Humans, as a species, have an insatiable desire for equality. All throughout history, there are cases where people are killing their brothers and sisters just to ensure that they themselves are the ideal human model. These killings often remain hidden from those who are not present in the country where the horrible mass murders are taking place, unless it is brought to the public’s attention. The Cambodian genocide is no exception to this phenomenon. In 1975, a group called the Khmer Rouge took over the Cambodian government with the intent of creating a communist utopia (“The Cambodian Genocide”). Creating a utopia is no easy feat, so the Khmer Rouge targeted anyone and everyone who was even slightly urbanized. In order to select those to
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Often, they were called animals or other things considered to be less worthy than a human. Enemies to the Khmer Rouge were often regarded as maggots who were ruining Cambodian from the inside (“How the Khmer Rouge Dehumanized their Enemies”). This was an easy way to break someone, by constantly verbally abusing them until they themselves believed that they were worthless. According to the novel Night, Elie Wiesel and those who were with him were referred to as “filthy swine” when they would not work up to the standards of the SS officers (Wiesel 81). This broke their hope for a life after the Holocaust because being constantly talked down to takes a toll on a person’s humanity. Along with being called animals, the prisoners were treated as such. In Nazi Germany, Elie Wiesel and hundreds of other Jews were loaded into crammed cars made for cattle. Right from the beginning, this instilled the belief in the Jews that they were subhuman. Like animals, those under control of the Khmer Rouge were put into horrible conditions, where some even considered eating the corpses around them (Cheang 164). To make things worse, these men and women were all reduced to symbols, which was even more degrading than being called and animal. In Phom Penh, Cambodia, anyone who was categorized as a base person was given a blue and white checkered scarf. Those seen wearing this blue scarf were killed (Stanton 64). In Holocaust Era Germany, many symbols were given to their enemies. The one given to Elie Wiesel, though, was the yellow star of David. Elie Wiesel says that the star was lethal, since the Jewish label is what condemned his whole family to die or nearly die in the hands of Hitler (Wiesel 9). The Khmer Rouge and the Nazis wanted full control of their captives, and to start that they needed to gain control of their
Often, they were called animals or other things considered to be less worthy than a human. Enemies to the Khmer Rouge were often regarded as maggots who were ruining Cambodian from the inside (“How the Khmer Rouge Dehumanized their Enemies”). This was an easy way to break someone, by constantly verbally abusing them until they themselves believed that they were worthless. According to the novel Night, Elie Wiesel and those who were with him were referred to as “filthy swine” when they would not work up to the standards of the SS officers (Wiesel 81). This broke their hope for a life after the Holocaust because being constantly talked down to takes a toll on a person’s humanity. Along with being called animals, the prisoners were treated as such. In Nazi Germany, Elie Wiesel and hundreds of other Jews were loaded into crammed cars made for cattle. Right from the beginning, this instilled the belief in the Jews that they were subhuman. Like animals, those under control of the Khmer Rouge were put into horrible conditions, where some even considered eating the corpses around them (Cheang 164). To make things worse, these men and women were all reduced to symbols, which was even more degrading than being called and animal. In Phom Penh, Cambodia, anyone who was categorized as a base person was given a blue and white checkered scarf. Those seen wearing this blue scarf were killed (Stanton 64). In Holocaust Era Germany, many symbols were given to their enemies. The one given to Elie Wiesel, though, was the yellow star of David. Elie Wiesel says that the star was lethal, since the Jewish label is what condemned his whole family to die or nearly die in the hands of Hitler (Wiesel 9). The Khmer Rouge and the Nazis wanted full control of their captives, and to start that they needed to gain control of their