Pol Pot

Brief Biography of Pol Pot

Personal Background

1) Original Name: Saloth Sar. Revolutionary Names and Aliases: Pol Pot, Pol, Comrade Pol, Comrade Secretary, Angkar, Hai, 870, Brother Number One, Brother 87 or 870 Committee. Nickname: Comrade Pouk.2) Place of Birth: Prek Sbauv Village, Sangkat Number 4, Stung Sen District, Kampong Thom Province, Region 43, Northern Zone.3) Age: Born in the year of Ox, month of Boss-January 25, 1925.4) Personal Characteristics: Making jokes about serious statements. Suffered from frequent illnesses, including dysentery and malaria.
Pre-1975 Activities
1948: Enrolled in technical school to study carpentry at Russei Keo, Phnom Penh.
1949: Received a scholarship to the Ecole Francaise de Radioelectricite in France. Failed to meet the school’s requirements and returned home on January 14, 1953.
Mid 1950s: Teacher at Kampuchbotr High School (a CPR cell), Phnom Penh.
August 1953: Joined United Issarakn Front based in the Eastern Zone.
1954: Arrested and detained for 4 months. Served as a secretary of Kampong Cham Provincial Town of Kampong Cham.
1960: Held a third position in the Workers’ Party
1962: Lecturer at a Party School (next to Preah Sang Hospital), Phnom Penh, and secretary of the CPK.
1963: Fled into the jungle in the Northeastern Zone.
1964: Lecturer on Communism at Chamreun Vichea high school.
1966: Shifted the line and changed the date of the CPK’s founding to 1960.
1967: Promoted up to Office 102, where he suffered serious and frequent malaria.
1968: Party Secretary of the Northeastern Zone.
1970: Went to Beijing and returned to the Northeastern Zone (elected by members of the Kampuchean Workers’ Party).
1968-1970: CPK’s Northern Zone Secretary. Leader of Internal Guerilla Movement under his name (Saloth Sar).
1973: So Phim requested Men Chhay to be appointed as Acting Party secretary in the Eastern Zone, but this was rejected by Pol Pot.