Outline of the Cambodian genocide

Cambodian genocide
Cambodian genocide
Part of the Cold War in Asia and the aftermath of the Cambodian Civil War
	Skulls at the Choeung Ek memorial in Cambodia
Location	Democratic Kampuchea (present-day Cambodia)
Date	17 April 1975 – 7 January 1979 (3 years, 8 months and 20 days)
Target	Cambodia's previous military and political leadership, middle-class professionals, businesspeople, intellectuals along with ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities
Attack type	Genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, cultural genocide, famine, forced labour, torture, mass rape, summary execution
Deaths	1.2–2.2 million
Perpetrators	Khmer Rouge, Kampuchea Revolutionary Army, Santebal, Communist Party of Kampuchea
Motive	Establishment of an agrarian socialist society based on Maoist principles; Cultural reset (Year Zero); Khmer nationalism and racism; Xenophobia; Anti-Vietnamese sentiment; Anti-Western sentiment; Anti-intellectualism; Anti-religious sentiment;

This is a topical outline of Wikipedia articles about the Cambodian genocide.

The Cambodian genocide^[a] was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens^[b] by the Khmer Rouge under the general secretaryship of Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of approximately 2 million people from 1975 to 1979, around 25% of Cambodia's population in 1975 (c. 7.8 million).^[3]^[4]^[5]

Overviews

Cambodian genocide
Bibliography of the Cambodian genocide
Cambodian genocide denial
Cambodian humanitarian crisis - Events resulting in death, displacement or resettlement abroad
Child soldiers in Cambodia
Pol Pot (1925–1998) - Cambodian communist leader

Background

1970 Cambodian coup d'état - Coup that overthrew Prince Norodom Sihanouk
Cambodian Civil War (1967–1975) - Conflict in Cambodia
Communist Party of Kampuchea - Ruling party of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979
Fall of Phnom Penh (1975) - Khmer Rouge capture of the Cambodian capital
Khmer Republic (1970–1975) - Country in Southeast Asia
Khmer Rouge (1951–1999) - Cambodian communist movement that ruled Democratic Kampuchea
Lon Nol (1913–1985) - Prime Minister of Cambodia (1966–1967, 1969–1971)
Norodom Sihanouk (1922–2012) - King of Cambodia (1941–1955, 1993–2004)
Operation Freedom Deal (1970–1973) - Part of the Vietnam and Cambodian Civil Wars
Operation Menu (1969–1970) - US covert military operation in Cambodia
Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea (1970–1976) - Cambodian government-in-exile

Events

Ba Chúc massacre - Mass killing in Vietnam
Chankiri Tree
Choeung Ek - Killing field and mass grave in Cambodia
Concert for Kampuchea (1980) - Film by Keith Macmillan
Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (1979) - Series of concerts in London, England
Dangrek Incident (1979) - Thai-Cambodian border incident
Eastern Zone massacres (1978) - Khmer Rouge purge in Cambodia

Aftermath

1991 Paris Peace Agreements (1991) - Settlement that ended the Cambodian–Vietnamese War and the Third Indochina War
Allegations of United States support for the Khmer Rouge
Cambodian–Vietnamese War (1978–1989) - Conflict between Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge
Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (1982–1992) - Cambodian government in exile
K5 Plan - Vast defensive belt along the Cambodian-Thai border
Khao-I-Dang - Refugee camp in Thailand
Khmer Rouge insurgency (1979–1998) - Armed conflict in Cambodia
Khmer Rouge Tribunal (1997) - Cambodian–UN court to try Khmer Rouge leaders
National Army of Democratic Kampuchea - Cambodian guerrilla force
National Day of Remembrance (Cambodia) - Annual event in Cambodia
People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1992) - Cambodian state
People's Revolutionary Tribunal (Cambodia) - Established by the People's Republic of Kampuchea
United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (1992–1993) - Peacekeeping mission

Miscellaneous

Child soldiers in Cambodia
The Drakkars - Cambodian band
New People (Cambodia) - Civilian Cambodians exploited by the Khmer Rouge
Year Zero (political notion) - Idea put into practice by Pol Pot in Cambodia

Places

Documentation Center of Cambodia (1995) - Cambodian NGO documenting the Khmer Rouge era
Killing caves of Phnom Sampeau - Khmer Rouge execution site in Cambodia
Killing Fields - Sites of mass execution by the Khmer Rouge
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - Former Khmer Rouge prison in Cambodia

Killing Fields

Chankiri Tree
Choeung Ek - Killing field and mass grave in Cambodia
Killing caves of Phnom Sampeau - Khmer Rouge execution site in Cambodia
Killing Fields - Sites of mass execution by the Khmer Rouge
The Killing Fields (film) (1984) - Film by Roland Joffé
The Killing Fields (soundtrack) (1984) - Soundtrack album by Mike Oldfield

Works about the Cambodian genocide

Books

Alive in the Killing Fields (2009) - Memoir by Nawuth Keat
The Elimination (2011) - Memoir by Rithy Panh and Christophe Bataille
First They Killed My Father - Book by Loung Ung
A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1979) - Cambodian textbook written by Khamboly, Dy
In the Shadow of the Banyan - Novel by Vaddey Ratner
When the War Was Over (1986) - Book by Elizabeth Becker

