καιρός remembered

Democratic Kampuchea

or the invention of hell

Angkar, the mysterious name (meaning ‘the Organisation’) behind which Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime hid, had changed the name of Cambodia to Democratic Kampuchea. During their four-year totalitarian rule, the population was forcibly ‘re-educated’ and indoctrinated according to Angkar’s radical communist ideology. A collection of slogans and orders used for this purpose reveals, in a nutshell and in an extremely cynical manner, the inhuman norms and values that Angkar propagated. Here is a small selection, in French, from the book by Henri Locard, Le “Petit Livre Rouge” de Pol Pot, ou Les Paroles de l’Angkar:

“Vive l’Angkar Révolutionnaire extrêmement sage et clairvoyante, et extrêmement glorieuse!”

“Frères enseignants, étudiants et tous les intellectuels, avancez-vous et montrez vos visages à l’Angkar!” (At best, an invitation to be re-educated, but almost without exception an invitation to be murdered.)

“Vous devez épier les moindres faits et gestes de chacun d’entre vous!” and “Tu dois rapporter discrètement tous les secrets à l’échelon supérieur!” and “Enfants, vous êtes enfants de l’Angkar: enfants, vous devez lui rapporter toutes les activités de vos parents!” (Everyone was encouraged to spy on one another and report on one another.)

“Renonce à tous tes biens personnels, à ton père, à ta mère et à toute ta famille.” (Families were torn apart; men, women, boys and girls were assigned to separate work groups in the countryside.)

“Vous devez avoir un amour sans limites pour l’Angkar!” and “Qui proteste est un ennemi, qui s’oppose est un cadavre!” (That is why an ominous silence reigned in Democratic Kampuchea.)

“Si quelqu’un se plaint d’avoir faim, on l’amènera là où on le gavera de nourriture” (Which means you would be murdered and thrown into a grave, where your corpse would lie with its mouth full of food in the form of earth and worms.)

“Les malades n’ont pas besoin de manger, parce que la maladie coupe l’appétit. La diète vous guérira.” (If anyone was too ill to work, their meagre ration was halved, which often led to death by starvation.)

“La beauté physique est un obstacle à la volonté de lutte” and “Notre cœur ne nourrit ni sentiments, ni esprit de tolérance: nous aurons ainsi une position solide dans la lutte!”

“Camarades, vous avez tous les mêmes droits: camarades, vous portez des vêtements noirs, des chaussures noirs; l’Angkar est aussi habillée de noir.”

This is the language of ruthless oppression, of unimaginable cruelty, of utterly repulsive and dangerous fanaticism. It was put into practice between 1975 and 1979, when Cambodia was transformed into one vast concentration camp, known as Democratic Kampuchea, where terror, starvation and death reigned.

Photo of the week: Panels with photographs of executed “enemies of Angkar” in former secret prison S-21, now Genocide Museum Tuol Sleng, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2000.