Pol Pots Name.

[Kampuchia Crumbs]

I ran into something interesting while watching a Youtube video I learned something new...

According the the video Pol Pot's name (not his Solath Sar name) comes from french phrase "Politique Pontenielle" - English Potential Politics. Has anyone heard of this before? How accurite is this "info"... ??

Just found it interesting, having read many books and videos on Cambodian history and never seeing this before.

Video and time location where I saw the info.

[whatwat]

He was a fluent French speaker so...

[Bitte_Kein_Lexus]

Sounds like bullshit. Sar means white in Khmer. Solath is just a name as far as I know. He might have changed his name for all I know, but phonetically it bears no resemblance to French words you mention.

[EDIT] How idiotic of me. Just watched the video and realized Pol Pot, not Solath Sar... Obviously. Never heard of that but it's quite possible as he studied in France. Actually I just asked my wife (a Khmer history major) and she says it's true.

[John Bingham]

I have heard this theory before but have serious doubts about it. There was apparently some critic of the Sihanouk government who used a similar name. I just doubt that an extreme nationalist would use a foreign name. I've head that Pol has some military connotation? Nobody really called him Pol Pot when he was around anyway, they were secretive and he was just Brother number one. Just as nobody really used the Khmer Rouge term either, it was just the "organization" .

[Johno35]

I have heard this theory before but have serious doubts about it. There was apparently some critic of the Sihanouk government who used a similar name. I just doubt that an extreme nationalist would use a foreign name. I've head that Pol has some military connotation? Nobody really called him Pol Pot when he was around anyway, they were secretive and he was just Brother number one. Just as nobody really used the Khmer Rouge term either, it was just the "organization" .

It is common knowledge that Pol Pot took his name from the French "Political Potential." I have a reference somewhere that states that, I'll look for it.

The whole episode of calling the leaders 'Brother #1, Brother #2" is just Cambodian culture meets the totalitarian regime. Cambodians still call each other Bong all the time. A former Khmer co-worker of mine used to often call our 3 English bosses "The Three Brothers" in Khmer and English. After hearing my co-worker refer to them as "The Three Brothers" I used to joke with them and call them Brother number 1, Brother number 2, etc. It was especially fun when an approval needed to be requested from the head boss...."Should I call and ask Brother number 1 if he approves?" haha. In Cambodia it would have been Bong Mouy, Bong Bpee, etc. The lack of cultural context has made Western people misinterpret this facet of the regime a bit.

It was a year after taking power before anyone knew who Pol Pot was. The common people certainly would have never heard his name in the beginning. People did know Khieu Samphan and he was commonly seen and presented himself as the leader of the Revolution. A Chinese congratulatory pamphlet to the Khmer Rouge mentions Khieu Samphan, Sihanouk, and others, but there is no mention of Pol Pot. The name Saloth Sar was listed in 1971 as merely one of ninety or so 'patriotic' intellectuals that had joined the revolution. A teacher with his name attracted the attention of Phnom Penh police twenty years earlier and was on a list of suspected subversives when Lon Nol was in power. "But there had never been anything to suggest he was more than just another disaffected school master." - Philip Short: Pol Pot: Anatomy of a nightmare.

"Another full year would pass before the reclusive figure who had guided the Cambodian communists to victory would emerge from clandestine and take his name by which his compatriots and the rest of the world, would remember him. Even then, he did so reluctantly. For two decades he had operated under multiple aliases; Pouk; Hay, '87', Grand uncle, Elder Brother, First Brother, - to be followed in later years by '99' and Phem. 'It is good to change your name.' He once told one of his secretaries. 'The more often you change your name the better. It confuses the enemy' Then he added, in a phrase, that would become a Khmer Rouge mantra: 'If you preserve secrecy, half the battle is already won.' Philip Short: Pol Pot: Anatomy of a nightmare.

Throughout the five years of civil war that pitted the Communists against Lon Nol's right wing government, most people, inside the country, as well as out, were convinced that the movement was led by Khieu Samphan, a left-wing intellectual with a reputation for incorruptibility who had won widespread support as a champion of social justice in the time when Sihanouk was in power. He had joined the maquis in 1967 and, after the Princes overthrow three years later, became the Khmer Rouge's principle spokesperson. Philip Short: Pol Pot: Anatomy of a nightmare.

