Born: May 19, 1928
Kompong Thom, Cambodia
Died: April 15, 1998
Near Anlong Veng, Cambodia
Cambodian premier
Kompong Thom, Cambodia
Died: April 15, 1998
Near Anlong Veng, Cambodia
Cambodian premier
Pol Pot was a leader in the Cambodian Communist movement and became premier of the government of Democratic
Kampuchéa (DK) from 1976 to 1979. He directed the mass killing of intellectuals, professional people, and city dwellers—over a million of his own people.Early life
Pol Pot was born Saloth Sar on May 19, 1928, near Anlong Veng, Cambodia, the second son of a successful landowner. Pol Pot's father had political connections at the royal court at the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, some seventy miles from Prek Sbau, the small hamlet in Kompong Thom province where Pol Pot was born. Visits by court officials and even by Cambodian king Sisowath Monivong himself to Pol Pot's father's home appear to have been common. Pol Pot often denied that he was Saloth Sar, probably to protect his family. He adopted his new name by 1963, and even after he had become premier, people were unsure of his actual identity.Pol Pot was a poor student. He was educated by Buddhists and at a private Catholic institution in Phnom Penh, and then enrolled at a technical school (a place where mechanical or scientific subjects are taught) in the town of Kompong Cham to learn carpentry. He later obtained a government scholarship to study radio and electrical technology in Paris. However, in France Pol Pot began to spend less time studying and more time becoming involved with the Communist Party. (Communists believe in revolution to create a society in which the means of production—land, factories, and mines—are owned by the people as a whole rather than by individuals.)
sources:
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pe-Pu/Pol-Pot.html#b