Careful examination of the available evidence reveals inconsistencies that indicate whether or not the number in question is worthy of serious consideration.Īs of this writing (April 2005), the most commonly cited estimates of the death toll fall in the range of 1.5 to 1.7 million. These estimates vary widely yet the fact that they are all estimates does not mean that they are all equally valid. In any discussion of the death toll, it is important to stress that these figures are still only estimates. However, because the data is imprecise, shifting the end point by a few months in one direction or another makes little difference for practical purposes, it is sufficient to say that the period in question extends to early 1979. As the famine was largely brought about by Khmer Rouge policies, one could argue that these deaths, too, should be considered within the toll. Famine affected parts of the country later in 1979. The Khmer Rouge continued to control a significant part of the population beyond the "official" overthrow of the regime in January 1979. The end point, however, is more difficult to fix. The beginning of the period, then, can be clearly determined as April 17, 1975. Deaths from the civil war which brought the Khmer Rouge to power should not be considered as a part of the regime's death toll after all, death is expected in war. Deaths attributed to the Khmer Rouge regime are, in short, those deaths which can reasonably be interpreted as having been the result of Khmer Rouge policies. How do you measure hell? There is, however, one element common to all revolutions: the death toll.įor the purposes of this article, any discussion of the death toll refers to excess mortality. How can we place Cambodia within the context of revolutions in general? It is impossible to quantify the suffering of the Cambodian people in the 1970s. The details of these events, however, are often confusing and sometimes contradictory. War, genocide, and starvation devastated the country to a degree that has few parallels in modern times. We know the broad outlines of what happened during Khmer Rouge regime it was, to borrow a phrase from one refugee, "Hell on the Earth." (2) These words could serve as a broader description of Cambodia during the entire decade of the 1970s.
This is the problem of describing Pol Pot's Cambodia. Grappling in the dark, we try to determine the size, the shape, the nature of the unknown. We describe things on the basis of what we know. The fourth man feels the tail, and says that it is a rope. The third man feels the leg and insists that it is a tree. The second man feels the trunk, and declares that it is a snake. The first man feels the side of the elephant, and announces that it is a wall. In India, there is a story about a group of blind men.
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