Cambodian Genocide And Holocaust Similarities

Cambodian Genocide
By Ryan O’Leary
We all continue to remember the genocides, of Cambodia and the Holocaust and all of their horrors. They each killed millions of people, but if you dig into the genocides even more you will see distinct similarities and distinct differences. Although both the Holocaust and the Cambodian Genocide both were caused by powerful leaders seizing power and they both have similar ways of killing large amount of people, they differ in the effects of the genocide such as the minority race in Holocaust getting new land (Israel) and no land was given in the Cambodian Genocide. The Cambodian Genocide and the Holocaust were very similar in their cause. The Cambodian Genocide first truly started when Lon Nol took power
Soon after Pol Pot seized power he started to try to reconstruct Cambodia (Changed to Kampuchea now), trying to make it like communist China with collective farms. Anyone who opposed these plans, which intellectual people were assumed to be, were ordered to be killed. So afraid of death civilians were forced out of towns, even the old or disabled. Those who did not leave were shot. Here is a quote from a victim of this genocide; “They ordered the city evacuated. Everyone was to head for the countryside to join the revolution. They killed those who argued against leaving. Two million frightened people started walking out of the capital.”(Cambodian Genocide) All civil rights and political rights were destroyed. Children were separated from their families and put into different forced labor camps. These forced labor camps caused many to die due to overwork, malnutrition, and disease. They had a diet of one tin of rice, 180 grams, per person every two days. While this was going on purges killed all people who reminded soldiers of the “old life”. Many doctors, lawyers etc. were completely murdered, along with their stores and businesses. Basically, Pol Pot attempted to wipe out anyone who had anything to do with the “Old Life” because they were “threatening” his power. In the Holocaust, first Jewish people were stripped of their rights by the Nuremberg laws. Then they were sent to ghettos, sealing
In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge Groups got driven out of Cambodia by the Viet Cong. The economy completely collapsed and since all the intellectual people were killed in Genocide it took a while to come back. It is estimated that 25% of population was killed in the genocide, right around 2,000,000 people. In the holocaust, over 6,000,000 Jews, Slavs, Communists, Disabled, and Gypsies were killed. The UN was formed to help keep these disasters from happening again, although these events have occurred since, including Cambodian Genocide. Also, after the war was over for a couple of years, Israel was formed, so the Jewish people had and still have a place to live. As you can see the effects of the genocide are much different, a much higher percentage of people in Cambodia were killed, Holocaust victims were given new land, and Germany’s economy did not collapse afterward. The holocaust also differs from the Cambodian Genocide, because it still affects us today and is remembered more. Indirectly caused by the holocaust, we still see Middle Eastern conflicts over the country of Israel. Also, in the holocaust, and the Nuremberg trials, Nazi officials were actually convicted, Cambodian leaders were not (Only 1) in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Here is a quote that talks more about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal; “The government, meanwhile, made plans for a tribunal to bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to justice.