The Killing Fields: Surviving The Cambodian Genocide

Fascinating People Fascinating Places

Daniel Mainwaring

Documentary, Society & Culture:documentary, History, Society & Culture

5 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1975, 9-year-old Sarah Pol-Lim saw her family’s life descend into horror when the Communist Party of Kampuchea -- better known as the Khmer Rouge ( ខ្មែរក្រហម) seized power in Cambodia. Initially backed by the North Vietnamese government, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot sought to reset the country to year zero. Replacing all elements of colonialism, capitalism, culture, and the class divided by society with an agrarian utopia. The wealthy, the middle class, the educated, the religious, and ethnic minorities were among the segments of society they resolved to erase. The end result was a genocide that killed as many as 25 percent of the population. Even as a young child Sarah Pol-Lim was in the firing line because she and her parents were educated. In this episode, I speak with Sarah about her harrowing experiences during four years spent in work camps under the Khmer Rouge. The fate of her family, her eventual escape to America, and her views on lessons to be learned from this horrific event in modern history.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In 1970 the violence of the Vietnam War spilled over the border into
0:08.1	neighboring Cambodia.
0:09.5	For five months now a vicious war has been fought in what was one of the world's last
0:14.2	havens of peace.
0:16.2	Cambodia was a lovely land, possessing it was said by all of the went there a dream-like
0:20.9	quality all of its own. Today it is a battlefield.
0:25.0	By 1975, the Revolutionary Forces of the Communist Party of Campucia,
0:31.0	better known as the Khair Rouge, seized the capital and on pen.
0:36.0	Their leader, Paul Pot, became the de facto ruler of Cambodia that perceived enemies were numerous and included the educated and city dwellers,
0:48.4	such as the family of Sarah Paul Lynn.
0:51.6	I was nine years old.
0:54.0	I was born in the city and therefore I'm the target of the revolution.
0:58.0	In this episode, I hear Sarah's first-hand account of her and her family's tragic experiences during the Cambodian genocide.
1:10.0	Some historians have portrayed the Cambodian genocide as an event founded in the Cold War
1:17.8	and the ideological battle between East and West. But in order for Pol Pot's brand of nationalistic militant Marxism to take hold,
1:27.2	other ingredients needed to be present in the country. The seeds of conflict had been quietly spreading in Cambodia for a long time.
1:35.0	Once a religious, an agrarian country, Cambodia had been going through dramatic
1:41.0	upheaval for over a century as Sarah explained.
1:46.0	The Buddha suggested that you humble and you live a simple life with no greed.
1:54.0	And came the 1800 to the early 1900,
1:59.1	when the French came in as a protectorate. It was found that the country have a great resource.
2:10.0	The French began to establish an expansion to economy, bringing more Chinese investor to run the economy side.
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