Personal Background
1- Original Name: Saloth Sar. Revolutionary Names and Aliases: Pol Pot, Pol, Comrade Pol, Comrade Secretary, Angkar, Hai, 870, Brother Number One, Brother 87 or 870 Committee. Nickname: Comrade Pouk.
2- Place of Birth: Prek Sbauv Village, Sangkat Number 4, Stung Sen District, Kampong Thom Province, Region 43, Northern Zone.
3- Age: Born in the year of Ox, month of Boss-January 25, 1925.
4- Personal Characteristics: Making jokes about serious statements. Suffered from frequent illnesses, including dysentery and malaria.
Pre-1975 Activities
- 1948: Enrolled in technical school to study carpentry at Russei Keo, Phnom Penh.
- 1949: Received a scholarship to the Ecole Francaise de Radioelectricite in France. Failed to meet the school’s requirements and returned home on January 14, 1953.
- Mid 1950s: Teacher at Kampuchbotr High School (a CPR cell), Phnom Penh.
- August 1953: Joined United Issarakn Front based in the Eastern Zone.
- 1954: Arrested and detained for 4 months. Served as a secretary of Kampong Cham Provincial Town of Kampong Cham.
- 1960: Held a third position in the Workers’ Party
- 1962: Lecturer at a Party School (next to Preah Sang Hospital), Phnom Penh, and secretary of the CPK.
- 1963: Fled into the jungle in the Northeastern Zone.
- 1964: Lecturer on Communism at Chamreun Vichea high school.
- 1966: Shifted the line and changed the date of the CPK’s founding to 1960.
- 1967: Promoted up to Office 102, where he suffered serious and frequent malaria.
- 1968: Party Secretary of the Northeastern Zone.
- 1970: Went to Beijing and returned to the Northeastern Zone (elected by members of the Kampuchean Workers’ Party).
- 1968-1970: CPK’s Northern Zone Secretary. Leader of Internal Guerilla Movement under his name (Saloth Sar).
- 1973: So Phim requested Men Chhay to be appointed as Acting Party secretary in the Eastern Zone, but this was rejected by Pol Pot.
Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979)
- The Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. As the leader of the Communist Party, Saloth Sar was the designate leader of the new regime. He took the name "brother number one" and declared his name “ Pol Pot”
- The new constitution was adapted on January 5, 1976, effectively abolishing the monarchy and placing princes Sihanouk under detention.
- The newly-established Representative Assembly held its first plenary meeting on April 11-13,1975 electing a new government with Pol Pot as its leader. His predecessor, Khieu Samphan was instead given the new post as president of the State Presidium, thus the effective head of state.
- The new administration was inaugurated at May 13, 1975 with Pol Pot as prime minister.
- In December 1976, Pol Pot issued directives to the senior leadership to the effect that Vietnam was now an enemy. Defenses along the border were strengthened and unreliable deportees were moved deeper into Cambodia. Pol Pot's actions were in response to the Vietnamese Communist Party's fourth Congress which approved a resolution describing Vietnam's special relationship with Laos and Cambodia. It also talked of how Vietnam would forever be associated with the building and defense of the other two countries.
- In September 1977, Cambodia launched division scale raids over the border which once again left a trail of murder and destruction in villages. Three days after the raid, Pol Pot officially announced the existence of the formerly secret Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and finally announced to the world that the country was a Communist state.
- In late 1978, in response to threats to its borders and the Vietnamese people, Vietnam attacked Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge, which Vietnam could justify on the basis of self-defense.
- The Cambodian army was defeated, the regime was toppled and Pol Pot fled to the ThailandThai border area. In January 1979, Vietnam installed a new government under Heng Samrin, composed of Khmer Rouge who had fled to Vietnam to avoid the purges.
Aftermath (1979-1998)
- Mid-1980s Pol Pot fled to Thailand where he lived for the next six years. His headquarter was a plantation villa near Trat. He was guarded by Thai Special Unit 838.
- 1985 Pol Pot officially resigned from the party.
- In 1986, his new wife Mea Son gave birth to a daughter, Sitha. Shortly after, Pol Pot moved to China for medical treatment for cancer of the face. He remained there until 1988.
- In 1989, Vietnam withdrew from Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge established a new stronghold area in the west near the Thai border and Pol Pot relocated back into Cambodia from Thailand. The Khmer Rouge kept the government forces at bay until 1996, when troops started deserting. Several important Khmer Rouge leaders also defected. The government had a policy of making peace with Khmer Rouge individuals and groups after negotiations with the organization as a whole failed. In 1995 Pol Pot experienced a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body.
- Pol Pot ordered the execution of his life-long right-hand man Son Sen on June 10, 1997 for attempting to make a settlement with the government. Eleven members of his family were killed also, although Pol Pot later denied that he had ordered this. He then fled his northern stronghold, but was later arrested by Khmer Rouge military Chief Ta Mok. In November he was subjected to a show trial for the death of Son Sen and sentenced to lifelong house arrest.
Death
On the night of 15 April, 1998 the Voice of America, of which Pol Pot was a devoted listener, announced that the Khmer Rouge had agreed to turn him over to an international tribunal. According to his wife, he died in his bed later in the night while waiting to be moved to another location. Ta Mok claimed that his death was due to heart failur.Despite government requests to inspect the body, it was cremated a few days later at Anlong Veng in the Khmer Rouge zone, raising strong suspicions that he committed suicide or was poisoned.
