By Thet Sambath and Erika Kinetz
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
The Khmer Rouge had a problem, which is often overlooked in discussions that tend to focus on the mass killing of the regime: Reproduction.
The regime needed new children, soldiers—2 million, by one Khmer Rouge 1978 account—to crush what they described as 50 million enemy Vietnamese across the border.
To boost the birth rate, the regime, not only organized mass weddings, but also provided cadres with long wooden love homes for their honeymoons, according to several former Khmer Rouge cadres and officials and a recent letter from retired King Norodom Sihanouk.
In a letter from Beijing dated Dec 19, the retired King related a story told to him by the wife of Penn Nouth, prime minister in the 1950s and 1960s.
"One day, our respected Angkar decided to mass produce Kampuchean babies," Penn Nouth told him, according to the retired King's letter.
Several dozen couples, who did not know each other beforehand, were directed inside a long wooden building in the provinces and ordered to "make love like industrial machines," the king wrote.
"The sexual and industrial act was accomplished in very zealous and athletic unison," the letter continues. So zealous, in fact, that the building itself collapsed. "Ka-boom!" wrote the King.
Penn Thol, one of Penn Nouth's sons and now a member of the Constitutional Council, said Sunday that he had been separated from his parents dining the regime and did not know whether the account was true. It is also unclear whether these were houses of forced reproduction.
Mey Makk, a former Khmer Rouge officer who was in charge of Pochentong International Airport from 1975 to 1979, said Sunday that regime-era honeymoon huts were made available to couples following mass weddings.
"They gave me a room with fruits and milk on the table for me to have for my honeymoon," he said. "I was given three days," he added.
Sok Dany, 45, who worked in a Khmer Rouge garment factory from 1975 to 1979, said she saw 10 to 50 couples married in a single ceremony, after which they were sent off to long wooden houses with thatch roofs in Ratanakkiri province.
"Each couple had a room in a long house for three to seven days," she said. "After these days, they were moved out and other couples were allowed in for their honeymoon."
Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said he had heard a few similar accounts from survivors from Battambang province, but that he lacked documentary evidence.
"It’s hard to confirm what really happened," he said.
(Additional reporting by Douglas Gillison.)
The regime needed new children, soldiers—2 million, by one Khmer Rouge 1978 account—to crush what they described as 50 million enemy Vietnamese across the border.
To boost the birth rate, the regime, not only organized mass weddings, but also provided cadres with long wooden love homes for their honeymoons, according to several former Khmer Rouge cadres and officials and a recent letter from retired King Norodom Sihanouk.
In a letter from Beijing dated Dec 19, the retired King related a story told to him by the wife of Penn Nouth, prime minister in the 1950s and 1960s.
"One day, our respected Angkar decided to mass produce Kampuchean babies," Penn Nouth told him, according to the retired King's letter.
Several dozen couples, who did not know each other beforehand, were directed inside a long wooden building in the provinces and ordered to "make love like industrial machines," the king wrote.
"The sexual and industrial act was accomplished in very zealous and athletic unison," the letter continues. So zealous, in fact, that the building itself collapsed. "Ka-boom!" wrote the King.
Penn Thol, one of Penn Nouth's sons and now a member of the Constitutional Council, said Sunday that he had been separated from his parents dining the regime and did not know whether the account was true. It is also unclear whether these were houses of forced reproduction.
Mey Makk, a former Khmer Rouge officer who was in charge of Pochentong International Airport from 1975 to 1979, said Sunday that regime-era honeymoon huts were made available to couples following mass weddings.
"They gave me a room with fruits and milk on the table for me to have for my honeymoon," he said. "I was given three days," he added.
Sok Dany, 45, who worked in a Khmer Rouge garment factory from 1975 to 1979, said she saw 10 to 50 couples married in a single ceremony, after which they were sent off to long wooden houses with thatch roofs in Ratanakkiri province.
"Each couple had a room in a long house for three to seven days," she said. "After these days, they were moved out and other couples were allowed in for their honeymoon."
Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said he had heard a few similar accounts from survivors from Battambang province, but that he lacked documentary evidence.
"It’s hard to confirm what really happened," he said.
(Additional reporting by Douglas Gillison.)
5 comments:
KR under Sihanouk order from Beijing to exterminate all of Khmer Republic personnels and families.
This is not hard to prove that happened.
what's new. This is what a pouch sdach animal Sihanouk do all the time.
Sdach Sihanouk knew all along what the khmer rouge did to the Cambodians people from 1975 to 1979. He was not in " house arrest" which he claimed to be. He did enjoyed nice meals everyday in his palace with his wife and children, while all khmer people in the whole country were working so hard day and night without food. Millions of people had died of starvation and execution for the crime they never committed. Sihanouk should be tried for crime against humanity.
I don't like Sihanouk (period), but the person who said "KR under Sihanouk order from Beijing to exterminate all of Khmer Republic personnels and families" is to emotional. What on earth the leader like Sihanouk who wanted to have his name as a great Hero would have wanted to exterminate his own people? Sihanouk is a jerk and who pretends to be smart that's what I see him. Isn't Sihanouk crazy or what? He said he is Nationalist but he helped teh Vietnamese. All Khmer leaders mostly crazy not educated and most brutal. About Khmers which ever ways they want to do the Vietnamese knew too well about the Khmer mentalities. Look at what is happening today? Sihanouk was screwed up by the Vietnamese and so was Pen Sovan and now Hun Sen.
Sihanouk raconte n'importe quoi. J'ai vécu dans le régime Pol Pot et avec les khmers rouges. Je n'ai jamais entendu parler de ça.
Mon mariage a été organisé par les KR, 52 couples en même temps.
Post a Comment