of Cambodian society, only known under the Chinese name “Funan” and many of whom, for most of their history, appear to which expanded in the Mekong Delta region during have been slaves of one sort or another”52. the first post-Christian centuries. It was organized ac- The kings of the Angkor era considered it very cording to the Indian model “with a maharajah or 49 important to been seen a close relationship with highest ruler and many vassal kings” . the –initially predominantly Hindu– deities, and The foundation of this state is of special especially Siva. There were sophisticated ceremo- importance in that it facilitated accomplishment of nies for this purpose, which helped to mystify the enormous collective tasks, e.g. erection of big buil- kings, thus keeping them apart from the hierarchi- dings and installation of irrigation and drainage cally organized society, while still allowing the peo- systems for rice cultivation. ple to rally around them. Cambodia’s great period lies between 800 and It was an almost revolutionary act when, in 1400: “At various times in these six hundred years, the later Angkor era, a king took up the teachings and only then, Cambodia –known in its own ins- of Mahayana Buddhism and thus established a criptions as Kambuja-desa– was the mightiest king- Buddhist Cambodian kingdom. Probably the cause dom in Southeast Asia, drawing visitors and tribu- was the assault of the Hindu Cham on Angkor. te from as far away as present-day Burma and Ma- Thus Buddhism might – among other things – ha- laysia as well as from what were later to be Thai ve served the purpose of delimitation against the kingdoms to the west”50. Cham. The beginning of a declared Buddhist king- This powerful kingdom seems to have develo- dom did not affect people’s lives very much, but ped from a former vassal state of Funan, which “the difference between a Buddhist king and a Hin- conquered territories including Funan. The capital du one resembles the difference between a mo- nologue that no one overhears and a soliloquy ad- of this kingdom was Angkor, which was founded at 53 the beginning of that era and was gradually develo- dressed to an audience of paid or invited guests” . ped. The Angkor era was a golden age of culture, Even if the installation of the Buddhist king- not only with regard to architecture and sculpture dom went on rather peacefully, it is important to (the temples of Angkor Wat which exist to this day) point out in the context of this paper that in the but also in poetry (in Sanskrit), in the development 13th century, a king named Jayavarnan VII forced of religious rituals and social structures. Written the people to convert from Mahayana Buddhism evidence exists both in Sanskrit, the language of to a variant of the Theravada Buddhism; the type poetry, and in Khmer, the language of justice and of enforcement shows many parallels to the Pol Pot administration. There are, for example, Khmer re- regime (even if such a comparison should be made cords of the type and number of slaves, although it with caution). It is significant that “the only featu- should be pointed out that our language gives only re of Angkorean life singled out for praise by an inadequate idea of what that term meant. There Democratic Kampuchea was precisely the full-sale were slaves who themselves held slaves, slaves who mobilization of the people that Jayavarnan VII… had close relations with the royal family and who, managed to carry out”54.

49 Ibid, 65. 50 Chandler, David P., A History…, op. cit., 29. 51 Kiernan, Ben; Boua, Chanthou, Peasants and Politics in Kampuchea, 1942-1981. London, 1982, 3. 52 Ibid, 3. 53 Chandler, David P., A History…, op. cit., 57. 54 Ibid, 68.

115 RHA,Vol. 4, Núm. 4 (2006), 107-130 Ruth Erken

This conversion should perhaps be seen rural population was poor and uneducated, but against the background of the growing influence of had enough to eat. People had only mystical ideas Mon and Thai-speaking ethnic groups, who had of the external world, and the contact to this world already adopted Theravada Buddhism. At the same was mostly maintained by minorities: “Nearly all time, China’s influence grew. In particular, com- the people were ethnic Khmer, who occupied them- mercial relationships were intensified, which con- selves with rice farming and with monastic and of- tributed to the relocation of the capital in the 15th ficial life. Commercial and industrial tasks were century. It was easier to maintain trade with China handled by minority groups”57. from present-day Phnom Penh, which is situated in The Vietnamese represented a minority which the Mekong estuary, then it was from Angkor. This gained increasing influence, often working on the period of Cambodian history is mainly documen- newly cultivated rubber plantations, but in many ted by Chinese sources. cases also for the French, who brought a growing In European source texts, Cambodia emerges number of Vietnamese into the country. Vietnam for the first time in the 16th century, when Por- developed at a much more rapid pace than Cam- tuguese and Spanish monks set out to christianize bodia under the French colonization. In Vietnam, the region. Christianization of the rural population new publications in the country’s language became without the king’s consent was considered virtually available at an earlier stage than in Cambodia. Un- impossible, because of the king’s enormous in- til the 1930s, publications in Khmer were largely fluence on everyday life and the loyalty of the peo- confined to Buddhist texts, “published” by monks. ple for the Buddhist monks. The emergence of As late as 1936, the first lycée was founded, repla- Cambodia in written European history came at a cing a precursor institution, providing the oppor- time of external and internal unrest for the country, tunity to prepare for university studies in France. characterized by a recurring internal power struggle Around that time, the Institut Bouddhique was for the throne and – with regard to foreign affairs – founded with the assistance of French scholars, and repeated armed conflicts with the neighbors, the the magazine Nagara Vatta was first published - the Thai and the Vietnamese. The weakness of the first magazine to deal with political issues. It had a Khmer state did not only lead to an invasion by the distinctly “pro-Cambodian” slant, without being neighboring states, but also to “a century of Wes- anti-French, at least at the beginning, but with an tern attempts to dominate Kampuchea”55. increasingly noticeable anti-Vietnamese tendency: In 1863, Cambodia became a French protec- “One editorial even went so far as to compare Hi- tler’s territorial aggrandizement in Europe to that torate, partly because King Norodom had hoped 58 that the presence of France would protect Cam- of Vietnam in nineteenth-century Cambodia” . bodia from the attacks of the two neighbors. By From Cambodia’s independence to the Vietnamese and large, this hope was fulfilled until the Second invasion (1978-1979), this anti-Vietnamese attitu- World War. However, there was no real peace: de influenced every Cambodian government. “French Colonists preferred to reconstruct Cam- The effects of the events in the years between bodia’s ancient temples, nurture a small elite, and about 1930 and 1945 for Cambodia and the whole modernize the economy to provide surplus of rice region which are still felt today. There were more and rubber”56. fundamental changes than in the previous centu- There were local gangs which committed rob- ries. The Great Depression strongly affected Cam- bery, and there were politically motivated activities bodia. Rice sales on international markets decrea- to fight against the French occupation troops. sed. France tried to improve its own economic Most Cambodians lived in rural areas, in a similar situation, among other things by imposing increas- way as they had been doing for many centuries, ingly higher taxes. This led to a massive impoveris- often in some form of slavery. By our standards, the hment of the population, an increasing inclination

55 Kiernan, Ben; Boua, Chanthou, Peasants…, op. cit., 1. 56 Ibid, 3. 57 Chandler, David P., A History…, op. cit., 100. 58 Ibid., 164.

