In front Vet

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Front Vet (1978)

Vorn Vet (* approx. 1934 as Penh Thuok in Siem Reap , French Indochina , † probably December 1978 in Phnom Penh , Democratic Kampuchea ) was a Cambodian politician. He was a leading member of the Khmer Rouge and for many years a close confidante of Pol Pot . From 1976 to 1978 Vorn held several political offices in Democratic Kampuchea; among other things, he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry. He was murdered probably a month before the end of the Khmer Rouge regime under circumstances that are not fully understood.

Surname

In front of his maiden name was Penh Thuok. In front was a nom de guerre , which he used in the 1960s and, after a short break, again from 1975 to 1978. At times he also used the aliases Suok Thuok (1970 to 1975), Sok, Mean, Koun, Vorn and Vet.

biography

Childhood and youth

Vorn was born in the northwest Cambodian province of Siem Reap. His parents were farm workers. From 1948 he attended a secondary school in Battambang , in 1952 he began studying in Phnom Penh, which he dropped out after a year. In 1953 Vorn joined the guerrilla group Khmer Issarak , which fought for Cambodia's independence from the colonial power of France . In 1954 he went into exile in Vietnam , where he met Pol Pot. Both were linked by a political friendship that lasted more than 20 years.

Functionary of the Communist Party of Cambodia

After the end of the Indochina War he returned to Phnom Penh, where he was accepted into the Communist Party of Cambodia at the end of the year , of which he had been a member of the Central Committee since 1963. During this time the nom de guerre Vorn Vet was used for the first time. Some sources consider it “possible” or “not excluded” that Vorn worked as a double agent for the US secret service CIA in the 1960s , but do not give any specific information Evidence for this assumption.

During the Cambodian Civil War , the Khmer Rouge divided the country into different zones. One of them was the special zone around the capital Phnom Penh. From 1971 Vorn was the first party secretary in the special zone.

Democratic Kampuchea

Super minister

After the Khmer Rouge came to power, Vorn was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister in March 1976. He chaired the committees for agriculture, industry, rubber plantations, communications, energy and trade, making him one of the most influential politicians in the country. Until 1978 Vorn was fifth in the hierarchy of the Communist Party of Cambodia or the Angka organization . Vor had the authority to appoint and dismiss the heads of the operations and administrative units subordinate to him.

In 1977 Vorn was a member of a government delegation that visited Beijing and Pyongyang . The trip resulted in the People's Republic of China providing the Kampuchea government with "substantial military aid" in 1978 in the form of arms deliveries. In the face of increasing tensions with neighboring Vietnam, Vorn led negotiations on the Cambodian side in 1977 to resolve the dispute.

Vorn was at least indirectly responsible for the operation of the torture prison S-21 . In 1975 he had installed Kaing Guek Eav (Nom de Guerre: "Comrade Duch") as its director. A source claims that "Duch" followed instructions from Vorns during the torture in the prison.

Arrest and death

Vorn remained in office until the fall of 1978. As early as August 1978, against the background of increasing tensions with Vietnam, there had been political cleansing in the Angka organization, which initially affected middle management levels. On November 2, 1978, when Vietnamese soldiers were about to invade Cambodia, Vorn was arrested and detained in prison S-21. Prison chief Duch later confirmed that Vorn, his former mentor, was detained at the facility in late 1978 and was tortured . Pol Pot himself hit Vorn and broke his leg in prison. Under torture, Vorn confessed to having prepared a coup d'etat or a counter-revolution with the help of the CIA and to having conspired with Vietnam. Front was sentenced to death and probably executed in December 1978 . The party leadership initially doubted Vorn's death and induced "Comrade Duch", whom they assumed to be loyalty to his previous mentor, to open Vorn's grave so that his body could be inspected.

It is doubtful whether Vorn actually attempted a coup. Some sources assume a coup attempt by Vorn without further details, others doubt this information and emphasize that apart from Vorn's forced confession there are no reliable indications of such attempts. The arrest of Vorns is often seen in connection with Pol Pot's paranoia , which, in view of an impending attack by Vietnam, has now also been directed against his own confidants.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Samuel Totten, Paul Robert Bartrop: Dictionary of Genocide: MZ , Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008, ISBN 9780313346446 , p. 461.
  2. ^ A b Philip Short: Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare , Hachette UK, 2013, ISBN 9781444780307 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Paul Robert Bartrop: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide: Portraits of Evil and Good , ABC-CLIO, 2012, ISBN 9780313386787 , p. 326.
  4. ↑ Monika Warnenska: Śladami Pol Pota . Warsaw, 1999, ISBN 83-7227-262-X , p. 152.
  5. ^ A b Karl D. Jackson: Cambodia, 1975-1978: Rendezvous with Death , Princeton University Press, 2014, ISBN 9781400851706 , p. 92.
  6. ↑ Ben Kiernan: The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge , 1975-79, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780300142990 , p. 65.
  7. ↑ Ben Kiernan: The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge , 1975-79, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780300142990 , p. 327, speaks in this respect of "super-ministers".
  8. ↑ Ben Kiernan: The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge , 1975-79, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780300142990 , foreword, p. 19.
  9. ↑ Andrew Mertha: Brothers in Arms: Chinese Aid to the Khmer Rouge, 1975–1979 , Cornell University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780801470721 , p. 137.
  10. ^ A b Jeffrey Heyes: Decline of the Khmer Rouge and their ouster by the Vietnamese. 2008, accessed June 14, 2017 .
  11. ^ Group of Cambodian Muslims among 'smashed' by Khmer Rouge. June 8, 2016, accessed June 14, 2017 .
  12. ↑ a b Ben Kiernan: The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge , 1975-79, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780300142990 , p. 437.
  13. ^ Cambodian Genocid Program. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 10, 2014 ; accessed on July 31, 2014 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / cgp.research.yale.edu
  14. ^ Paul R. Bartrop, Steven Leonard Jacobs: Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection , Volume 4, ABC-CLIO, 2014, ISBN 9781610693646 , p. 553.
personal data
SURNAME Vet, front
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thuok, Pen (maiden name); Thuok, Suok
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cambodian politician, member of the Khmer Rouge
DATE OF BIRTH around 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Siem Reap , French Indochina
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: December 1978
Place of death Phnom Penh , Democratic Kampuchea