This narrative draws on open-access sources and standard historical scholarship. The sources below provide verification for specific claims made in the narrative.
Primary Sources
A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) by Khamboly Dy (Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007)
This 84-page educational textbook was written by Khamboly Dy, a researcher at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, and peer-reviewed by leading scholars David Chandler and Frank Chalk. The Cambodian government approved it for teaching in Cambodian schools, making it both academically rigorous and accessible to students. The book covers the origins of the Khmer Rouge from the 1940s through the regime's collapse in 1979, including survivor testimonies, documentation of the S-21 security center, administrative structures, and the regime's economic policies. It provides verified information about the evacuation of cities, forced labor policies, the security apparatus, and the death toll.
Khmer Rouge History (Cambodia Tribunal Monitor)
The Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, connected to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, provides this accessible overview of the Khmer Rouge period. The article synthesizes information about the Communist Party of Kampuchea's rise to power, the policies of Democratic Kampuchea, daily life under the regime, and its eventual fall to Vietnamese forces. It offers clear explanations of key concepts like "Angkar Padevat," the classification system between "old people" and "new people," and the regime's agricultural goals. The source documents the immediate executions of Lon Nol government officials, the operation of S-21 prison, and the retention of the UN seat after 1979.
The Rise and Fall of Democratic Kampuchea (Association for Asian Studies)
This scholarly article from the Association for Asian Studies provides comprehensive historical context for understanding how the Khmer Rouge came to power and why the regime implemented such extreme policies. Written for educators, the source analyzes the domestic and international politics of the 1960s and early 1970s, including Prince Sihanouk's changing alliances, the 1970 coup, and the U.S. bombing campaign that dropped more than 540,000 tons of explosives on Cambodia. The article examines Pol Pot's ideological influences, the April 1975 evacuation, the regime's economic transformation, the S-21 prison system, internal purges, and the Vietnamese invasion. It includes specific statistics on the death toll and cites authoritative scholarly works.
The Number: Quantifying Crimes Against Humanity in Cambodia (Documentation Center of Cambodia Mass Grave Mapping Project, 1999)
This report by Craig Etcheson details the Documentation Center's systematic five-year project to locate and map mass graves from the Khmer Rouge period using GPS technology and witness testimony. The project documented 20,492 mass graves containing the remains of 1,112,829 victims of execution across Cambodia's provinces. The report explains the methodology, addresses criticisms of earlier death toll estimates, describes torture and killing patterns at district-level prisons, and analyzes the proportion of deaths from execution versus starvation and disease. It provides the most comprehensive empirical data on Khmer Rouge executions and explains why the total death toll likely reached 1.7 to 2 million people.
Khmer Rouge Ideology (Holocaust Memorial Day Trust)
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, a UK-based educational organization, provides this clear explanation of the Khmer Rouge's interpretation of Maoist communism and their "Year Zero" ideology. The source documents how the regime sought to create a classless society by eliminating all social classes except poor peasants, forced everyone to become agricultural workers, and banned religion, education, money, and personal choice. It explains the regime's separation of children from parents starting at age eight, the training of children to denounce and punish adults, and the prohibition of family ties in favor of loyalty to the state. The article helps students understand the ideological framework behind the regime's policies.
International Response to Khmer Rouge Rule (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum documents how the international community responded to the Khmer Rouge atrocities. The source provides evidence that U.S. officials had detailed knowledge of the regime's brutal policies as early as 1976, including a memo from National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft to President Ford describing forced relocations and the regime's efforts to remake Cambodia. The article explains why the U.S. took little action despite public denunciations, noting that President Carter called the Khmer Rouge "the worst violator of human rights in the world today" in 1978 but implemented no concrete measures to stop ongoing crimes. It describes how international attention grew after the 1984 film "The Killing Fields" but still no official investigation occurred for years.
Preserving a Cultural Tradition: Ten Years After the Khmer Rouge (Cultural Survival, 1989)
This article by Sam-Ang Sam documents the devastating impact of the Khmer Rouge on Cambodian arts and culture, written after the regime's fall. The source provides specific statistics: of 190 ballet artists before 1975, only 40 survived; approximately 90 percent of all artists and intellectuals were killed; and only about 10 percent of the 3,000 members of the Khmer Association of Artists in 1975 remained alive in 1979. The article describes how the regime closed the University of Fine Arts, killed master musicians and dancers, and used art only for political propaganda. It explains the challenges of cultural restoration with so few surviving masters and documents efforts by the Ministry of Information and Culture to rebuild Cambodia's artistic traditions.
Breaking Decades of Silence: Sexual Violence During the Khmer Rouge (Global Justice Center, 2019)
This article by Maryna Tkachenko examines gender-based violence under the Khmer Rouge regime, a topic that received little attention in early accounts. The source explains how the regime used forced marriage to control the population and ensure a new generation of revolutionaries, organizing mass wedding ceremonies and punishing those who refused to participate. Based on research by the Women and Transitional Justice in Cambodia project, the article reports that 96.6 percent of survey respondents experienced forced marriage, and 80.1 percent of those married were sexually assaulted after the ceremony. The source also addresses the stigma that prevents survivors from speaking about these experiences and the lack of prosecution for sexual violence at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
Additional Resources
Wikipedia Overview Articles
- Khmer Rouge: Comprehensive overview of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, its ideology, rise to power, and crimes
- Democratic Kampuchea: Detailed article on the 1975-1979 regime
- Cambodian genocide: Analysis of the atrocities and death toll
- Pol Pot: Biography of the Khmer Rouge leader
Research Organizations
- Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam): Archives more than one million documents from the Khmer Rouge period and conducts ongoing research
- Yale Genocide Studies Program: Extensive collection of photographs, documents, and research on the Khmer Rouge
- Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC): Official tribunal prosecuting surviving Khmer Rouge leaders
Oral Histories
- Oral History Project (The Advocates for Human Rights): Video interviews with Cambodian survivors who immigrated to Minnesota
- Cambodia: Oral Histories and Biographies (Mekong.Net): Collection of first-hand survivor accounts