116 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA for violence both against the French colonial ru- pened after the French-Siamese war from 1940 to lers and among the Khmer people themselves. 1941. Encouraged by the Japanese, Thailand took The Cambodian communist party developed du- advantage of France’s weakness and conquered ring the same period as Cambodian nationalism parts of Cambodia and Laos which it had lost to and became more and more intertwined with it. France in former times. Under Japanese pressure, Communism was first introduced in Cambodia France and Thailand signed an agreement in Tokyo by the Vietnamese and the Chinese, e.g. by Viet- in January 1941, which granted Cambodia at least namese workers in the rubber plantations or by Angkor. King Monivong, who was reigning at the Chinese who were born in Vietnam or Cambodia: time, felt humiliated by the French and rejected “Not surprisingly, the first communists reported any contact with them in the remaining months of to be active in Kampuchea were Vietnamese. […] his life. His successor was Norodom Sihanouk, They included members of three different anti- who was promoted by France, and –as every mem- colonial organizations”. “In early April 1930, the ber of the royal family– was a French-educated, first Chinese Communist Party cell in Kampu- culturally interested young man, who the French chea was established in Kampot province / the believed would be easy to influence. In fact, there region of the greatest concentration of Chinese re- was a certain dependence on the French advisors in sidents“59. the first two years, but in the approx. 40 years of This was the situation in Cambodia when the his political life, Sihanouk by and large nevertheless country was affected by the events of the Second acted “pro-Cambodian”. In March 1945, for exam- World War, when Japan expanded its influence ple, Sihanouk annulled the “Romanization” (i.e. throughout the whole of Southeast Asia, partly pre- introduction of Latin writing to render the Khmer senting itself as a colonial power, but also partly language) which the French “residents” had tried to leaving the everyday business to local leaders, all of introduce in 1943. With Japanese support, he them opponents of the previous colonial powers. declared Cambodia’s independence. He emphasi- After France’s defeat in 1940, the Vichy regime zed the cultural self-determination by changing the handled the situation in Indochina quite cleverly, name of the country “Cambodge” (as it is called in hoping that it would find an integral French French) into “Kampuchea” – in accordance with “empire” after a later victory over Germany. “[…] the Khmer pronunciation. Moreover, the minis- France was the only colonial power in the region to tries were given Khmer names. The Gregorian ca- retain day-to-day control of its possessions for the lendar was abolished, and the Buddhist moon ca- greater part of World War II. The French managed lendar re-introduced. Unlike Vietnam, which defe- to do so by making substantial concessions to the ated the colonial power France in armed conflicts, Japanese and by not declaring war on them”60. Sihanouk tried to achieve Cambodia’s independence through negotiations with France. The French Internally, the political course of the represen- reaction was very hesitant, granting just marginally tative of the Vichy regime was characterized by more sovereignty. Cambodia did not achieve full ambivalence. On the one hand, Cambodian natio- independence until 1954, when Indochina was res- nalism was favored to a certain extent; on the other tructured at the Geneva conference following Fran- hand, a Cambodian elite was entrusted with more ce’s defeat at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam. Sihanouk responsibility. Salaries were increased. The forma- declared Cambodia to be a neutral country with tion of paramilitary groups of youngsters was en- regard to its foreign policy. He tried to maintain a couraged, enabling thousands of young Cambo- careful distance to Vietnam. He fought the newly dians to make their first experiences with affiliation formed Red Khmer when they instigated riots. to a group other than their families. On the other However, he also allowed “left-leaning” ministers, hand, the regime was repressive; thus members of who had been educated in France, to his cabinet: the Cambodian opposition were imprisoned for “The leftist balance in Sihanouk’s international and long periods of time, which led to the big demons- domestic neutralist scales was thus constructed to tration of Buddhist monks in July 1942. This hap- divide the domestic and international left. Of cour-

59 Kiernan, Ben, How Pol Pot Came to Power – A History of Communism in Kampuchea, 1930-1975. London, 1985, 8. 60 Chandler, David P., A History…, op. cit, 166.

117 RHA,Vol. 4, Núm. 4 (2006), 107-130 Ruth Erken se, there were other factors such as Sihanouk’s need 1.2.2. Pol Pot’s Political Biography 61 for educated ministers” . Pol Pot’s biography is closely intertwined with The education sector of newly independent the history of Cambodia. This connection is clearly Cambodia showed considerable progress. Many reflected in the difficulties encountered by histo- new schools were founded. For the first time, an rians in establishing facts from Pol Pot’s life or even exclusively urban middle class developed, the his identity. Pol Pot was born as Saloth Sar, and it members of which were educated in public schools was not until after his rule that his identity was and not by Buddhist monks. established beyond doubt: “After 1976 it took ana- But in many other regards, Cambodia’s situa- lysts over a year to identify him with certainty as a tion was very complicated. The people, including former schoolteacher named Saloth Sar who had been the secretary of the Cambodian Communist the rural population, held Sihanouk in high esteem, 62 as they gave him credit for the improvement of the party since 1960” . Some other communist lea- situation after the French retreat. On a personal, ders (Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Tito) had also changed and therefore inevitably on a political, level, Siha- their names before Saloth Sar / Pol Pot did so, but nouk preferred younger, French-educated intellec- they did it before they came into power in order to tuals who remained a relatively small group. Besi- protect themselves against prosecution. When Pol des the different leftist groups, there were two Pot changed his name, he was already governing other political parties which were led by princes. and tried to conceal his true identity from his own Their political concepts were quite vague. Among people. Therewith, he joined the tradition of pre- the communists, there was a more China-oriented vious Khmer rulers who had chosen to be distant faction with mainly intellectual members, and a from the people. more Vietnam-oriented one which predominantly The son of the relatively wealthy farmer Pen consisted of peasants or farm laborers. Members of Saloth and his wife Sok Nem, Saloth Sar was born both factions underwent training in one of these in a rural area north of Phnom Penh on May 25, two countries, depending on their allegiance. The- 1928. He was the eighth out of nine children. Both re were a certain number of Vietminh activists li- parents were ethnic Khmer, just as the whole envi- ving in Cambodia who had already fought against ronment, but “what set the family apart from the French, and there were the Khmer Rouge, so- others in the region were its connections with the me of whom stayed in the country, while others royal palace in Phnom Penh”63. fought with the Vietnamese in Vietnam and / or These connections were based on the fact that a Cambodia. Last but not least, there was the Royal cousin of Saloth Sar was a member of the royal ballet, Khmer Army, which changed allies depending on later becoming its director, until the early 1970s, as circumstances. There were internal political con- well as a mistress of Prince Monivong. Moreover, one flicts during which Sihanouk at times did not pre- of Saloth Sar’s older sisters belonged to the Corps de vent military action against the left; but more im- Ballet for several years. An older brother was an portantly, Cambodia became involved in the Viet- employee in the royal palace and married a dancer. nam war despite its declared neutrality, mainly because parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail went through The ballet had a very good reputation and was Cambodian territory. The Khmer Rouge joined the considered an important part of Khmer culture. fight against the United States, both in Vietnam During his childhood and youth, Saloth Sar came and in Cambodia. The US had continuously into close contact with this culture. When he was expanded its military operations against Cambodia six years old, his father sent him and his slightly since the 1960s, and the civil population suffered older brother to his relatives in Phnom Penh. The severely from the bombings, which included difficult economic situation may have played a cer- Phnom Penh. tain role here. In any case, this was not unusual. “Informal adoptions by prosperous relatives are a traditional feature of Cambodian life and therefore

61 Kiernan, Ben, How…., op. cit., 183. 62 Chandler, David P., Brother Number One – A Political Biography of Pol Pot. Boulder, 1992, 7. 63 Ibid, 8.

