What is the saddest place on earth?

10/30/2018

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by Alex Yang via QUORA.COM

History Story: What is the saddest place on earth?

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The Killing Fields.

Just the name alone should probably give some insight into the horrific nature of the place.

During the Cold War, a Communist Revolutionary who made Stalin look sane, came to power in Cambodia.

His name?

Pol Pot.

He and the rest of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge, began fighting for power in 1970 and captured the capital, Phnom Penh by 1975.

Under the regime of the Khmer Rouge, former government officials, intellectuals, political opponents, and ethnic minorities were slaughtered brutally.

Children were drafted into the military and refugees poured across the Thai border, desperate to escape the carnage in the country.

Nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population died during these years, and today, these fields still stand as a testament to what can happen when one dangerous man seized power.

While the Khmer Rouge is less talked about than other major tragedies such as the Holocaust, it still is important to remember the millions who died there.

May the World never forget such a tragic loss of life.

This information was taken from Quora. Click here to view the original post.

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What are your thoughts on this subject?

71 Comments

Douglas Oaten

If history is forgotten, it will likely repeat itself, especially if we turn a blind eye to repetitions. The Nazi and Soviet holocausts, the Turkish holocaust in Armenia, the Rwanda holocaust, the Khmer Rouge holocaust and others should never be forgotten. The latest atrocities made by ISIS (better known as Daesh, a name that they hate) in Iraq and Syria are a grim reminder of things that seem unlikely to cease

Gerald Moroney

There are many such horrors in history the likes of Nazi Germany hell Stalin killed 10 million according to some counts and there are some we chose not to talk about they are not in our history lessons.God Grant that the world can stop these atrocities some day.

Armando Garciacano

February 2022, Russian’s Putin invading Ukraine and killing innocent people.

rumtmtiger

lacekadet, This is neither Socialism nor Communism. This is a man (I use the term loosely) who was crazy with power. His inhumanity and the inhumanity that others have shown, such as Stalin, Hitler, and others throughout history, are not because of any philosophy but because they are pure evil.

Roslyn Russell

A visit to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in the former S21 Prison in Phnom Penh is the most chilling and haunting place I have ever visited. The Khmer Rouge interrogated prisoners and took their photos just before they were killed, including a mother and her tiny baby. The memory of these faces is seared into my brain. Lest we forget.

Ian Swindale

No matter whether it's the Holocaust, the Iraqis under Saddam, Pol Pot, etc we just don't learn. It's so important we ensure our children and grandchildren are told about these things and if there are memorials to these atrocities they know where they are and visit them. Having been to one of the Nazi Death Camps with the British Army, it leaves an indelible imprint on your mind and it's something I will never forget.

Paula Salem

So tragic. And yet we pretend they never happen. We will be doomed to repeat them. I pray we can find the solution. 😔

mmariano

There was a movie made depicting the story. The movie is called: "The Killing Fields." I personally believe that modern Information Technology, which makes information available to the world instantly, will discourage these incidents.

schukshudak

I just saw a movie on Netflix called They killed my father. I really like it, it was a historical movie told by a five year olds point of view!

Linda Spreng

I've been quite naive in thinking that the WWII atrocities could not happen 'now' when the Cambodia atrocities happened right before my eyes. And other more recent incidents of at least that magnitude. We cannot let it keep happening!!!!

Yvonne Patterson

I have been to Cambodia. It is a beautiful country, but the pain of those years remains for many.

lls

"The Killing Fields" illustrated this, back in the 1980's...so horrific and unnecessary...no power is worth this many ghosts...

JoAnne Major

Never heard this very interesting. How 1 man can be so evil and people follow them they are one person go in a stop the madness

Satish Chandran

Europians invaded the World,killed aborgines,local people of the soil.

Steve Edwards

lacekadet, that’s completely untrue. Many countries have socialist governments that do very well for their people and I can’t think of one where socialism has led to communism. It would be just as ridiculous to say that capitalism leads to fascism.

bonniecardona

I remember this war very well. As with other wars there are never any winners always death, gore and tragedy

bobbyrab

Roslyn Russell, I have been there too

bobbyrab

I have been there and like the story says so horrible that so many people went through such torture, when walking around i found a quarter of a human jaw bone. S21 was another place of mass torture and murder.