SBS50: Biggest Stories 1975

Photographs of Khmer Rouge Victims (Bohemian Nomad Picturemakers/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) Credit: Kevin Morris/Corbis via Getty Images

SBS50: Biggest Stories

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One of the stories that shook the world in 1975 was Cambodia’s genocide. Communist forces lead by Pol Pot attempted to socially engineer a classless, peasant society. The Khmer Rouge took aim at intellectuals, city residents, ethnic Vietnamese, civil servants, and religious leaders.

The leadership chillingly asserted that its new agrarian communist utopia had more people than it needed.

Between 1975 and 1979 about 1.5 million Cambodians out of a total population of 7 to 8 million, died of starvation, execution, disease, or overwork.

Their bodies were buried in mass graves that became known as the Killing Fields.

Survivors, some of whom ended up as refugees in Australia, were left severely traumatised.

And in a bizarre twist in 2014 the Australian government signed a deal to resettle refugees in Cambodia.

Discover more at sbs.com.au/sbs50.

Transcript

Ildiko

We are celebrating 50 years at SBS by bringing you some of the biggest stories from the past five decades.

Anton

One of the stories that shook the world in 1975 was Cambodia's genocide. Communist forces led by Pol Pot attempted to socially engineer a classless peasant society. The Khmer Rouge took particular aim at intellectuals, city residents, ethnic Vietnamese civil servants and religious leaders. The leadership chillingly asserted its new agrarian communist utopia had more peace than it needed.

To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss.

Between 1975 and 1979, about 1.5 million Cambodians out of a total population of 7 to 8 million died of starvation, execution, disease or overwork. Their bodies were buried in mass graves that became known as the killing fields. Survivors, some of whom ended up as refugees in Australia, were left severely traumatised. And in a bizarre twist, in 2014, the Australian government signed a deal to resettle refugees in Cambodia.

Discover more@sbs.com au SBS50.

END OF TRANSCRIPT