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Holocaust & Cambodian Genocides

Kelly Wilson
Genocide in Comparative Perspective
SSO 306 45
Dr. Roni O’Dell
March 3, 2023
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Introduction

My final research paper will include two of the most horrific genocides in history of

civilization. These include the Holocaust genocide and the Cambodian genocide. These were

similar in ways but also different in many ways. But the bottom line is, how many lives were

lost and what the victims went through before death or for some of the fortunate survivors that

lived to tell their stories.

Racism along with ethnicity play a large role in these terrible acts. Racism can be defined as

any one of the groups that humans were often divided into based on physical traits regarding as

common among people or shared ancestry.

Race is something that humans created to categorize each other, and that it was used in

incredibly inhumane ways to justify threating some groups as inferior (even to the point of

enslaving and murdering them) Canvas notes, O’Dell, R. lecture.

In this case, we are speaking of the racism of the Germans towards the Jews and ethnicity of

the Cambodians with their religion. Ethnicity refers to large groups of people classed according

to common racial, national, tribal, religions, linguistics, or cultural origin or background. Race

and ethnicity are used to categorize sections of the population. Race describes physical traits

and ethnicity refers to cultural identification. Race can be something you inherit, and ethnicity

is something you learn.

In the comparison of the two, both genocides were led by groups and leaders.
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In the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler led the Nazi Regime with their ethnocentrism of the Jewish

people. And Pol Pot leading the Khmer Rouge Communists in the Cambodian genocide.

The people targeted, as mentioned, were Jews and in addition to them, the Nazis went after

anyone they believed threatened their ideal of a pure Aryan race. Nazi beliefs categorized

people by race. Hitler believed a pure German race was Aryan. The belief was Aryan people

were superior to all.

They were out to improve genetic makeup and got rid of the mentally and physically

disabled along with gay people. And one’s who conflicted religious beliefs with the Nazi

ideology. These were the Jehovah Witnesses.

As for the Cambodian genocide, it was more of the ethnicity with the Khmer Rouge that led

to all their victims. Christian and Buddhist groups were targeted along with the Cham Muslim

group having the highest percentages.

The Khmer Rouge adopted a strong sense of nationalism and discriminated against the

Vietnamese and other racial minorities of Cambodia. Pol Pot instructed a cleansing of Cambodia

in culture and in race.

Comparative Arguments and Evidence

In comparing the two genocides, the Holocaust and the Cambodian, would these have

happened if there was no such thing as racism or hatred of ethnicity? Why did Germany have a

leader that was so against Jewish people? Why did the Khmer Rouge institute communism in
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Cambodia to get rid of what they consider negative western influence, including western

religions like Islam and Christianity?

The leaders used racism/ethnicity for control and power in both the Holocaust and the

Cambodian genocides. I intend to give evidence and facts from both genocides of when and

how the two concepts motivated people to act in particular ways and the outcomes.

The Nazi Regime’s belief was that the world was divided into distinct races and that some of

these races were superior to others. Nazi believed that the Jewish were most inferior and

dangerous to all. The Nazi’s falsely accused the Jews of causing Germany’s social, economic,

political, and cultural problems. The Nazi’s wanted to improve genetic makeup. A few of the

others targeted that were not mentioned in the introduction were the Roma and Siniti people

(referred to as Gypsies) and Afro American people. Also political opponents, primarily

communists, trade unionists, and social democrats. These ideas of Hitler and the Nazi’s were

racist and this led to the Holocaust.

It started with Adolf Hitler being appointed the German chancellor on January 30, 1933.

(Some of these dates of the start are unsure throughout my research). One source,

(www.holocaustexplained.org) states that the Holocaust took place in the context of the

Second World War, which was started by the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The Jews

were imprisoned in ghettos in Poland. Many died here from starvation, disease, and poor living

conditions. The ones left, then went to concentration (extermination) camps.

The ethnic cleansing and genocide did not start as a specific plan to put the Jews in gas

chambers and in concentration camps. It revolved over time. Jewish emigration from Germany
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to other countries was encouraged. It started with murders and planned massacres of Jewish

communities into a slaughter of people. The goal of the Nazi leaders was to kill 11 million Jews

as part of the “Final Solution.” It ended up being 6 million. They killed 2 out of 3 European Jews.

Once they arrived at the concentration camp, groups of Jews were split into women and

children, and men. Some of the stronger ones who made it thus far were pulled to do slave

labor. The majority of them were sent straight to the gas chamber. Gas vans were used for

transportation to mass graves that were dug. Here they were shot and went right into the large

hole in the ground. They were also murdered by beatings, torture, and arbitrary violence. Very

sad to read the surviving stories of those who lived this terrible historic event. If there wasn’t

such a hatred (racism or antisemitism) towards Jews this would not have occurred. The fighting

stopped in 1945 when the major Allied Powers (Great Britain, United States, and Soviet Union)

defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. After the Second World War, the classification of

humanity into different race is wrong. There is only one race: the human race.

(www.annefrank.org)

As for the Cambodian genocide, it was more of the ethnicity with the Khmer Rouge that led

to all their victims. The Khmer Rouge (popular name for the Communist Party of Kampuchea

CPK) from 1975-1979. The Khmer Rouge came to power following a period of civil war and

unrest in Cambodia and the midst of Cold War tensions between America, the Soviet Union,

and Communist China. Christian and Buddhist groups were targeted along with the Cham

Muslim group having the highest percentages.

