Pol Pot & The Cambodian Genocide Episode 2: Fuch A Duch

What happens when a government promises to create a perfect new society, then decides millions of people have to suffer, disappear, or die to make it happen?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan continue the story of Saloth Sar, better known as Pol Pot, as the Khmer Rouge takes control of Cambodia and begins transforming the country into its horrifying vision of a communist utopia.

We’ll follow the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh, the creation of Democratic Kampuchea, the destruction of money, religion, education, and family life, and the brutal system of forced labor that left millions starving and exhausted. We’ll also examine the Khmer Rouge’s persecution of ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, Cham Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and other minorities.

Then we enter S-21, the infamous prison where suspected enemies of Angkar were interrogated, tortured, forced to confess to crimes they often never committed, and eventually sent to the Killing Fields. Through the stories of survivors like Chum Mey, Bou Meng, and Vann Nath, we get a firsthand look at what happened inside one of the most notorious prisons of the 20th century.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own grimly inappropriate humor to a story where forced labor, paranoia, torture, genocide, and the occasional art assignment somehow all became part of everyday life.

If you’re interested in Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian genocide, S-21, the Killing Fields, Cambodian history, genocide, political history, torture, true crime, and the darkest chapters of the 20th century, you'll love(?) this is the horrifying conclusion to the story.

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