Pol Pot
Cambodian communist dictator (1925–1998) and leader of the Khmer Rouge who governed Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 under the name "Democratic Kampuchea." His "Year Zero" ideology led to the forced evacuation of cities, the abolition of money, and the systematic murder of an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million people — roughly a quarter of Cambodia's population.
Pol Pot's significance lies in the consequences of the movement and rule associated with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea: ideology, repression, victims, mass violence, and the collapse of democratic or pluralist safeguards. The page should be read as a historical warning, not as validation of office prestige or state authority.
Details
- birth year
- 1925
- death year
- 1998
- editorial frame
- historical_atrocity
- monetization allowed
- false
- office
- General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea
- historical status
- deceased_historical
This profile uses curated historical sections and source-backed metadata. Auto-generated leader framing, quick-fact synthesis, and monetized modules are disabled for sensitive historical figures.
Overview
Saloth Sar, known as Pol Pot (1925–1998), led the Khmer Rouge to power in Cambodia in April 1975 and ruled as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and Prime Minister of "Democratic Kampuchea" until the Vietnamese invasion toppled his regime in January 1979. In that brief period of less than four years, his "Year Zero" ideology — which sought to abolish all of Cambodia's pre-revolutionary history and create an agrarian utopia — caused the death of an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 million people, approximately a quarter of Cambodia's population, through execution, starvation, overwork, and disease.