Memento Mori- Cambodian Killing Fields

By Samuel Kye

https://foto.wuestenigel.com/wp-content/uploads/api/bigfoot-wilbur-und-weitere-donut-sorten-bei-dunkin-donuts.jpeg

Before we begin...

When you walk down the streets of California, you may be greeted by the sweet and savory smell of donuts. If you go to a donut shop, you will see an impressive pink colored box. There are many places in California and states that sell donut with pink boxes. These fascinating boxes contain stories of pain and suffering of the people who survived and died at Cambodian Genocide (1975-1979), which is a mistake and a huge lesson for all humanity.

Brief History of Cambodia until 1975

Ancient History~1863

Angkor Wat was Originally built as a Hinduism temple, but converted to Buddhism temple during king Jayavarman VII era( 1125-1218)

https://live.staticflickr.com/6166/6198305217_3b4c726b35_b.jpg

Cambodia is a country with a turbulent history. In the 9th century, King Jayavarman II gained independence from Java and united several small countries to establish the Angkor Dynasty Khmer Kingdom in the 9th century.

The Khmer Empire grew to be the most powerful regime in Southeast Asia and boasted its power by creating Angkor Wat during the reign of King Suryavarman II (1113-1150). According to “the customs of Cambodia” written by Chinese diplomats Zhou Daguan, who visited Cambodia during the rule of Indravarman III (1237-1308) in 1297, 500 court ladies attended to the king, a chariot drawn by goats and horses is decorated with gold, more than 100 golden parasols surround the king. Around him, the elephant's ivory is coated with jewels and gold. [1]

This splendid and magnificent prosperity gradually declined due to constant invasions from Vietnam and Thailand and internal chaos, and it never regained its glory due to “dark period” or post Angkor period, a long time of stagnation from the 15th century to 1863. [2]

[END notes]

[1] Andrew Forbes, Colin Hinshelwood and David Henley, Angkor: Eighth Wonder of the World (Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books, 2012), 108.

[2] Nhim Sotheavin, "Factors that Led to the Change of the Khmer Capitals from the 15th to 17th century,"カンボジアの文化復興29, no 16(2014): 87

French Colonial Era- Abandoned colony and rediscovery of Nationalism

1863 was a time that completely changed the fate of Cambodia. Cambodia asked for protection from France in order to survive from Thailand and Vietnam. The first attempt was made in 1853, but was thwarted by Thailand, and in 1863, Cambodia requested protection again and became a French colony. During the colonial period, the monarchy was maintained. [3]

However, French government made more strategic investments in Vietnam in its Indochina colony. The reason is that Vietnam was considering it as a "gateway to China."[4] As a result of neglecting strategic investment and not developing, many Cambodians have ended up living as poor farmers. Meanwhile, in 1863, France rediscovered Angkor Wat, which had disappeared. This discovery has a great connection with the revival of Cambodian nationalism in the 20th century as a reflection of a glorious forgotten history as well.

World War II and King Sihanouk

"....But the tragic hero is not Sihanouk but 6e people of Cambodia"[8] -By King Sihanouk, He is said to have often said these words when defining himself and Cambodians. https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.62cc29d81e78e2a631a50d3db9c52586?rik=Z0lNZlEQm%2fwflg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fnorodomsihanouk.info%2fAll%2fphoto%2fDivers%2fHistoireSouvenirs%2fNovembre2010%2fid215%2fphoto001.jpg&ehk=U%2bxMnZ5NIkUCJKCR%2fW6LjqabCqLksUsqO1Ke%2by71HnA%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

After Sihanouk's fall from power, he traveled back and forth between Beijing and Pyongyang and formed a sworn brother relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Mao_Sihanouk.jpg/330px-Mao_Sihanouk.jpg

During the World War II, Cambodia was also under Japanese control because Japan occupied all Southeast Asian countries, including French Indochina, and withdrew after Japan was defeated in 1945. Although France recognized Cambodia as a self-governing kingdom within the French Federation, efforts for full independence continued at that time.

