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Voice of America - Khmer

19 November 2009 

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"Who were the Khmers Rouges? How did they come to power? With five Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial for crimes committed by the regime and an increasing number of Cambodians unclear of their country's history, VOA Khmer, in collaboration with the Documentation Center of Cambodia, presents an AUDIO VERSION of "A History of Democratic Kampuchea."

The 2007 book, written by the Documentation Center's Dy Khamboly, charts the regime's rise and fall, from guerrilla movement to ruling government of Cambodia to international pariah. It outlines the regime's administrative divisions, its four-year plan, the daily life of its people, its security policies and its prisons—and maps the road to atrocity.

PHOTO SLIDESHOW, courtesy of DC-Cam, click here.

 

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Chapter 1: Summary  Audio Clip Available
"Khmer Rouge" was the name King Norodom Sihanouk gave to his communist opponents in the 1960s. Their official name was the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), which took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975...
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Chapter 2: Who Were the Khmer Rouge?  Audio Clip Available
The Cambodian communist emerged from the struggle against French colonization in the 1940s. In April 1950, during the first Indochina War, 200 delegates assembled in Kampot province and formed the communist-led Unified Issarak Front...
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Chapter 3: The Khmer Rouge Come to Power  Audio Clip Available
April 17, 1975 ended five years of foreign interventions, bombardment, and civil war in Cambodia. On this date, Phnom Penh fell to the communist forces. Black and green-uniformed rebels entered the capital from every direction...
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Chapter 4: The Formation of the Democratic Kampuchea Government  Audio Clip Available
Although the Khmer Rouge had fought against Lon Nol's Khmer Republic for five years, very little was known about the movement or its leaders. The CPK maintained this secrecy for most of the time that it ruled Cambodia...
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Chapter 5: Administrative Divisions of Democratic Kampuchea  Audio Clip Available
In 1976, the CPK divided Democratic Kampuchea into six geographical zones. The zones incorporated two or more old provinces or parts of old provinces. The CPK then divided the zones into 32 regions...
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Chapter 6: The Four Year Plan (1977-1980)  Audio Clip Available
The Khmer Rouge emptied the cities in order to abolish urban living and to build a new Cambodia based on the expanded production of rice. In early 1976, the CPK hastily wrote the first four-year plan...
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Chapter 7: Daily Life During Democratic Kampuchea  Audio Clip Available
During the 1970-1975 civil war, most of the people living in the areas liberated by the Khmer Rouge were organized into "mutual aid teams" of 10 to 30 families...
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Chapter 8: The Security System  Audio Clip Available
Although the East Zone purges of 1978 were the most severe in DK, hundreds of thousands of people were arrested in other parts of the country and in many cases were killed...
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Chapter 9: Office S-21 (Tuol Sleng Prison)  Audio Clip Available
The most important prison in DK was known as S-21 (Security Office 21). The letter "S" stood for "security" and the number "21" was a code designating its location in the southern part of Phnom Penh...
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Chapter 10: Foreign Relations  Audio Clip Available
Democratic Kampuchea had diplomatic relations with China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, Romania, Yugoslavia, Albania, and Egypt. All of these countries had embassies in Phnom Penh...
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Chapter 11: The Fall of Democratic Kampuchea  Audio Clip Available
A weakened populace, CPK key members purged, and clashes with Vietnam resulted in the demise of the Democratic Kampuchea regime...
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Conclusion: The Aftermath  Audio Clip Available
Democratic Kampuchea was one of the worst human tragedies of the 20th century. The regime claimed nearly two million lives and left tens of thousands of widows and orphans. Several hundred thousand Cambodians fled their country and became refugees...