118 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA should not be taken as indicating estrangement Saloth Sar was not admitted to this school. between children and their natural parents”64. Instead, he was elected as representative of his ho- Saloth Sar learned to read and write at various me region for the newly founded French Collège religious institutions, first in the Khmer language, Norodom Sihanouk in Kompong Cham, Cam- at a Buddhist monastery near the royal palace, and bodia’s third largest city. The city was surrounded then, for six years, at a catholic elementary school by rubber plantations and tobacco fields, and was a near the palace. This school, for which Saloth Sar’s location for sericulture. Many ethnic minorities cousin paid the tuition, was mainly frequented by lived in Kompong Cham. In the Collège Norodom children of French colonial officials and of catholic Sihanouk, which was a boarding school, Saloth Sar Vietnamese. Until the end of his school education came into close contact with upcoming communist in 1942, Saloth Sar lived with his relatives, leading leaders, e.g., Khieu Samphan, the future Cambodian a relatively isolated life in the entourage of the royal head of state. palace. This environment included the “Institut The biographer David Chandler points to Bouddhique”, the Lycée Sisowath (the only Cam- many contradictions which Saloth Sar was con- bodian grammar school at that time) and finally fronted with during his school days. To start with, the only newspaper which was published in Khmer while the royal ballet bore witness to a great cultu- at that time. Many politicians who held leading re founded on Hinduism and Buddhism, its accom- positions later on originated from this environ- modation was appalling. The Institut Bouddhique ment, including a number of future prime minis- concerned itself with the cultural achievements of ters. Saloth Sar also met his wife here (wedding ancient Cambodia while its pupils were expected to ceremony in Phnom Penh in 1956), Khieu speak French, not Khmer, in their “private” lives. Ponnary, who was 8 years older than him. She was Ultimately: “As the students learned about France’s the first Cambodian woman to gain the Baccalau- ‘civilizing mission’ (mission civilisatrice), they knew réat. that France was occupied by Germany, that Bat- The end of primary schooling concurred with tambang and Siem Reap had been taken over by Thailand, and that Japanese troops were stationed significant political changes, i.e., France’s defeat 66 against Germany, the invasion of Japanese troops in Kompong Cham” . into Cambodia, which France had to stand by and Saloth Sar was described as a mediocre pupil, tolerate; and finally France’s defeat against Thai- quiet, courteous and conformist. His fellow stu- land, which led to the cession of Cambodian terri- dents experienced him similarly during his studies tory to Thailand. The gradual expansion of a small in France. (European, or rather French) educated class sup- After being rejected once more by the reputa- ported the development of a political awareness ble Lycée Sisowath, Saloth Sar learned carpentry which found its expression for example in demons- from 1947 to 1949 at a type of technical school in trations. After the death of his grandfather in 1941, a suburb of Phnom Penh. This school was frequen- the young prince Norodom Sihanouk was proclai- ted by pupils who came from lower social classes med the new king. He belonged to the French-edu- than those of the institutions Sar had previously cated elite, which was so small that virtually all its attended. However: “As he dirtied his hands, step- members knew each other or were even related by ping down from his French education and his pala- blood or marriage. This was undoubtedly also due ce connections, he was still part of a privileged to the fact that there was only a very small number minority”67. of educational institutions: “[...] Sisowath High School in 1950 had already become the training During this time in Phnom Penh, he began centre for the Khmer educated class, many of his lifelong friendship with Jeng Sary (they married whom [...] were to become communists”65. two sisters), who, however, was considered intellec- tually brilliant, received scholarships for renowned

64 Ibid., 7. 65 Kiernan, Ben, How…, op. cit., 28. 66 Chandler, David P., Brother…, op. cit., 19. 67 Ibid., 19.

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French educational institutions, and achieved and foremost Jeng Sary): “As I neglected my stu- degrees. Jeng Sary had already been “a political ani- dies, the authorities cut off my scholarship”70. 68 mal” before Saloth Sar, when he still lived in Having returned to Phnom Penh, where King Phnom Penh. They both belonged to the tiny Sihanouk was just trying to cooperate with France minority sent to study in France on scholarships to strengthen Cambodia’s independence, Saloth granted by the Cambodian government – Saloth Sar was brought into contact by his older brother Sar in 1949, Jeng Sary about two years later. This Saloth Chhay, a journalist, with groupings of the period spent in France had a substantial influence UIF (Unified Issarak Front): (Khmer Independen- on Saloth Sar’s / Pol Pot’s political career and –at ce Movement), who resided near the Vietnamese the same time– on the fate of Cambodia. border. Sar introduced himself as a member of the Despite his language proficiency, Saloth Sar French Communist Party and joined a cell of the had almost no contact with the French in Paris. His ICP (Indochinese Communist Party) which com- friends / acquaintance were other Cambodian stu- prised both Khmer and Vietnamese members. dents from whom he also adopted political ideas. There were several cross-links between these diffe- At the most, Sar only pursued his technical studies rent groupings and even attempts to unify. During (“radioelectricity”) during his first months in Paris. these months near the Vietnamese border, Saloth After spending a period of time in Yugoslavia doing Sar / Pol Pot was able to more or less complete his voluntary work in summer 1950, his studies had political education. He gained experience in under- become completely irrelevant. Together with ground activities and in mobilizing ordinary peo- French and other Cambodian students, Sar worked ple. It is notable that during this time Saloth Sar for several weeks in Zagreb. This experience very made contact with Tou Samouth, a political men- much influenced him since Yugoslavia, under Josip tor and fellow (for the next nine years), a former Broz, known as Tito, was in a very desperate situa- French-educated Buddhist monk, who came from tion. Tito had just separated from the Stalinistic a wealthy family. Samouth was an idealist and pas- Eastern Bloc but was not yet supported by the sionate teacher; he joined the SCP for patriotic rea- West. There was the menace of a Soviet invasion sons in 1946: “[...] Samouth’s Buddhist rather than and –due to an extreme drought– the food supply French education ... may have appealed to Sar in for the population was at risk. Yugoslavia mastered his apparent eagerness to become less French and this dramatic situation quite successfully “by mobi- more Khmer”71. lizing the people’s revolutionary will. Sar followed 69 Since Saloth Sar / Pol Pot neither spoke Viet- this example when he came to power” . namese, nor had any experience in the field of Sar, however, did not realize that Yugoslavia Guerilla tactics, it might have been his contacts had rejected its increased efforts to collectivize its with Phnom Penh which the party considered agriculture in favor of urban and industrial deve- valuable, especially those with the upper class. lopment in the fall of 1950. Saloth Sar spent his Samouth and –inferior to him– Pol Pot were put in remaining time in France outside of the “official” charge of organizing an urban wing of the party. educational institutions. According to his fellows Having returned from France, however, Pol of the time, he read a great deal, participated in dis- Pot lived what amounted to a double existence. He cussion groups engaged in reading communist remained in contact with his relatives in Phnom texts, e.g., papers of Stalin and publications of the Penh, visited them from time to time, but did not French Communist Party, the western communist really inform them about his political activities or party most influenced by Stalinism. about the question of how he earned his living. Pol Sar had to leave France in 1952 (together with Pot had various secret contacts with different poli- several other members of the mentioned circle, first tical groupings. He used different names and no-