1- Original Name: Saloth Sar. Revolutionary Names and Aliases: Pol Pot, Pol, Comrade Pol, Comrade Secretary, Angkar, Hai, 870, Brother Number One, Brother 87 or 870 Committee. Nickname: Comrade Pouk.
2- Place of Birth: Prek Sbauv Village, Sangkat Number 4, Stung Sen District, Kampong Thom Province, Region 43, Northern Zone.
3- Age: Born in the year of Ox, month of Boss-January 25, 1925.
4- Personal Characteristics: Making jokes about serious statements. Suffered from frequent illnesses, including dysentery and malaria.
Pre-1975 Activities
- 1948: Enrolled in technical school to study carpentry at Russei Keo, Phnom Penh.
- 1949: Received a scholarship to the Ecole Francaise de Radioelectricite in France. Failed to meet the school’s requirements and returned home on January 14, 1953.
- Mid 1950s: Teacher at Kampuchbotr High School (a CPR cell), Phnom Penh.
- August 1953: Joined United Issarakn Front based in the Eastern Zone.
- 1954: Arrested and detained for 4 months. Served as a secretary of Kampong Cham Provincial Town of Kampong Cham.
- 1960: Held a third position in the Workers’ Party
- 1962: Lecturer at a Party School (next to Preah Sang Hospital), Phnom Penh, and secretary of the CPK.
- 1963: Fled into the jungle in the Northeastern Zone.
- 1964: Lecturer on Communism at Chamreun Vichea high school.
- 1966: Shifted the line and changed the date of the CPK’s founding to 1960.
- 1967: Promoted up to Office 102, where he suffered serious and frequent malaria.
- 1968: Party Secretary of the Northeastern Zone.
- 1970: Went to Beijing and returned to the Northeastern Zone (elected by members of the Kampuchean Workers’ Party).
- 1968-1970: CPK’s Northern Zone Secretary. Leader of Internal Guerilla Movement under his name (Saloth Sar).
- 1973: So Phim requested Men Chhay to be appointed as Acting Party secretary in the Eastern Zone, but this was rejected by Pol Pot.
Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979)
- The Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. As the leader of the Communist Party, Saloth Sar was the designate leader of the new regime. He took the name "brother number one" and declared his name “ Pol Pot”
- The new constitution was adapted on January 5, 1976, effectively abolishing the monarchy and placing princes Sihanouk under detention.
- The newly-established Representative Assembly held its first plenary meeting on April 11-13,1975 electing a new government with Pol Pot as its leader. His predecessor, Khieu Samphan was instead given the new post as president of the State Presidium, thus the effective head of state.
- The new administration was inaugurated at May 13, 1975 with Pol Pot as prime minister.
- In December 1976, Pol Pot issued directives to the senior leadership to the effect that Vietnam was now an enemy. Defenses along the border were strengthened and unreliable deportees were moved deeper into Cambodia. Pol Pot's actions were in response to the Vietnamese Communist Party's fourth Congress which approved a resolution describing Vietnam's special relationship with Laos and Cambodia. It also talked of how Vietnam would forever be associated with the building and defense of the other two countries.
- In September 1977, Cambodia launched division scale raids over the border which once again left a trail of murder and destruction in villages. Three days after the raid, Pol Pot officially announced the existence of the formerly secret Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and finally announced to the world that the country was a Communist state.
- In late 1978, in response to threats to its borders and the Vietnamese people, Vietnam attacked Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge, which Vietnam could justify on the basis of self-defense.
- The Cambodian army was defeated, the regime was toppled and Pol Pot fled to the ThailandThai border area. In January 1979, Vietnam installed a new government under Heng Samrin, composed of Khmer Rouge who had fled to Vietnam to avoid the purges.
Aftermath (1979-1998)
- Mid-1980s Pol Pot fled to Thailand where he lived for the next six years. His headquarter was a plantation villa near Trat. He was guarded by Thai Special Unit 838.
- 1985 Pol Pot officially resigned from the party.
- In 1986, his new wife Mea Son gave birth to a daughter, Sitha. Shortly after, Pol Pot moved to China for medical treatment for cancer of the face. He remained there until 1988.
- In 1989, Vietnam withdrew from Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge established a new stronghold area in the west near the Thai border and Pol Pot relocated back into Cambodia from Thailand. The Khmer Rouge kept the government forces at bay until 1996, when troops started deserting. Several important Khmer Rouge leaders also defected. The government had a policy of making peace with Khmer Rouge individuals and groups after negotiations with the organization as a whole failed. In 1995 Pol Pot experienced a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body.
- Pol Pot ordered the execution of his life-long right-hand man Son Sen on June 10, 1997 for attempting to make a settlement with the government. Eleven members of his family were killed also, although Pol Pot later denied that he had ordered this. He then fled his northern stronghold, but was later arrested by Khmer Rouge military Chief Ta Mok. In November he was subjected to a show trial for the death of Son Sen and sentenced to lifelong house arrest.
Death
On the night of 15 April, 1998 the Voice of America, of which Pol Pot was a devoted listener, announced that the Khmer Rouge had agreed to turn him over to an international tribunal. According to his wife, he died in his bed later in the night while waiting to be moved to another location. Ta Mok claimed that his death was due to heart failur.Despite government requests to inspect the body, it was cremated a few days later at Anlong Veng in the Khmer Rouge zone, raising strong suspicions that he committed suicide or was poisoned.
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