Norodom Sihanouk

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Norodom Sihanouk visiting the Netherlands in 1983

Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk Varman ( Khmer : ព្រះករុណា ព្រះបាទ សម្ដេចព្រះ នរោត្ដម សីហ នុ រាជ ហរិ វង្ស ឧភតោ សុ ជាតិ វិសុទ្ធ ពង្ស អគ្គ មហាបុរស រត ន៍ និ ក ក រោ ត្ដម ធម្មិក មហា រាជាធិរាជ បរមនាថ បរមបពិត្រ ព្រះចៅ ក្រុងកម្ពុជាធិបតី, * October 31, 1922 in Phnom Penh ; † 15 . October 2012 in Beijing ) was from 1941 to 1955 and from 1993 to 2004 King and 1960-1970, 1975-1976 and 1991-1993 head of State of Cambodia .

Life

Norodom Sihanouk (around 1955)

Prince Sihanouk was educated in French schools in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City ) and Paris . In 1941, at the age of 18, he was proclaimed king under the French colonial administration under the Vichy regime . The French hoped to be able to exploit Sihanouk as a docile enforcement agent for their colonial interests. After the Japanese occupied Indochina, Sihanouk proclaimed Cambodia's independence. After the defeat of Japan and the return of the French colonial power, he managed to come to terms with France again. At the same time, he developed ambitions to lead Cambodia to real independence. In 1952, Sihanouk dismissed the government, suspended the constitution and appointed himself head of government. In 1953 Sihanouk declared martial law , dissolved the elected parliament and - anticipating the defeat of France at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 - unilaterally proclaimed the political independence of Cambodia.

After independence, Cambodia was the only country in Indochina that also carried out the planned elections, which were won by the Democratic Party , which was critical of the monarchy . In 1955 Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father Norodom Suramarit as king and founded the “Socialist People's Community” ( Sangkum ), a party with which he won the elections. She officially received 83% of the vote. As Norodom Sihanouk was revered by the common people as a direct descendant of the god kings of Angkor, the victory of the Sangkum was almost certain. Sihanouk ruled practically as sole ruler from 1955 to 1970 and was head of state again after the death of his father in 1960, but without reassuming the title of king. Domestically, Sihanouk initiated a nationalization policy under the slogan of " Buddhist Socialism "; in terms of foreign policy, he declared Cambodia to be neutral .

While Sihanouk was worshiped as the god-king by the rural population , opposition to Sihanouk's politics and style of government rose among sections of the student body and among the urban middle class. During this time, right ( Khmer Serai ) and left ( Khmer Rouge ) political organizations were formed. Sihanouk's foreign policy positioning also turned out to be increasingly problematic in view of the Vietnam War ; Sihanouk had declared Cambodia's neutrality, but could not prevent North Vietnam from supporting the South Vietnamese Viet Cong via the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which also runs on Cambodian territory . The United States responded by bombing Cambodian territory. 1970 did the conflict between Sihanouk and his since 1969 acting Prime Minister and Army - commander , General Lon Nol . While Sihanouk was in Paris on a trip abroad, Lon Nol called for tough action against Vietnamese troops on Cambodian soil. Sihanouk threatened to arrest the government but stayed abroad. As a result, Lon Nol carried out a coup in March 1970, declared Sihanouk deposed and proclaimed the Khmer Republic.

Norodom Sihanouk 1972 while visiting Romania
Norodom Sihanouk during a visit to US President Ronald Reagan at the White House , 1988

Sihanouk went into exile in Beijing, where he arranged a coalition ( Front uni national du Kampuchéa ) that also included the Khmer Rouge . When Pol Pot proclaimed the " Democratic Kampuchea " in 1975, Sihanouk returned from exile to Phnom Penh and was appointed head of state . After his public criticism of the Khmer Rouge, however, he was deposed and placed under house arrest in the royal palace from 1976–1979 . During the rule of the Khmer Rouge 1975–1979, several family members of Sihanouk were killed, including five children and at least 14 grandchildren. After the occupation of Cambodia by Vietnamese troops in 1979, Sihanouk went back into exile in China. While in exile, Sihanouk founded a new party with the United National Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia ( FUNCINPEC ).

From 1982 to 1990 Sihanouk again worked politically and militarily with the Khmer Rouge. During the peace process Sihanouk acted 1991-1993 as chairman of the Supreme National Council and thus as provisional head of state. After the elections carried out under UN supervision, Prince Sihanouk was reappointed King and Head of State of Cambodia in 1993, which has had the form of a constitutional monarchy since then .

At the urging of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was commander of the Khmer Rouge in eastern Cambodia from 1975 to 1977 , Sihanouk pardoned the former foreign minister of the Khmer Rouge Ieng Sary as king in 1996 . Sary is considered to be one of the main culprits in the genocide in Cambodia under Pol Pot . Sihanouk's ties to the Khmer Rouge also succeeded in getting a significant part of the Khmer Rouge down.

In early 2004, the then 81-year-old monarch saw a report of same-sex weddings in San Francisco . As a result, the king is said to have published a handwritten message on his website, which is popular in the country, stating that Cambodia as a “liberal democracy” should also allow something like this; he respected gays and lesbians and let them be who they are, since God loves "a wide range of tastes".