68 Ibid, 23. 69 Ibid., 37. 70 “Interview of Comrade Pol Pot to the Delegation of Yugoslav Journalists in visit to Democratic Kampuchea”, Democratic Kampuchea, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 1978, cited according to Kiernan, Ben (ed.), How…, op. cit., 122. 71 Chandler, David P., Brother…, op. cit., 45.

120 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA body –not even his comrades, some of whom also saw him again. Contact was maintained only with lived a double life– really knew him or had a clear the closest Communist brother nations. Relations picture of his activities. with Vietnam were problematic. In 1965, he pre- In 1956 –after the Geneva Indochina Con- sented the WPK’s program in Hanoi, after he had ference– Saloth Sar built up a legal existence for been appointed “official” secretary general. He was, some years by marrying Khieu Ponnary, who then however, heavily criticized, especially because of had already been working as a teacher at the Lycée the program’s lack of international aspects. In Sisowath for quite some time. Since, owing to his 1966, on the other hand, he was welcomed very lack of qualifications, he was not allowed to work cordially in Beijing by Mao Zedong. It is impor- in the public school system, Sar took on a position tant to mention here that Mao Zedong had just as a teacher in a private school, where he taught proclaimed the cultural revolution. But the close French, history and geography. He was considered contact between Pol Pot and his associates and to be a good teacher, who was known to be a com- Hanoi remained. On the eve of the Vietnamese munist, but of whose exact function no-one was TET offensive, the Khmer Rouge attacked several properly aware. This legal existence (including his governmental buildings in Battambang, the second Phnom Penh residence) had become necessary largest Cambodian city (1968). Between 1969 and because there was a decision at the Geneva Con- 1970, Saloth Sar spent six months in Hanoi. ference on Indochina to provide a reception area To avoid a misleading impression, it should be for Laos, but not for Cambodia, i.e. for those of the pointed out that everything which is reported Khmer who had fought with the Vietminh or the about Saloth Sar / Pol Pot and the Cambodian Khmer Rouge. Therefore, the Cambodian “figh- Communist Party, which appears under different ters” had no choice but to build up a legal exis- names, derives from later reconstruction and rese- tence, which most of them did. The only other arch. During his whole active political period, Pol alternative was to retreat to Hanoi and go into Pot lived a secret life. Almost nothing was known exile. about himself, the leaders, the party and its struc- In 1960, Pol Pot and his brother-in-law Jeng tures; not even the current precise name of the Sary participated in the secret founding of the Communist Party was made public. Worker’s Party of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. The Laurence Picq, the French wife of Sikoeun, a establishment of this party was initiated by Viet- high official of Cambodia’s Communist Party, wri- nam. Pol Pot, Tou Samouth and Jeng Sary were tes the following: “Je m’étais souvent interrogée sur members of the Central Committee. This secret ce que me cachait cette dénomination puissante et founding marked the end of Pol Pot’s and Jeng respectée d’Angkor. Littéralement ce terme Khmer Sary’s legal existence. Tou Samouth disappeared in se traduit en français par l’organisation, mais que 1962. In all probability he was killed by Sihanouk’s recouvrait-il ? Personne ne le savait vraiment”73. police. It is not clear whether Pol Pot was involved The fact that –according to Laurence Picq– in this operation. One thing is certainly clear: “nobody really knew”, not even whether it was a “Saloth Sar becomes acting secretary of Central 72 Communist party, a certain grouping, or a single Committee” . influential individual, which / who issued the ins- A little later, a list of “red” activists circulated tructions, doubtlessly provided an important tool which registered the members of the Central Com- for exercising political power; obviously, the perso- mittee. Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) and his brother-in-law nality factor of Pol Pot / Saloth Sar (and other lea- Jeng Sary therefore decided to escape to the eastern ding cadres?) supported this. The further biogra- part of Cambodia, which was controlled by phy of Pol Pot is so inseparably associated with the Vietnam. As much as 12 years later, they returned regime that was named after him, that it can only to Phnom Penh together with the invading Khmer be described in this context. I would like to men- Rouge. At this time, Pol Pot and his closest sup- tion that, after the Vietnamese invasion of Cam- porters lived a life largely sealed off from the events bodia, Pol Pot retained a certain amount of power going on in the world. His original family never in his environment (for some time in a region at

72 Ibid., 45.

121 RHA,Vol. 4, Núm. 4 (2006), 107-130 Ruth Erken the Thai border). It is said, for example, that in this avoiding Cambodia’s involvement in the war by environment “purges” were carried out within the adopting a neutrality policy. This included –among Khmer Rouge74. other things– “obliging” both the United States of The aura of mystery surrounding Pol Pot and America and North Vietnam or the Vietcong. He his closest allies even persisted beyond the end of supported the Vietcong by letting them transport the regime. There were often speculations about his their weapons through Cambodian territory, which life, illnesses and his death. the Americans regarded as a reason for: “The American Bombardment of Kampuchea, 1969- Pol Pot most likely died a natural death on 1973”78 with the following result: “Rural Cam- April 15, 1998, at his last place of abode in the 75 bodia was destroyed, and ‘Democratic Kampuchea’ Thai-Cambodian border area , a prisoner of his rose in its ashes. The emergent Communist Party long-standing companions who had sentenced him 76 of Kampuchea (CPK) regime, led by Pol Pot, had to lifelong house arrest in 1997 . profited greatly from the U.S. bombing”79. 1.3. Pol Pot’s Regime For the CPK or Pol Pot and his supporters, On the basis of the developments described so the victory had the effect that it was easier to re- far, the beginning of the Pol Pot regime can be cruit Khmer Rouge (peasants joined the Khmer dated April 17, 1975, i.e., the day when the Khmer Rouge who had no ideological notions, but want- Rouge victoriously invaded Phnom Penh. This had ed revenge for their destroyed villages). On the been expected. On April 15 and 16, the secret other hand, the brutality of these bombardments radio station of Cambodia’s Communist Party had and the resulting chaos (thousands of Khmer fled urged the people to revolt in view of the imminent straight into the big cities) drew attention away “liberation” of Phnom Penh. Moreover, the soldiers from the brutality of the leadership which was of prime minister Lon Nol (who was supported by dominated by Pol Pot and his supporters; only very the USA), who were in the capital, had been orde- few people noticed that moderate communists we- red by their general to capitulate on the morning of re being killed. The radio broadcasts announcing April 17. Lon Nol himself had already escaped to that Phnom Penh had to be evacuated due to the the United States on April 1, when a victory of the threat of an American bombardment appeared to Khmer Rouge and the occupation of Phnom Penh the people to be credible, especially since the eva- could be foreseen. For a very short time, the civi- cuation was said to be only short term. This was lian population felt relieved: “A certain euphoria certainly one of the key reasons why the expulsion came over Phnom Penh just towards the end of the of the population from Phnom Penh met almost war at the thought that the fighting was soon to be no resistance. Only Hou Yuon, a member of the over. And many people seemed almost ready to Central Committee and a former minister of welcome the communist troops”77. Sihanouk was reluctant with regard to the plan- The population’s urgent wish for an end to ning: “He said that it was not the right situation to the war becomes clear if we take a look at the pre- evacuate the people from the cities. Pol Pot accused Hou Yuon of not agreeing to implement the vious years, during which the people had to suffer 80 considerably in connection with the Vietnam war. Center’s plan. Hou Yuon disappeared for ever” . In the decades of this war, Sihanouk succeeded in The evacuation of Phnom Penh was enforced