The Khmer Rouge adopted a strong sense of nationalism and discriminated against the

Vietnamese and other racial minorities in Cambodia. This form of radical communism led to the

genocide. The Khmer Rouge based their policies on the idea that citizens of Cambodia had

become corrupted by outside influences, especially Vietnam and the capitalist West. They

referred to people who supported their vision as “pure people,” and persecuted anyone they

deemed “impure.” (Weitz, p. 144-145). This was compared to the Germans as weeding out

anyone who was not Aryan was not pure. Pol Pot was their leader, like Hitler was in the

Holocaust. Pol Pot’s racism was also towards ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai people.

Pol Pots titles included prime minister, secretary of the Standing Committee of the CPK

Central Committee, and chairman of the general staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of

Kampuchea.

“The Khmer Rouge’s intent was to overthrow a monarch and gain power from the people”.

(Weitz, p. 147) It began its reign by coming into the capital (Penh) and murdering some of the

officials of the government. Similarities of the Holocaust and how it started. The communist

soldiers came in and were forcing everyone out by gunpoint into the streets and being ordered

to go to the countryside to begin agricultural labor. They began to implement this immediately

after taking power at the city’s capital. They worked in fields trying to turn Cambodia into an

agrarian utopia. It did not work. So many died from exhaustion, disease, or famine also

comparing to the initial deaths in the Holocaust from living in the ghettos and their labor work.

This economic mismanagement caused significant shortages of food and medicine. Along with

the murders of doctors and medical staff, the Cambodians began to die from malaria.
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Prisons again were set up comparing to the Holocaust. Outside of these prisons, many

people were executed on the “killing fields.” This was the farmland that had mass graves.

Instead of being shot, they were hit in the back of the head and knocked into the ground. The

total number of deaths ended up being 1.25 million up to 3 million. The population in Cambodia

had been 7.5 million.

The Khmer Rouge was removed from power when communist Vietnam invaded in January

1979 and established a pro-Vietnamese regime in Cambodia. Cambodia was still politically

unstable. The religion was re-established and some of the Buddhist temples were repaired or

rebuilt. There were survivors who fled to refugee camps in Thailand; of these, many went on to

immigrate to the United States. Other survivors wanted justice.

Another comparison of the two, were the United Nations and the Cambodian government

inaugurated a joint tribunal known as the extra ordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

(ECCC) Like the Nuremburg trials, this was formed to convict those involved in the genocides.

Neither Pol Pot nor Adolf Hitler made it to trail. Pol Pot died before his trial and Adolf Hitler

committed suicide. These two men initiated horrible acts of crime and violence in their

countries. They were the leaders who were dictating what needed to be done. And for this,

millions of people’s lives were taken, and this was referred to as Genocide. These weren’t the

only two but the two who took the most lives. How do you go on from here? There are many

surviving stories that I’ve read in both genocides. The one that got me the most was The

Sunflower written by Simon Wiesenthal. He was a prisoner in a concentration camp in

Germany. We now call him a survivor. He made it through the terrible acts of violence and

torture. He had no where to go when his freedom was finally given. After the liberation he
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joined a commission for the investigation of Nazi crimes. Years of suffering had inflicted deep

wounds on his faith that justice existed in this world. In his time there, he was brought into a

hospital. There was a dying man who begged to see a Jew to ask for forgiveness. This was

Simon. He listened to his words but never told him he was forgiven for all his acts towards the

Jews and himself. He truly wanted to be forgiven before he died. Could you have accepted his

forgiveness as a prisoner in the Holocaust genocide? “Forgetting is something that time alone

takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition, and only the sufferer is qualified to make the

decision.” (Wiesenthal, S. p. 97-98)

Conclusion

The outcomes of the concepts discussed in the introduction of race and ethnicity ended with

very bad situations in Germany and Cambodia. These were both considered genocides and these

were the worst two of all that have occurred. “Genocides were deadly to the victims; they are

also events whose corrupting character travels deep into the population. The successors to the

societies that have been consumed by mass violence cannot escape the legacy; they remain

overburdened by the past, precisely because of the participatory nature of genocides in the

modern era.” (Weitz p. 252) These people were forced to act in these crimes. And as you know

from The Sunflower, there are some that did not want to be considered murders. How could you

be involved and commit such horrible acts and have no remorse?

In Nazi Germany, midlevel officials on the ground initiated the Holocaust. In the Cambodian

genocide, both layers of the regime instituted the killings simultaneously. “In both situations, top
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officials never ordered a halt to the killings, leaving lower-ranking officials with the clear sense

that there were no limits to the brutalities they could exercise”. (Wietz, p. 187)

In our present time, there are still acts of violence going on every minute. Police officers are

being shot while putting their lives on the line to make our communities a better place. Racism is

still a big issue with all of this along with drugs out on the streets. If a person of color is killed, it

often comes up as a racism issue. This traces back to slavery, but does it go as far back as the

1930’s or 1940’s? The Russia-Ukraine war is currently going on right now. This all continues to

present day. Is there an end? Is there an answer? We need to find the root of the cause or identify

the factors. Genocidal conflict is identity-based. This all occurs in societies with diverse national,

racial, ethnic, or religious groups that are locked in identity-related conflicts. All we can do as

citizens is report our concerns to the local government. Support the groups and acts put together

to recognize and remember those who lost their lives and stand behind the ones who are trying to

promote justice. Participate in any way in days that these victims are recognized and encourage

the learning in schools. Always remember those who lost their lives and people who lived it.

These genocides were the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of

their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race. “Never again,” was a quote used of the genocides.
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References:

The Century of Genocide Utopias of Race and Nation Weitz, E. 2003

The Sunflower On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness Wiesenthal, S. 1997

www.culturalsurvival.org

www.hmd.org.uk

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org

www.merriman-webster.com/dictionary

www.annefrank.org

www.britannica.com

Reeves Library

Canvas notes/lectures
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