King Sihanouk (1922-2012), who took the throne in 1944 at the age of 18, used public opinion and political finesse to gain an independence movement, and in 1953 he became the first kingdom of Cambodia and gained independence from French colonial rule.[5] Having acquired all power in Cambodia, he played the role of a "benevolent father monarch" as the head of the Sangkumសង្គម , which can be interpreted as the People's Socialist Community, as a leader of Buddhist socialism. [6] In this particular background, he launched a Third World Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War, declared Cambodia not to be on the side of the United States or the Soviet Union, receiving military and financial support from the United States, and engaged in "neutralism" while establishing friendly relations with communist countries. His diplomacy had effect even United States defined him "played this game adroitly" [7]

However, national dissatisfaction began to build up due to the economic recession that continued in the mid-1960s. And also, In 1967, a civil war began between Kingdom of Cambodia and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), as known as Khmer Rouge was get help from North Vietnam, and led by Pol pot. The civil war resulting national anxiety and dissatisfaction resulted in 1970, while Sihanouk was abroad, he was overthrown by the Congress.

[END Notes]

[3] Arthur Cotterell, A History of Southeast Asia. (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 2014), 176
[4] "Cambodian History," Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, accessed May 28, 2024, https://cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian-history/

[5] Michelle Vachon, "Cambodia’s Independence: What It Took to Make This Happen 70th Years Ago," Cambodianess. November 9, 2023, https://cambodianess.com/article/cambodias-independence-what-it-took-to-make-this-happen-70th-years-ago

[6] David Ayres, Anatomy of a Crisis(Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 2000), 31-32

[7] "FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1964–1968, VOLUME XXVII, MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA; REGIONAL AFFAIRS," Department of State, accessed Jun 7, 2024, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v27/d163

[8] BBC, "Obituary: Norodom Sihanouk, former king of Cambodia," accessed May 29, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-19943965

The Khmer Rouge took power-the beginning of tragedy

After Sihanouk's fall, General Lon Nol, with support from the United States, staged a coup in 1970 and seized power. Meanwhile, the United States invaded Cambodia by launching the Cambodian campaign under the pretext of suppressing the Viet-Cong and the remnants of North Vietnam, and the Lon Nol regime abandoned its policy of neutrality and actively cooperated with the United States. During this process, more than 50,000 to 150,000 people died from bombings and massacres. [9] The Lon Nol administration showed irresponsible behavior by turning a blind eye to the massacre of civilians by the U.S. military, failed in its economic policies, and was, in the opinion of the time, "a man so incompetent that his subordinates immediately fell asleep and snoring when he talked about it."[10] Anti-American sentiment became widespread in Cambodia due to the corruption of his close associates and the government.

Through this incompetence and seething anti-American sentiment of Ronol's government, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh in April 17, 1975 and founded the "Democratic Kampuchea" thanks to guerrilla warfare, propaganda and incitement, and the support of King Sihanouk, who fled to Beijing.[11]

However, King Sihanouk was nominally the leader of the country, but Pol Pot seized all power and resigned a year later and was placed under house arrest. And Cambodia's worst tragedy, the Killing Fields, comes to the entire land.

Description: President Nixon directing the Cambodian Campaign. Through this operation, many Cambodians were massacred and the Communist Party gained public support.

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fdfad3e1-74e4-4c90-af69-777836a2ce8d_640x424.jpeg

[END NOTE]

[9] "War Closes in on Cambodia," United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed Jun 04, 2024, https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/cambodia/war-closes-in

[10] Lee Ung Hee, "The world's worst leaders," The DONG-A ILBO, March 17, 1975, https://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.naver?articleId=1975031700209203006&editNo=2&printCount=1&publishDate=1975-03-17&officeId=00020&pageNo=3&printNo=16448&publishType=00020

[11] Anthony Kuhn, "King Sihanouk, An Artist And Architect Of Cambodia," npr, October 15, 2012, https://www.npr.org/2012/10/15/162955076/king-sihanouk-an-artist-and-architect-of-cambodia

Killing Field 1975-1979

"....Our policy was to provide an affluent life for the people. There were mistakes made in carrying it out. Several thousand people may have died."