73 Picq, Laurence, Au delà du ciel – Cinq ans chez des Khmers rouges. Paris, 1984, 14. 74 Barth, Ariane; Terzani, Tiziano, Holocaust in Kambodscha. Hamburg, 1980, 214. 75 Sources: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, 89, Friday, 17 April 1998, 5. Die Tageszeitung, Saturday / Sunday, 18 and 19 April 1998. Süddeutsche Zeitung, Saturday / Sunday, 18 and 19 April 1998. 76 “Das Ende eines Monsters“. Der Spiegel, 17 January 1998, 152. 77 Fenton, James, ’The bitter End in Cambodia’, cited according to Kiernan, Ben (ed.), How…, op. cit., ii. 78 Kiernan, Ben, “The American Bombardment of Kampuchea, 1969-1973”. Viet-Nam generation, 1 (1989), 4-41, 4. 79 Ibid., 4-41, 4. 80 Samrin, Heng, “Interview with Ben Kiernan 1991”; cited according to Kiernan Ben, The Pol Pot Regime – Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge 1975-1979. New Haven, 1996, 33.

122 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA within a few hours and was accordingly very chao- 4. Defrode all Buddhist monks and put them tic. The street which led out of the city was very to work growing rice. soon crowded and thus the refugee’s trek to the 5. Execute all cadres of the Lon Nol regime various rural regions progressed very slowly. The beginning with top leaders. behavior of the Khmer Rouge varied. Those from the eastern regions appeared less brutal. Some 6. Establish high-level cooperative throug- inhabitants of Phnom Penh were allowed to carry hout the country, with communal eating. provisions while others were compelled by force to 7. Expel the entire Vietnamese minority leave their homes straight away. Former soldiers of population. Lon Nol were shot. There were also – obviously – 8. Dispatch troops to the border, particularly unplanned gunfights. Moreover, there were several the Vietnamese border” 84. fatalities due to the rushed evacuation of hospitals and the complete shortage of medical care. Like the At this meeting, moreover, it was presumably capital, other Cambodian cities were also evacuated announced that religion (i.e., Buddhism) was not within very short periods of time and the inhabi- permitted. Monks should be fought as a special tants were expelled to the countryside. This kind of class. These plans were implemented with literally deportation did not go unrepeated: there were murderous consequences within a very short period constant migration movements ordered by “Ang- of time. This is confirmed by eye witness reports: kor”, which led to more and more losses due to in- Thoun Cheng, who came from a village, was creasing supply problems and the growing exhaus- interviewed in a refugee camp in the Northeast of tion of the population. Laurence Picq, the French Thailand in 1979: “Also in April 1975, Khmer wife of a top-ranking official reports: “Peu de Rouge troops came to live in the village. It was not temps après notre arrivée à B [...]”81. “Nous ne long before they began imposing a very harsh life- vécûmes qu’une dizaine de jours dans ce petit havre style on the villagers. Everybody was now obliged de paix”82. to work in the fields or dig reservoirs from 3 or 4 The new regime was able consolidate power a.m. until 10 p.m. The only breaks were from noon very quickly. This consolidation was useful for the till 1 p.m. and from 5 to 6 p.m. ... Land became conference on May 20, 1975 in Phnom Penh: communal. Also from 1975, money was abolished “District and region secretaries came from all over ... In 1975, the Khmer Rouge also began executing the country, and representatives from all armed for- rich people ... College students and former govern- ces and units and regions, so there were thou- ment officials and police ... During 1976-1977 sands”83. There are no documents pertaining to most of the Khmer Rouge teachers in the village changed six times. More than 50 Khmer Rouge this conference. Kiernan obtained his information 85 from interviews with five different “sources”, three were executed in these purges” . of which were participants of the conference Eye witnesses agree that the situation drasti- (among them Heng Samrin). cally deteriorated after the first 11/2 years, i.e., not According to these sources, the following were only through the increase in supply problems, but declared as targets of the new regime: mainly because of the increasing numbers of executions of whole groups of people who seemed in 1. Evacuate all people from all towns. some way to be distinctive and thus a threat to the 2. Abolish all markets. party’s power. More and more top-ranking party 3. Abolish Lon Nol regime currency and officials became victims of these “purge activities”. withhold the revolutionary currency that A general climate of denunciation began to had been printed. develop which was bolstered by the destruction of

81 Picq, Laurence, Au-delà..., op. cit., 55. 82 Ibid, 194. 83 Kiernan, Ben, The Pol Pot Regime…, op. cit., 55. 84 Ibid., 55. 85 Kiernan, Ben; Boua, Chanthou, Peasants…, op. cit., 332-333.