Films

Cambodia: Between War and Peace (1991) - Cambodian film
The Conscience of Nhem En (2008) - American film
Deacon of Death (2004) - Film
Devět kruhů pekla (1989) - Film
Don't Think I've Forgotten (2014) - American documentary film by John Pirozzi
Enemies of the People (film) (2009) - British-Cambodian documentary film
First They Killed My Father (film) (2017) - Cambodian-American film by Angelina Jolie
Funan (film) (2019) - Animated period drama film directed by Denis Do
The Golden Voice (2006 film) (2006) - American film
The Killing Fields (film) (1984) - Film by Roland Joffé
La-Tha-Pii (2006) - Thai film
The Land of the Wandering Souls (2000) - Cambodian film
Lost Loves (film) (2010) - Film
Meeting with Pol Pot (2024) - Cambodian film
The Missing Picture (2013) - Film
Monkey Dance (2004) - Documentary film by Julie Mallozzi
New Year Baby (2006) - Film
Red Wedding (film) (2012) - Documentary film by Lida Chan and Guillaume Suon
The Road to Freedom (film) (2010) - American film
S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (2003) - Documentary film directed by Rithy Panh
Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia (1989) - Film
Shadow of Darkness (1989) - Cambodian film directed by Yvon Hem
Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia (1979) - British TV programme

Other works

Holiday in Cambodia (1980) - Song by Dead Kennedys
The Killing Fields (soundtrack) (1984) - Soundtrack album by Mike Oldfield
Vann Nath paintings - Series of paintings depicting torture at S-21 prison

References

Notes

↑ Khmer: ប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅកម្ពុជា, lit. 'Genocide in Cambodia', or អំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ខ្មែរ, 'Khmer genocidal act(s)'
↑ In 2010, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia ruled for the indictment of Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan that both former Khmer Rouge officials are guilty of committing ethnic cleansing exclusively against ethnic Vietnamese and Chams.^[2]

Citations

↑ Heuveline, Patrick (2015). "The Boundaries of Genocide: Quantifying the Uncertainty of the Death Toll During the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979)". Population Studies. 69 (2): 201–218. doi:10.1080/00324728.2015.1045546. PMC 4562795. PMID 26218856.
↑ "Trial Chamber Summary of Judgement Case 002/02" (PDF). United Nations Office of Legal Affairs.
↑ Sullivan, Meg (16 April 2015). "UCLA demographer produces best estimate yet of Cambodia's death toll under Pol Pot". UCLA.
↑ Tyner, James A.; Molana, Hanieh Haji (1 March 2020). "Ideologies of Khmer Rouge Family Policy: Contextualizing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence during the Cambodian Genocide". Genocide Studies International. 13 (2): 168–189. doi:10.3138/gsi.13.2.03. ISSN 2291-1847. S2CID 216505042.
↑ "Cambodia". College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved 18 April 2026.

External links

Museums and memorial sites

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum – official site of the museum in Phnom Penh, on the site of the former S-21 interrogation and detention centre
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives – searchable archive of S-21 detainee records and prison documents
Cambodian Memorial Sites: From centres of repression to places of peace and reflection – UNESCO World Heritage Centre entry for the former M-13 prison, Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, inscribed in 2025
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives – UNESCO Memory of the World Register entry, inscribed in 2009
Khmer Rouge Historical Sites – Documentation Center of Cambodia guide to fourteen preserved sites at Anlong Veng, including Ta Mok's house and the cremation sites of Pol Pot and Son Sen
Anlong Veng Peace Center – DC-Cam centre for peace studies and genocide education at the last Khmer Rouge stronghold
National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial – Chicago museum and memorial, with the permanent exhibition Remembering the Killing Fields
Cambodia – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum country resources, including material from its exhibition Cambodia, 1975–1979

Academic research projects

Cambodian Genocide Program – Yale University research programme established in 1994, part of the Genocide Studies Program at the MacMillan Center
Cambodian Genocide Program Interactive Geographic Database (CGEO) – mapped data on 158 Khmer Rouge prisons, 309 mass-grave sites and 76 post-1979 memorials
Tuol Sleng Image Database – over 10,000 photographs scanned by the Cambodian Genocide Program, including more than 5,000 taken of prisoners entering S-21
Cambodian Women's Oral History Project – 24 video testimonies of female survivors, with transcripts and recordings held at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

[2] Khmer: ប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅកម្ពុជា, lit. 'Genocide in Cambodia', or អំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ខ្មែរ, 'Khmer genocidal act(s)'

[4] In 2010, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia ruled for the indictment of Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan that both former Khmer Rouge officials are guilty of committing ethnic cleansing exclusively against ethnic Vietnamese and Chams.^[2]

[Heuveline2015-1] Heuveline, Patrick (2015). "The Boundaries of Genocide: Quantifying the Uncertainty of the Death Toll During the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979)". Population Studies. 69 (2): 201–218. doi:10.1080/00324728.2015.1045546. PMC 4562795. PMID 26218856.

[unfile2019-3] "Trial Chamber Summary of Judgement Case 002/02" (PDF). United Nations Office of Legal Affairs.

[5] Sullivan, Meg (16 April 2015). "UCLA demographer produces best estimate yet of Cambodia's death toll under Pol Pot". UCLA.

[6] Tyner, James A.; Molana, Hanieh Haji (1 March 2020). "Ideologies of Khmer Rouge Family Policy: Contextualizing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence during the Cambodian Genocide". Genocide Studies International. 13 (2): 168–189. doi:10.3138/gsi.13.2.03. ISSN 2291-1847. S2CID 216505042.

[7] "Cambodia". College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved 18 April 2026.

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