1972 - Life (and Death) in the Liberated Zones

Time Period Covered: 1971 - 1972

Why would someone join the Khmer Rouge?

How would people view the parts of the country that were now being run by the communists?

What was M13 and why is it so important?

In this episode, Lachlan returns to discuss one of the most invaluable insights into the proto-type regime of Democratic Kampuchea and the countryside control of the Khmer Rouge. Ith Sarin's Regrets for the Khmer Soul, a detailed account of life under the communists for nine months which wasn't as damning as some might think.

This is in sharp contrast to another memoir of life under the regime recalled from this very same time period, the account of Francois Bizot's The Gate, in which he explains his time imprisoned at M13, the jungle-based prototype of Tuol Sleng.

Woven through these two sides of the story is the evolution of the Khmer Rouge into a group taking over the functions of running a state, and employing the blueprint of revolution they had decided upon on the Cambodian population they controlled -- which numbered in the millions.

Sources:

David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History
Philip Short Pol Pot
Ith Sarin Regrets for the Khmer Soul (available at https://www.mekongriverpress.com/)
Francois Bizot The Gate
ECCC Testimony Kang Gek Iev (Duch)
Henri Locard Jungle Heart of the Khmer Rouge
Norodom Sihanouk My War with the CIA
Ben Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to Power
Sophal Ear The Khmer Rouge Cannon (Phd Thesis)
Ian Harris Buddhism Under Pol Pot
Alex Hinton Why Did They Kill? ​