The Khmer Rouge take power in Cambodia

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In April 1975 the four-year rule of the brutal Khmer Rouge began in Cambodia.

Up to two million people are thought to have died - many summarily executed, or starved to death in the communist regime.

In 2013, Mike Lanchin spoke to Youk Chhang, who was just 14-years-old when the Khmer Rouge swept to power.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Credit: PRESSENS BILD/AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi Curios, I'm Dara Brien.
0:03.5	And I'm Hannah Frye.
0:04.5	And we are back for another series of curious cases.
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0:14.7	Why do we lie?
0:16.1	What happens to our brains when we fall in love?
0:19.2	We tackle the mysteries of the universe to audacious experiments and expert insight.
0:23.8	Curious cases.
0:24.8	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:34.1	Hello, you're listening to the Witness History podcast
0:36.8	from the BBC World Service.
0:40.0	Fifty years ago, soldiers of the Communist Khmer Rouge Party stormed into the capital of Cambodia,
0:46.6	Pernon Penh. It was the start of a four-year reign of terror, which resulted in up to two million
0:52.8	people being killed. In 2013, Mike Lanchin spoke to
0:57.0	one Cambodian who was a young boy at the time. It's April 1975, and the black
1:03.2	uniformed soldiers of the Khmer Rouge are making their final push into the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. Fear
1:10.4	is gripping the city. Foreign governments
1:12.6	are withdrawing their nationals. This evacuation is taking place in an effort to ensure the safety
1:19.3	of U.S. citizens in Cambodia. We are also undertaking to evacuate third country nationals working
1:26.6	for the U.S. government, U government, US press services, voluntary agencies, etc.
1:32.7	Tens of thousands of Cambodians have already fled the city. Among them, the mother and sisters of Yuk Chang.
	...

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