Interview with Robert Whytman for The Guardian (11 December 1979) [12]

...And His several mistakes and self-righteousness lead the country to total destruction.

https://images.uncyc.org/fi/a/ae/Pol_the_Pot_Pot.jpg

British philosopher Karl Popper said in his book The Open Society and Its Enemies, "...Even with the best intentions of making heaven on earth it only succeeds in making it a hell—that hell which man alone prepares for his fellow-men." [13] And the Khmer Rouge exactly descended hell on Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

Pol Pot's political idea was very special, and there was a sense of difference from general communism. In many cases of communism, strategies are established based on Antonio Gramsci' s (1891-1937) "cultural hegemony" theory. In other words, the basic goal was to spread communist ideology to urban intellectuals and infiltrate activists into factories to make them participate in the communist revolution.[14] But Pol Pot had other ideas. A Maoist who emphasized rural-based communist revolution, Pol Pot combined Khmer nationalism and advocated xenophobia and peasant-based self-sufficiency. [15]

On April 17, 1974, the Khmer Rouge communist revolutionaries in Phnom Penh took the first tragic step toward establishing their own "Utopia." Soldiers began using loudspeakers to order the city's two million residents to move to the countryside. Foreigners and their families in Phnom Penh were forced to take refuge in the French embassy and watched helplessly as two million people disappeared from the vibrant city.

[END NOTES]

[12] Robert Whytman, "From the archive, 11 December 1979: Deposed Pol Pot gives interview in the jungle," The Guardian, December 11, 1979, https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/dec/11/pol-pot-khmer-rouge-interview

[13] Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), Chapter 24

[14] Klejton Cikaj, "Antonio Gramsci on Cultural Hegemony: What Is It and How Does It Work?," The Collector, Aug 21, 2023, https://www.thecollector.com/antonio-gramsci-cultural-hegemony/

[15] "Pol Pot," Marxists Internet Archive, accessed Jun 07, 2024, https://www.marxists.org/archive/pol-pot/index.htm

Massive Genocide-A living Hell called Paradise

Cambodians toil at an irrigation project in Kompong Thom province in 1976. —Documentation Center of Cambodia

"...Our only hope is that the Khmer Rouge forced many of these people to return immediately to their farms, their home villages and begin putting in crops. This is what we have heard has been happening. It is the only way they could prevent mass starvation.”

-1975, One former Cambodian relief official interview with New York Times [16]

Pol Pot sent "polluted" minds to rural areas for "re-education" by their standards. The Khmer Rouge ideology stated that the only acceptable lifestyle was that of poor farmers. Factories, hospitals, schools, and universities were completely shut down. Experts in all fields - teachers, doctors, engineers, office man and professors - were considered potential enemies.

The Khmer Rouge attempted to standardize unique identities by having people wear only black clothing, and aimed to abolish the traditional family. Communal meals, joint labor, self-criticism, and mutual surveillance became routine. [17] The Khmer Rouge deliberately encouraged illiteracy, and all culture, such as traditional Cambodian art, literature, and music, was completely banned. People's natural emotions were controlled and all their passion and energy had to be used for the prosperity of New Kampuchea.

They proposed a standard of more than three times higher to increase rice yield. If the quota was not met, continuous violence was inflicted or even death was imposed. What came to those who came to rural areas was terrible working conditions, an unreasonable workload, and little food. Starving people foraged for lizards, snails and wild vegetables. Tons of people starved to death, were executed, or died from overwork. Those were the three endings given to them.[18]

The Khmer Rouge put children at the center of the revolution because they believed that they could be easily formed, conditioned, and brainwashed. They thought that children could obey orders, become soldiers, and learn to kill their enemies. Children were taught to believe that anyone who did not follow the Khmer law was a corrupt enemy. [19] Survivors interview showing that process more in detail: "..I was forced to live with children my age in a home without my parents....Although the home was ours originally, without my parents there, I did not want to be there.”[20] They reset everything to zero and tried to build paradise on earth. People died continuously, and mountains were created from their corpses.