123 RHA,Vol. 4, Núm. 4 (2006), 107-130 Ruth Erken evolved social structures – not just due to the alrea- bodia, but there were bigger groups in many villa- dy mentioned “migrations”, but also due to the tea- ges near the banks of the Mekong or in the suburbs ring apart of families. Men, women and children of Phnom Penh. The Cham worked as fishermen, were accommodated in separate locations and butchers, foresters and weavers. The degree to could only see each other occasionally; they often which they had adapted to mainstream life varied. completely lost contact with one other after a short Some of them kept their own language, others only time. Children had no school education, they had stood out from their environment through their to work in the fields at the age of 8 to 10 years; at religion. In some regions, a certain kind of symbio- the same age they were accustomed to the use of sis developed: “Since Buddhism prohibits the weapons: “Pol Pot and Jeng Sary taught the chil- slaughter of stock for food, Khmers often prefer to dren in Cambodia to hunt human beings [...]” 86. sell stock to the Chams”89. In this way, the Khmer Rouge recruited their up- As a typical rural ethnic group, the Cham by and-coming soldiers. A witness, who was interviewed and large co-existed peacefully with the Buddhist in Australia after his successful escape, speaks of: Khmer majority, even if they could only rarely “brutality and inflexibility at the youthful Khmer achieve a higher position within the army. This Rouge cadres, their unjustified and unaccountable situation changed massively under the Pol Pot regi- power over life and death and their heartless un- 87 me. According to Bernd Kiernan, the Cham were concern for human suffering” . pursued “for being Cham, that is, for racial rea- Many authors emphasize that the treatment of sons”90; he indicates the following reason: The the various ethnic groups differed greatly. The esta- Cham were expelled from their ancestral villages in blished rural population was cared for slightly bet- very small groups, which were not allowed to have ter than the “new-comers”, i.e., the expelled city any contact with each other and which were dis- dwellers. The latter received almost no agricultural persed throughout Cambodia. Their language and equipment to cultivate the soil in the newly foun- religion were forbidden (due to the permanent ded villages. Special attention must be paid to the monitoring they could not practice them in secret). handling of ethnic minorities, the largest of which They were forced “to eat pork at the communal were the Muslim Cham in Cambodia, the majority meals and finally there was a higher percentage of of which was Buddhist. This Cham minority lived losses among the Cham than among the Khmer both in Vietnam and in Cambodia. It came from majority). It must be pointed out that the Cham’s an originally Hindu-Buddhist-oriented Southeast fate was hardly noted by the Islamic world, al- Asian state called Champa, which had been con- though one of them tried to draw the UN’s atten- quered by the Kingdom of Vietnam in 1471. Some tion to this fact: “The survivors of the Cham peo- thousands had remained in their ancestral region in ple are not merely ‘orphans of genocide’. They are the middle South of Vietnam. “But 200,000 more also disinherited of the Muslim world, the ‘lost Chams lived in Kampuchea, where their ancestors children’ now of Islamic culture”91. had fled. There they had adopted the religion of This does not, of course, apply to the other Islam and had intermarried with “Malays” to form 88 ethnic minorities, the biggest of which were the a staunch Muslim community” . Chinese and the Vietnamese. The Khmer Rouge The Cham were distributed throughout Cam- said about them: “Chinese are going to China, Viet-

86 “Spiegel-Gespräch mit Kambodschas Exil-Regent Prinz Norodom Sihanouk”, in Barth, Ariane; Terzani, Tiziano (eds.), Holocaust…, op. cit., 104. 87 Stuart-Fox, Martin, The Murderous Revolution – Life & Death in Pol Pot’s Kampuchea – based on the personal experiences of Bunheang Ung – Drawings by Bunheang Ung. Sydney, 1985, 81. 88 Kiernan, Ben, “Orphans of Genocide – The Cham Muslims of Kampuchea under Pol Pot”. Bulletin of concerned Asian Scholars, 20 (1988), 2-33, 2. 89 Jauftret, R., “Possibilités de l’élevage bovin et bubalin dans les Provinces du secteur vétérinaire du Cambodge”, cited according to Kiernan, Ben, The Pol Pot Regime…, op. cit., 255. 90 Kiernan, Ben, “Orphans…”, op. cit., 2-33, 30. 91 Ibid, 33.

124 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA namese to Vietnam, Khmers to (stay in) Kampu- was an ethnic Khmer minority who lived in Viet- chea”92. nam as a result of the many conquests. Many of At the beginning of the Pol Pot regime, there them who spoke Khmer with a Vietnamese accent were indeed ethnic Vietnamese who tried to return had moved to Cambodia before the Pol Pot regime, to their native country Vietnam. There were, ho- mainly to Phnom Penh. Some leading CP mem- wever, no efforts to arrange an organized evacua- bers also belonged to the Khmer Krom: “[...] such as Jeng Sary and Son Sen, both of whom were born tion of ethnic Chinese to China. The significant 96 Chinese minority typically belonged to the urban in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta” . middle classes. In fact, the ethnic Chinese earned Small ethnic groups from the northwest moun- their living mainly from trade; even if they origi- tainous region were treated clearly very differently. nally came from rural regions, they almost never They were treated with priority for a longer period worked as farmers. Consequently, the survival chan- of time. The CP leaders, e.g., Pol Pot and Jeng Sary, ces decreased for many of them, since they were recruited their bodyguards from this “Khmer Locu” forced to work as agricultural labourers under ex- group because these illiterate young men –who mos- treme conditions, as were all Cambodians expelled tly spoke only broken Khmer– were the only ones from the cities. Many of them starved or died of who gave the impression that they: “dared to sacrifi- diseases (malaria). Although they were generally ce their lives to save their chiefs”97. Therefore, they not pursued (or sometimes even executed) for were rewarded with positions in the foreign office as racist reasons, but because of “a general prejudice reported by Laurence Picq for example. 93 against city dwellers” , the following is true: “For Several small ethnic groups from other moun- Cambodia’s ethnic Chinese, Democratic Kampu- tainous regions were in a worse situation. They chea was the worst disaster ever to befall any ethnic 94 were partially forced to grow rice in the lowlands; Chinese community in Southeast Asia” . their ceremonial equipment was taken away from For the ethnic Vietnamese minority, which them to produce weapons. As all inhabitants of was also a large group, the regime was a disaster. Cambodia, these ethnic groups suffered from the After a repatriation attempt in 1975, the Vietna- deteriorating logistical situation. What is more, in mese were no longer allowed to emigrate – which the regime’s last one and a half active years, mem- means that they were caught. They simply died bers of these minorities were even executed on the because they were Vietnamese: The hatred against grounds that they were “traitors”. Vietnam, which Kampuchea Krom had seized in th Besides the assassination or the “causing the the 18 century (it became part of Cochinchina), death” of certain groups of the population, there increasingly became a central element of the prop- 95 were also “individual executions following impri- aganda” . The obsessive persecution and killing of sonment and interrogation”98. There was a network all people who could somehow be connected with of prisons distributed all over Cambodia which Vietnam was extended to all those who spoke Viet- were torture centers and which almost no prisoner namese, who were friends of Vietnamese, and fina- survived. The Khmer Rouge leadership believed lly to more or less all inhabitants of the eastern re- that the desired new social order could be achieved gion which bordered on Vietnam. sooner by getting rid of those who had “lingering The Khmer Krom were affected to different attitudes of ‘privateness’ or ‘propertyism’”99. There extents, depending on the local circumstances They were ritual inquiries, confessions –sometimes even

92 Kiernan, Ben, The Pol Pot Regime…, op. cit., 252. 93 Ibid, 295. 94 Ibid, 295. 95 Margolin, Jean-Louis, “Kambodscha…”, op. cit., 609. 96 Kiernan, Ben, The Pol Pot Regime…, op. cit., 298. 97 Ibid, 302. 98 Hannum, Hurst, “International Law and Cambodian Genocide: The Sounds of Silence”. Human Rights Quarterly, 11 (1989), 82-138, 89. 99 Ibid, 90.

