A Story Of Gerda Frieberg

Only 30 years after the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot took control of Cambodia in 1975 during their 4-year regime, an estimated 2 million people were killed, around 25% of the country’s population. Similarly, the 60% of Jews living in Europe were either outright killed or served as slave labor until they succumbed to exhaustion, starvation or disease within concentration camps. The two genocide are surprisingly similar, based on the experience of Gerda Frieberg, a Holocaust survivor.

Born in Poland, 1925, Gerda lived a normal life until 1939, when her father was taken away, despite serving in WW1.

Things became progressively worse: in 1940 they were deported to the ghettos, and two years later, the concentration camp. Gerda lost 172 members of her family and after being liberated in 1945, she spent four years in a displaced person camp, later heading to Israel before settling in Canada, leaving her war-torn home. Gerda created a successful real estate development company and two children. She began spreading awareness of the Holocaust and remained determined in the fight against Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis.

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The conditions of the concentration camps Gerda were sent to are inhuman. The weak, sick, elderly and those who were incapable of performing labor were killed by gas chambers. Those who lived worked long, grueling hours, constantly starved on an unsanitary, polluted and crowded workspace. To make matters worse, the barracks lack insulation and the guards operated with ruthless savagery. It was not uncommon to lose hope from prolonged exposure to the above circumstances and those who endure no doubt have an iron will, as especially when one is considered a resource, as opposed an actual human being.

The Khmer Rouge, shortly after defeating Lieutenant General Lon Nol’s coup, which has been taken through a military coup of his own from Prince Sihanouk, began to establish work camps and criteria which would determine those which were enemies of the state. Everyone was forced to move away from cities and worked in labor camps. Their goal was to return Cambodia to a primitive and Communist state. Money, school, hospital, markets, property, possession, universities and factories disappeared. Religion was banned. Intellectuals, educated people, those in opposition, weak, old, elderly, sick, disobedient, disabled, were killed. Ethical minorities such as Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese as well as religious followers such as Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist were also targeted. Wearing glasses, speaking a foreign language or even showing emotion can lead to death. The Khmer Rouge also often killed their own members due to suspected betrayal. They follow the motto “You can arrest someone by mistake, never release them by mistake.” Those who managed to live worked endlessly in labor camps until their bodies deteriorate from limited rations or illness. At that point, their only fate would be death.

Alongside the labor camps and farms existed also over 200 killing fields. These mass grave sites were responsible for the massive amount of death which occurred during the genocide. Even after the genocide the landmines often makes excavating the bodies for a proper burial a difficult task. The Khmer Rouge also often tortured their victims and force them into confessions. This would result in a list of names which the Khmer Rouge would proceed to hunt down and kill.

Conditions did not improve after the Khmer Rouge was toppled in 1979 through an invasion by Vietnam. They had trouble rebuilding the country as the economy was in ruins, and most intellectuals have been killed. To make matters worse, the US supported Khmer Rouge rebels and even trained them in the use of landmines, due to shared aggression against communism. It was not until 1989 that the Vietnam government had withdrawn. Still the country was in shambles and many suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. At the time, there was not recognized and nearly no options for treatment.

It was not until 20 years later that the members of the Khmer Rouge were trialed for their crimes. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia were often criticized for its slow conviction process, cost and inefficiency. Only five people were ever convicted. Kang Kek Iew, Head of Security; Nuon Chea, Second in Command; Ieng Sary, Minister of foreign affairs; Ieng Thirith, Minister of Social Affairs and Khieu Samphan, Head of State of Cambodia.

The Holocaust and the Cambodian genocide display strikingly alarming similarities, and also happens to occur within 30 years of one another. Both set its own criteria for the extermination of masses and proceeded to set up locations to do so, be it gas chambers or killing fields. Neither regimes failed to use forced labor nor or hold any regard for human life. Even when the regimes came to an end, the damage did not immediately heal. Instead tension was high in Europe and the world’s superpowers along with Germany divided in two. In Cambodia, another 3 years of civil war followed by poverty and landmine filled countryside which persists even today. The lack of information and awareness was also prevalent in both cases. The atrocities of the Holocaust were often watered down or outright denied to have ever existed. As for the Cambodian Genocide, the US embassy even ignored as murder were committed, even supporting the Khmer Rouge merely for the purpose of combating communism ideology. The Cambodian Genocide exists to demonstrate how little was gained from the Holocaust.

To say that no progress has been made would, however, be outright false. Survivors like Gerda Frieberg are spreading awareness about the Holocaust. There is still more to be done and a long road awaits ahead in the battle to stop and prevent genocides. History serves as an example to be compared to, and although the situation has indeed changed for the better, there are indeed still plenty of room for improvement