The Khmer Rouge discriminated against the rural indigenous people and the "old people," who were considered potential enemies and targets of reform, as urban residents and "new people." They had to work more than 14 to 16 hours a day, and if they did not meet their daily production target, they did not receive food rations. The "new people" had a much higher death rate than the "old people," and if they fell ill, they were often executed for treason. The executions were also surprisingly varied. They committed inhumane atrocities such as beating them to death with clubs, suffocating them with plastic gloves, or stabbing them to death with bayonets just because they wanted to save bullets.[21] Another testimony is that after Sisowath's father was executed and Pol Pot was overthrown, he met and spoke with the executioner, which was extremely cruel and horroble: " He went without food for several days because Khmer Rouge cadres knew that he was going to be killed anyway before they finally decided to take him to the grave. His face was swollen with bruises from the beating. His back and ribs were broken by the constant beating by the young Khmer Rouge Cadres."[22] Khmer Rouge's ideas enhanced violence against "enemies," encouraged persecution of "new people" and continued war with the outside world, promoted role narcissism and brainwashed them not to be afraid to kill enemies.[23]

The Khmer Rouge tried to destroy everything. Due to the extreme atheist policy, monks of the traditional religion, Buddhism, were forced to take off their monastic robes and become workers, and Christians and Muslims also could not avoid persecution. In this process, ethnic minority Chams, Chinese and more than 30,000 Vietnamese people were massacred.

Every people in Cambodia had to do intensive labor and ideological reform. Everyone was forced to live and die in the long run of a single, hopeless project: to build a paradise for a Democratic Kampuchea.

"...To die without dignity, without honor, after serving my country for 31 years; why is it that I have to die here like a cat or dog without any kin knowing of my death; to die without any reason, without any meaning?”

-Poch Younly, a school inspector's record from Concentration camp [24]

Victims imprisoned at S-21, Auschwitz in Cambodia

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.ee8eea08d0af55f71a062ec84a76bc1b?rik=EPA5UBYuwTvpDw&riu=http%3a%2f%2f1.bp.blogspot.com%2f-wZVwTPRwRNA%2fTaigvAtaDcI%2fAAAAAAAABGE%2f33RTv1XAovQ%2fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2f1.JPG&ehk=H1a%2ffm5fPtTfrtUi7PtxlRi0sFQsPMaN6%2bZ4mfOzeJY%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

END NOTES

[16] David Andelman, "French Express Concern On Embassy in Cambodia," The New York Times, April 27, 1975, https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/27/archives/french-express-concern-on-embassy-in-cambodia.html

[17] "Forced Labor and Collectivization," United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed June 02, 2024, https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/cambodia/forced-labor-and-collectivization

[18] Sean Bergin, The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian genocide(New York: Rosen Pub, 2009), 34-35.

[19] "KHMER ROUGE IDEOLOGY," Holocaust Memorial Trust, accessed June 05, 2024, https://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/cambodia/khmer-rouge-ideology/

[20] "CAMBODIA: GENOCIDE, A Personal Narrative By Soy Gemza," The Digital Archive of Cambodia Holocaust Survivors, accessed May 25, 2024, https://www.cybercambodia.com/dachs/stories/soy.html

[21] "Daehan News No. 1080 - Genocide in Cambodia," KTV Archeive, YouTube, Dec 8, 2016, video, 0:07-0:28, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsZ-EJ9MMmQ&ab_channel=KTV%EC%95%84%EC%B9%B4%EC%9D%B4%EB%B8%8C

[22] "A Personal Narrative By SISOWATH DOUNG CHANTO" The Digital Archive of Cambodia Holocaust Survivors, accessed May 25, 2024, https://www.cybercambodia.com/dachs/stories.html

[23] Alexander Laban Hinton, "Why did you kill? The Cambodian genocide and the dark side of face and honor," Journal of Asian Studies 57, no.1 (1998): 117

[24] "Khmer Rouge diary: ‘Everyone works like animals," Association Press, August 09, 2014, https://apnews.com/general-news-fb5a036b532c4a66883a41a8bcfb4bf9#

End of Killing Field

Philip Jones Griffiths. CAMBODIA. CAMBODIA. 1980. Near Town of Sisophon in the North East of the Country. Buddha in a Cave below a Temple Surrounded by Victims of the Cambodian Genocide. 1980.