125 RHA,Vol. 4, Núm. 4 (2006), 107-130 Ruth Erken absurd ones– were extorted by means of torture; the Vietnamese invasion, since this meant the end the prisoners documented these confessions in wri- of the reign of terror: “Festivities to celebrate the ting and signed them with their name and finger- overthrow of the Khmer Rouge were quickly or- print. The largest of these torture centers was the ganized at which traditional dances and songs were so-called “S 21” in Phnom Penh, today known performed for the first time in almost four years. under the denomination ‘Tuol Sleng’, which was Vietnamese troops joined the celebrations, mingled directly controlled by the top rank of the regime. with the Khmer crowds, and took part in the dan- Hardly any prisoner survived. But records were ces”103. kept to an extraordinary degree (confessions, daily The Vietnamese supported the appointment reports), and we can truly speak of a regular “bure- 100 of a new Cambodian government. The survivors aucracy of death” . Today, Tuol Sleng is an impor- tried very soon to return to a kind of normal life. tant documentation center with thousands of files, Up to today, Cambodia has remained a very poor many of which must still be processed from the country beset with problems, which very soon point of view of historic and legal aspects. vanished from the limelight of the world’s atten- Pol Pot’s regime was ended by the Vietnamese tion. invasion. During the first two years, the regime was An analysis of the question of how it was pos- murderous towards its own people. However, it sible for the Pol Pot regime to develop has at the co-existed relatively peacefully with its two bigger most been examined only very marginally. The neighbors Thailand and Vietnam. The internal ag- Khmer Rouge cadres have not yet been accused. gression, which reached a blood thirsty pitch, went Hurst Hannum examines this topic104. He proves hand in hand with an increase in aggressive action that the crimes which were committed under the and threats mainly against Vietnam. The Khmer Pol Pot regime correspond to the definition of Rouge attacked ever more Vietnamese border villa- genocide in accordance with international law: ges. From mid-1977, the leading group spread the Acts of genocide against ethnical and racial groups: idea of a Vietnamese re-conquest of Kampuchea this means the described actions against the ethnic Krom. On December 21, 1978, the then Vietnamese minorities, primarily against the Cham and the minister of defense Vo Nguyen Giap announced Vietnamese. the invasion of Cambodia: “Four days later, [...] one hundred fifty thousand Vietnam troops and fifteen thousand Cambodian insurgents stormed 1.4. Acts of genocide against religious groups across the border”101. “By 11 a.m. (January 6, 102 The Khmer Rouge’s violent course of action 1979), Phnom Penh was in Vietnamese hands” . against the practice of religion mostly affected Sihanouk, who had been under house arrest in Buddhism, which was the national religion of Phnom Penh under the Pol Pot regime –though Cambodia - and which was much more than just a living in very comfortable conditions– was to some religion for this country. It was and is the core of extent liberated by the Vietnamese. On the after- Cambodian culture. The monks were important noon of January 6, 1979, he flew to Beijing, after bearers of this culture, e.g., they handed down the he had promised Pol Pot to confront the UNO language. According to Hannum, the destruction with the Cambodian question. The Khmer Rouge of Buddhism as an organized religion and the escaped towards the Thai border. In this border physical destruction of the vast majority of the region, Pol Pot and his entourage managed to monks correspond to the meaning of the Genocide maintain a certain local influence. The majority of Convention. the surviving Cambodian population appreciated

100 Boua, Chanthou; Kiernan, Ben and Barnett, Anthony, “Bureaucracy of Death: Documents from Inside Pol Pot’s Torture Machine”. New Statesman, 2 may 1980, 669-676, 669. 101 Kiernan, Ben, The Pol Pot Regime…, op. cit., 450. 102 Ibid, 452. 103 Stuart-Fox, Martin, The Murderous Revolution…, op. cit., 170. 104 Hannum, Hurst, “International Law…”, op. cit., 82-138.

126 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA

1.5. Acts of genocide against the Khmer national For them, China was not communist enough. We, group the Khmer Rouge, are the only party which can 106 The Pol Pot regime’s actions against its own enforce total communism within one year!” . people also falls within the definition of genocide, It is also clearly documented that the regime since certain groups were eliminated “in whole or refused to grant the Cambodians the right to pri- in part” as “such” e.g., the officer corps of the de- vacy as postulated by Hirsch. However, in this case, feated army, top-ranking officials of the two pre- the right to privacy was not violated by the use of vious governments, the highly educated classes. modern monitoring techniques, but by generally Hannum compares the actions against certain preventing the people from leading private lives (no Khmer groups with the Nazi’s actions against, for private property, only public meals, separation of example, homosexuals or socialists. families, no choice of workplace, enforced mobility, Hannum also explains that, according to the etc.). The people themselves had no means of power Convention, genocide not only means the direct (no freedom of assembly, no means of communica- killing of the named groups, but also the infliction tion). Indeed, the situation was that “after 1975, at of “serious bodily or mental harm”, or “deliberately least, the CPK Center won every confrontation. It inflicting conditions of life”. This includes exhaus- concentrated more and more power, progressively provoking and eliminating regional challenges as ting marches and labor, separation of families, fa- 107 mine, the non-treatment of diseases. All this clearly well as dissidents and rivals in the capital” . happened under the Khmer Rouge regime. It can The fact that there was no party pluralism therefore be established that the Pol Pot regime seems to have been considered self-evident. Cer- committed genocide in accordance with the defini- tainly, no documents have been found to prove that tion of the Geneva Convention of 1948. there was an explicit ban on other parties (which, As explained at the beginning, the perpetra- however, were only just developing in 1975) apart tion of such macro-crimes presupposes the exis- from the CP. The situation was similar with regard tence of a totalitarian regime. It must therefore be to the overcoming of an independent judiciary. verified whether Cambodia under Pol Pot falls There was without doubt no independent judiciary under the definition of a “totalitarian” regime. On under Pol Pot, but it is doubtful whether there had the basis of Funke’s definition (which states that we been anything like an independent judiciary before can speak of a totalitarian regime if it combines the Pol Pot. The people had no possibility of exercising overcoming of the separation of power, the abolish- “power control through secret ballots”. In March ment of party pluralism and the control of power 1976, there were elections at which not every adult had the right to vote (“only workers at worksites through secret ballots and the abolishment of an 108 independent judiciary, and if it at the same time voted”) . Moreover, there was no election cam- has complete control over the means of power, legi- paign. The CP center chose the 250 successful can- timized by an ideology which aims at enforcing a didates who assembled only once: “The CPRA new social model), the latter can be proved very (=Cambodian People’s Representative Assembly) easily, since ample evidence exists. There is, for assembled for the first time on 10 April for a one- hour evening meeting ... the next morning everyo- example, the following statement made by Jeng Sa- 109 ry: “The Khmer revolution is unprecedented. What ne re-convened ... They never reconvened” . we are trying to realize has never been achieved in All in all, it can be said that Cambodia under the past history”105, or a statement made by Siha- Pol Pot corresponds to the definition of a totalita- nouk: “The Khmer Rouge wanted to be the first rian state, if it is taken into account that – before true communists in the history of humankind [...]. 1975 – Cambodia had not been a state with a de-

105 Chandler, David P., The Tragedy of Cambodian History, cited according Margolin, Jean-Louis, “Kambodscha…”, op. cit., 682. 106 “Spiegel-Gespräch mit Kambodschas Exil-Regent Prinz Norodom Sihanouk”, in Barth, Ariane; Terzani, Tiziano (eds.), Holocaust…, op. cit., 103. 107 Kiernan, Ben, The Pol Pot Regime…, op. cit., 464. 108 Ibid, 326. 109 Ibid, 326-327.

