Introduction
The guide Studying Genocides presents nine genocides recognized by the UN, Canada, or Quebec. Here, discover the case of the genocide of the Chams, Vietnamese and Khmer in Cambodia, presented through four sections: the first section provides context for the study with a map, highlights, and a timeline; the second offers a problematization of the case under study; the third examines essential elements of the historical context; and the fourth section describes the genocide according to the six stages of the genocidal process.
EXCERPT FROM AN ACCOUNT
“In the work camps, if we didn’t work, we were arrested. It was up to them whether or not to charge us. If we were sick, they said we were sick in the head. They mistreated those they didn’t like, whatever they did. For example, my father tried to work hard, but he was charged and killed. If they said you were the enemy, there was nothing you could do. They tied up my father right in front of me. I thought they were going to kill me, too, that night, because they used to say: ‘If you’re removing weeds, you need to remove the roots, too.’ He was right in front of me, but I couldn’t cry. It wasn’t allowed.” [translation]
Timeline
Highlights
- Government overthrown by the communist Khmer Rouge
- Assassinations and mass deportations of Cambodians, more specifically, ethnic minorities
- Cambodia
- Between 1975 and 1979
- The perpetrators were the Cambodian Communists, known as the “Khmer Rouge.”
- In 1970, Lon Nol’s regime orchestrated the first mass executions and deportations of Vietnamese living in Cambodia.
- The victims of the genocide were Muslim Chams, Thai, semi-nomadic tribes of the northeast, Vietnamese, Chinese, Catholic Khmer, and Khmer populations seen as enemies. It is estimated that between 1.3 and 2.3 million Cambodians were killed.
The full Story
We have developed a comprehensive document that outlines and summarizes the entire narrative. Please download, print, and utilize it for your teaching and study purposes.
Pictures
Testimonials
“In this world, I am no longer a person. I have no freedom, no thoughts, no origins, no heritage, no rights; I no longer have a body. I have only a duty: to dissolve into the organization.”
“[The CPK arrested] the scholarly clerics and took them away to kill them. . . . In the early morning, the Khmer Rouge tied the people up and murdered them in the middle of the river. There were hundreds of victims, two or three boatloads every day. Even sick people were put in boats and tossed overboard.”