As mentioned above, the Khmer Rouge was founded with support from Vietnam. However, Pol Pot massacred countless Vietnamese in the killing fields. Angered by this, the Vietnamese government invaded Cambodia in 1978, occupied 1979, and established the "People's Republic of Kampuchea", which is a puppet state of Vietnam. After the liberation of Phnom Penh, the Vietnamese government investigated the S-21 camp, which was originally a high school, and found that more than 20,000 people were imprisoned, and 99% of them were tortured to death or executed. [25] Afterwards, Vietnam excavated human remains and uncovered the truth of the massacre with political intent included. It is revealed that between 1.5 million and more than 3 million Cambodians were massacred in the killing fields. The number of victims is still being calculated, and the perpetrators are being tried together with the United Nations.

The fate of the cast members who danced in the "Storm's Destiny" was also strange. After being imprisoned in the palace, Xi'anuk fled to Beijing and lost five children and 14 grandchildren during the Killing Field period, but he was able to return to Phnom Penh in 1993 due to the restoration of the monarchy. He abdicated to his son Norodom Sihamoni in 2004 and died in Beijing in 2012. Lon Nol moved to Fullerton, Orange County, California in 1979 and died in 1985. Paul Fort died of heart failure in April 1998, a day before the Bill Clinton administration announced its plan to arrest him for humanitarian crime and send him to trial after continuing to fight the Vietnamese army in the jungle. He denied responsibility for the Cambodian massacre until his death.[26] And his body was cremated along with the waste tires and trash that were rolling around the neighborhood.

The remains of numerous victims have been found. The remains serve to pass down a key lesson from the Toul sleng Genocide Museum, and a Buddhist Stupa made of skulls was also built. Of course, during the process, King Sihanouk claimed that the display was blasphemy because he had to comfort the victims with immediate makeup, but Prime Minister Hun Sen was divided into positions that the remains should be preserved as evidence of crimes committed and that people should be educated on what happened in the past in the future. [27] These skeletal towers are still located throughout Cambodia.

...And as always, time passes and people live on. Cambodians live hard today, embracing the wounds and original sin of their grandparents and parents' generations.

[END NOTES]

[25] "Former M-13 prison/ Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (former S-21)/ Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre (former Execution Site of S-21)," UNESCO World Heritage Convention, last modified March 27, 2020, https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6461/

[26] RFA Khmer, "INTERVIEW: Pol Pot was 'strikingly charming ... until we began to talk," Interview by Nate Thayer, RFA Khmer, Radio Free Asia, Jan 08, 2023, Audio, 01:52, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cambodia-khmerrouge-thayer-01062023142454.html

[27] Katherine Gruspier and Michael S. Pollanen, "Forensic Legacy of the Khmer Rouge: The Cambodian Genocide," Academic forensic pathology 7, no.3 (September 2017): doi: 10.23907/2017.035

Epilogue

The Khmer Rouge systematically expelled all Cambodians from their homes and moved them to other areas, severing all ties with their communities and property. Killing Field destroyed everything in Cambodia and seriously hurt all Cambodians.

Mr. Ngoy survived the Cambodian genocide and escaped to the United States, where he founded Christy's Donut Shop at California for his job, because it provided a relatively low-cost way for refugees to start their own businesses. The color of the box he chose was a lucky pink color that is said to bring happiness in Southeast Asia region. He became a success businessman, nicknamed “Donut King”.[28] His box of pink donuts gave many Cambodians and other Southeast Asians hope that they could succeed.

Through the sweet taste of donuts and the pink box, people must remember this tragic history and make efforts to prevent it from repeating itself.

NEVER AGAIN.

[END NOTES]

[28] Isaiah Reynolds, "Your doughnut box is pink thanks to Cambodian refugees," BUSINESS INSIDER, Jun 10, 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/pink-doughnut-box-cambodian-refugees-donut-king-2023-6

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