127 RHA,Vol. 4, Núm. 4 (2006), 107-130 Ruth Erken mocratic tradition, i.e., certain structures could not over material conditions and so reverse historical be eliminated (overcome), because they did not trends”112. Therefore, Pol Pot and his clique were exist or only partly existed. not communists in the sense that they considered There is still the question of whether the Pol Pot history to advance in processes but in the sense that regime was communist, a fact which only appears they utilized Maoist instruments to implement obvious. There is no doubt that Pol Pot and his clique their backward-looking aims - literally at all costs. understood themselves to be communists. There is The biggest problem with regard to classifying substantial evidence here (the members of the lea- the Pol Pot regime as communist is its racism: “To dership had contact with the CPF in France or were that end (to ensure the perenniality of the Khmer members of it). Pol Pot had never known a non-com- race), the Khmer Rouge adopted a philosophy of munist country apart from France, where his only racial superiority and purity that resembled that of contacts were groups of Cambodian students. The Nazi Germany, including the use of progroms to ideology of Pol Pot and the leading cadres was expli- eliminate minorities”113. citly oriented to the Maoist or the Chinese variant of As described earlier, this racism became espe- Communism. They wanted to be even better com- cially blatant against the Cham. In this context I munists than the Chinese. “Democratic Kampuchea 110 want to refer to a document which the Vietnamese claimed to be the Number 1 Communist state” . representative Ha Van La presented to the UN on Moreover, Pol Pot and his entourage were in October 12, 1979. This document was obtained in close contact with Vietnam’s CP before 1975, which connection with the trial in August 1979 conduct- –as stated earlier– criticized the absence of interna- ed by the leading representatives of the Vietnamese tional aspects in the Cambodian CP’s program. It occupying power against the Pol Pot regime: “The must be pointed out that the other Asian commu- Cham nation therefore no longer exists on Kam- nist parties were also clearly nationally oriented. puchean soil belonging to the Khmer. Accordingly They saw themselves as struggling for the libera- the Cham mentality, Cham nationality, the Cham tion of their countries from colonialism, as descri- language, Cham usages and customs, and Cham bed by Vietnam’s CP under Ho Chi Minh. Pol religious beliefs must be immediately abolished”114. Pot’s nationalism was of a different character than Even if the racism was particularly blatant the one of Ho Chi Minh, who was committed in a towards the Cham, it was not directed at them credible way to a better future for his people. For alone. Cambodia’s CP under Pol Pot exterminated Pol Pot and his entourage, being Khmer meant everyone who had a long revolutionary experience harking back to Cambodia’s past glory: “history 111 but did not fit in with the Pol Pot group’s percep- was to be undone” . It can thus be said that the tion of an “approved Khmer”. This was the fate of pursued aims were clearly reactionary, whereas the many whom the urban Pol Pot group fixed on after communist parties of China and Vietnam were their return from France. more future-oriented. Even if they focused on rural development, they realized that there was a need In Kiernan’s opinion, the race concept was at the for industrialization. Although Mao –as mentioned forefront compared to the class conflict: “...Khmer Rouge conceptions of race overshadowed those of before– had a certain dislike of ‘book knowledge’ 115 and felt the necessity to learn by doing (rural life), class” . this anti-intellectualism was not decisive for his ide- To sum up, we can answer the question of ological orientation. In Kiernan’s opinion, Maoism whether or not the Pol Pot regime was communist was significant also for the following reason: “Here by saying that the regime saw itself as such, dra- Maoism proved a useful ideological tool, for it stres- wing its ideological instruments from communism, ses the capacity of human willpower to triumph mainly in the form of Maoism. The Khmer Rouge

110 Ibid., 25. 111 Ibid, p. 27. 112 Ibid., 27. 113 Haunum, Hurst, “International Law…”, op. cit., 82-138, 86. 114 Kiernan, Ben, “Kampuchea and Stalinism”, in Colin Mackerras; Nick Knight (eds.), Marxism…, op. cit., 249. 115 Kiernan, Ben, The Pol Pot Regime…, op. cit., 26.

128 Cambodia Under the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979). An Example of a Totalitarian Communist Regime? MISCELÁNEA shared its national orientation with other Asian only backwards and harked back to the former glory communists as well as with many Cambodians. of Cambodia. The leading clique shared this kind of The idea that the clock could be turned back and nationalism with very many Cambodians. The aura the emphasis on racial purity, however, do not of mystery which surrounded Pol Pot at all times correspond to the communist ideology. matched the tradition of Hindu and Buddhist Cambodian kings rather than that of communist lea- CONCLUSION ders, who in some cases did adopt another name, but The answer to the question of whether or not did not remain as mysterious as Pol Pot. Cambodia (Kampuchea) under Pol Pot (1975- The attempt by Pol Pot (and his clique) to undo 1979) was a totalitarian regime is that the regime historical processes (instead of comprehending his- can without doubt be called totalitarian. However, tory as “inevitable progression”116) and above all his the fact must be taken into account that Cambodia distinct racism, which reminds certain authors of the was (is?) a country without democratic tradition, nazis, cannot be reconciled with communist ideas. and that therefore certain structures –such as an This racism was a key element of the committed ge- independent judiciary– had not existed prior to the nocide. The historic development of Cambodia outli- regime or were just starting to emerge. ned earlier and above all the involvement of Cam- The regime was communist in the sense that bodia in the Vietnam war (particularly the tremen- the leadership clique’s ideology was oriented to- dous damages caused by the bombardment by the wards certain communist variants, i.e., the leaders, United States at the end of the war) supported the who had been educated in France, were influenced establishment of the regime and therewith provided and formed by the CPF, which was Stalinist in the the prerequisites for the genocide. Many questions in period after World War II. Moreover, they took connection with the Pol Pot regime and the genoci- their lead from Mao’s concepts. Finally, Cambodia’s de are not yet clarified. Therefore, there is considera- CP - of which Pol Pot became the chairman after ble need for further research, e.g., on the role of Bud- his return from France - started to develop in close dhism or on the structure of the psycho-social condi- association with the Vietnamese CP. The national tions and the partly close relationships of the indivi- orientation united both parties, who considered dual members of the leading clique with each other. themselves to be liberation movements. It is highly regrettable that the matter has not yet been fully dealt with and that therefore those respon- Unlike the Vietnamese nationalism, the natio- sible were never punished. nalism of the Cambodian leading cadres was directed

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