On October 7, 2004, the 81-year-old monarch announced in a letter from Beijing, where he was receiving medical treatment, that he would resign on health grounds. He had already suffered two strokes and suffered from diabetes , high blood pressure and colon cancer . The Council of Thrones of Cambodia then elected Prince Norodom Sihamoni , a son of Sihanouk, as the new king of the country on October 14th. The enthronement took place on October 29, 2004. Subsequently, Sihanouk was referred to in the western press as the king-father (cf. Queen-Mother). In addition to his royal title, he actually retained many of the privileges of a constitutional monarch. The abdication is Sihanouk's last major political move, because Prime Minister Hun Sen had repeatedly threatened to abolish the monarchy, which would have been possible if a successor had not been found after Sihanouk's death.

Sihanouk died on October 15, 2012 at the age of 89 in Beijing and was cremated according to the Buddhist rite on February 4, 2013 in Phnom Penh. Sihanouk was married six times and had at least 14 children.

Artistic activity

Statue of Norodom Sihanouk in Phnom Penh

Sihanouk worked as a choreographer for the royal ballet and as a film director, strove for the rebirth of classical Cambodian art and wrote plays. He also wrote leading articles for his own government press and ironically described himself as a correspondent for the satirical Parisian newspaper Le Canard enchaîné .

In 1967 - in the middle of the Vietnam War - Prince Sihanouk received Jacqueline Kennedy in Angkor Wat as the US ambassador.

After the publication of 2 singles Melodie des Südens in 1964 ( Amiga 4 50 451 and 4 50 455) in the GDR, the LP Palmen am Meer - Tanzmusik aus Cambodscha (Amiga 8 50 132) was released in 1968 . Without exception, these records contain compositions that are said to come from the pen of Sihanouk and were recorded by the Leipzig Radio Dance Orchestra under the direction of Walter Eichenberg . In the almost identical texts on the back of the sound carrier it says: "His work as a composer of entertaining music, excellent pianist, saxoponist and conductor is just as internationally known as his work as a writer, screenwriter, actor and film director."

Works

  • La monarchy cambodgienne et la croisade royale pour l'indépendance . Ministère de l'éducation nationale: Phnom-Penh 1954.
  • with Wilfred G. Burchett: My War with the CIA. The Memoirs of Prince Norodom Sihanouk . Pantheon Books: New York 1973. ISBN 0-394-48543-2 . (German edition: My war with the CIA. Cambodia's struggle for national independence . Oberbaumverlag, Berlin 1974, ISBN 978-3-87628-085-1 .)
  • with Jean Lacouture: Indochina seen from Beijing. Conversations with Jean Lacouture in Beijing . German publishing company: Stuttgart 1972. ISBN 3-421-01630-5 .
  • Cambodia. Chronicle of War and Hope . Ullstein: Frankfurt / M., Berlin, Vienna 1980. ISBN 3-548-34511-5 .
  • Souvenirs doux et amers . Hachette; Paris 1981. ISBN 2-01-007656-7 .
  • with Simonne Lacouture: Prisonnier des Khmers Rouges . Hachette: Paris 1986. ISBN 2-01-012184-8 .
  • with Bernard Krisher : Sihanouk Reminisces: World Leaders I Have Known . Editions Duang Kamol: Bangkok 1990. ISBN 974-210-524-3 .
  • Shadow Over Angkor: Memoirs of His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia . Monument Books: Phnom Penh 2005. ISBN 974-92648-6-8 .

literature

  • John P. Armstrong: Sihanouk Speaks . Walker: New York 1964.
  • Hèléne Cixous: The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 1994. ISBN 0-8032-6361-9 .
  • Justin J Corfield: The Royal Family of Cambodia . Khmer Language and Culture Center: Melbourne 1990. ISBN 0-646-01398-X .
  • Julio A. Jeldres: The Royal Family of Cambodia . Monument Books: Phnom Penh 2003. ISBN 974-90881-0-8 .
  • Milton Osborne: King-Making in Cambodia. From Sisowath to Sihanouk . In: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 4.2 (1973) pp. 169-185. ISSN  0022-4634 .
  • Milton Osborne: Sihanouk. Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness . Silkworm Books: Chiang Mai 1994. ISBN 974-7047-22-5 .
  • Peter Schier, Manola Schier-Oum (ed.): Prince Sihanouk on Cambodia. Interviews and Talks with Prince Norodom Sihanouk . Institute for Asian Studies: Hamburg 1985. ISBN 3-88910-013-9 .
  • Peter Scholl-Latour : Death in the rice field. Thirty years of war in Indochina . Dtv: Munich 2000. ISBN 3-423-36173-5 .

Web links

Commons : Norodom Sihanouk  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Obituary: Norodom Sihanouk, former King of Cambodia ; Obituary on BBC News October 14, 2012
  2. ↑ Louis J. Smith Edward C. Keefer: Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Vietnam, January 1969-July 1970 Summary. US Department of State The Historian Bureau of Public Affairs, 2005, accessed September 2, 2009 .
  3. ^ Cambodian king backs gay marriage ; BBC News, February 20, 2004.
  4. ^ Cambodia former King Norodom Sihanouk dies in Beijing ; BBC News October 14, 2012
  5. ^ Report in the ARD Tagesthemen from February 4, 2013
  6. ↑ Kenton Clymer: The United States and Cambodia, 1870-1969: From Curiosity to Confrontation. Routledge, London 2004, ISBN 978-1-1343-5899-1 , p. 23.
predecessor Office successor
Sisowath Monivong King of Cambodia
1941–1955 		Norodom Suramarite
Norodom Suramarite King of Cambodia
1993-2004 		Norodom Sihamoni
personal data
SURNAME Norodom Sihanouk
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk Varman (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cambodian nobleman, King of Cambodia
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Phnom Penh
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 2012
Place of death Beijing