Pol Pot
Pol Pot
Pol Pot, born Saloth Sar, was a Cambodian revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until 1997. From 1963 to 1981, he served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. As such, he became the leader of Cambodia on 17 April 1975, when his forces captured Phnom Penh. From 1976 to 1979, he also served as the prime minister of Democratic Kampuchea...
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth19 May 1925
CityPrek Sbauv, Cambodia
mistake responsibility enemy
I do not reject responsibility - our movement made mistakes, like every other movement in the world. But there was another aspect that was outside our control - the enemy's activities against us.
mistake struggle people
There's what we did wrong and what we did right. The mistake is that we did some things against the people — by us and also by the enemy — but the other side, as I told you, is that without our struggle there would be no Cambodia right now.
baby sorry mistake
For the other people, the babies, the young ones, I did not order them to be killed. For Son Sen and his family, yes. I feel sorry for that. That was a mistake that occurred when we put our plan into practice. I feel sorry.
mistake enemy innocent
Better to kill an innocent by mistake than spare an enemy by mistake.
bourgeois dead good
The only good bourgeois is a dead bourgeois.
struggle people
I came to carry out the struggle, not to kill people.
struggle satisfied cambodia
I'm quite satisfied on one thing: If we had not carried out our struggle, Cambodia would have become another Kampuchea Krom in 1975.
imagination sick victim
The sick are victims of their own imagination.
judging
It's up to history to judge.
sick remains one-thing
In Khmer we have a saying that when one is both quite sick and old there remains only one thing, that you die.
hungry ifs
If someone is very hungry, the Angkar will take him where he will be stuffed with food.
people looks revolution
I came to join the revolution, not to kill the Cambodian people. Look at me now. Am I a violent person? No. So, as far as my conscience and my mission were concerned, there was no problem.
people leader want
I'm quite modest. I don't want to tell people I'm a leader.
country government hatred
Failing to induce adulation and submissiveness, the Angkar could only generate hatred. If concealment was the ultimate ploy for the leadership, it backfired and whipped up abhorrence in the context of total revolution. This might be one of the explanations why repression assumed proportions unknown in other Communist countries. The mask of Angkar was a good tactic to grab power, but it proved disastrous in government.