[Johno35]

I have heard this theory before but have serious doubts about it. There was apparently some critic of the Sihanouk government who used a similar name. I just doubt that an extreme nationalist would use a foreign name. I've head that Pol has some military connotation? Nobody really called him Pol Pot when he was around anyway, they were secretive and he was just Brother number one. Just as nobody really used the Khmer Rouge term either, it was just the "organization" .

It was the "organization" or Angkar. But even beyond that is was The Revolution. The Revolution was everything. It as the force of nature. It was the goal of all of human history. Angkar was just the committee overseeing the Revolution. The Revolution was the power of the working class and led by THE PEOPLE. And the organization became the all see-ing all knowing security apparatus of the revolution.

[bong.kuit]

I have heard this theory before but have serious doubts about it. There was apparently some critic of the Sihanouk government who used a similar name. I just doubt that an extreme nationalist would use a foreign name. I've head that Pol has some military connotation? Nobody really called him Pol Pot when he was around anyway, they were secretive and he was just Brother number one. Just as nobody really used the Khmer Rouge term either, it was just the "organization" .

It is common knowledge that Pol Pot took his name from the French "Political Potential." I have a reference somewhere that states that, I'll look for it.

That source would interest me too. I have read most of the literature and never heard it before.

[John Bingham]

I have heard this theory before but have serious doubts about it. There was apparently some critic of the Sihanouk government who used a similar name. I just doubt that an extreme nationalist would use a foreign name. I've head that Pol has some military connotation? Nobody really called him Pol Pot when he was around anyway, they were secretive and he was just Brother number one. Just as nobody really used the Khmer Rouge term either, it was just the "organization" .

It is common knowledge that Pol Pot took his name from the French "Political Potential." I have a reference somewhere that states that, I'll look for it.

Fair enough, I haven't seen any other explanation for it.

It was the "organization" or Angkar. But even beyond that is was The Revolution.

Sihanouk referred to it as the "maquis" but I'm not sure any Khmer speakers would use that word.

It was a year after taking power before anyone knew who Pol Pot was. The common people certainly would have never heard his name in the beginning. People did know Khieu Samphan and he was commonly seen and presented himself as the leader of the Revolution. A Chinese congratulatory pamphlet to the Khmer Rouge mentions Khieu Samphan, Sihanouk, and others, but there is no mention of Pol Pot.

You can see Pol Pot, mostly standing to the side, in pictures of Sihanouk's 1973 visit to the liberated zones. I think some western journalists worked out that this was Saloth Sar early on(74/75), but his role or importance was still obscure.

[SternAAlbifrons]

Pol Pot - still a mystery after all these years.
Who can say they have any understanding of this man? I don't know anybody who does.

I feel like i know quite a lot about many of the other KR leaders. They have real substance and character in my mind. I know the kind of men they are. i could walk into their offices and pretty well know what to expect. (and not only the half doz that i have actually been in the same room with).
There are mountains of personal accounts, reports, minutes, meetings, written and spoken orders etc that give a pretty clear picture of virtually all the major personalities. And specific details about how they shaped events.

but not Pol Pot.
He is like.... nothing, thin air, a hologram

( hand grenade > )
It goes with my belief that Pol Pot was (probably) not, in fact, the No1 leader at all.
a sock

[Johno35]

Pol Pot - still a mystery after all these years.
Who can say they have any understanding of this man? I don't know anybody who does.

I feel like i know quite a lot about many of the other KR leaders. They have real substance and character in my mind. I know the kind of men they are. i could walk into their offices and pretty well know what to expect. (and not only the half doz that i have actually been in the same room with).
There are mountains of personal accounts, reports, minutes, meetings, written and spoken orders etc that give a pretty clear picture of virtually all the major personalities. And specific details about how they shaped events.

but not Pol Pot.
He is like.... nothing, thin air, a hologram

( hand grenade > )
It goes with my belief that Pol Pot was (probably) not, in fact, the No1 leader at all.
a sock

The senior Khmer Rouge were just hardcore patriotic Cambodian Nationalists meet Marxist academics. Spend enough time with both sorts and you can get a good glimpse into the mindset. I have never met a person who is a combination of the two though.

I somewhat agree with you about Pol Pot not being the true leader. He was not A leader of the revolution in the way Fidel or Mao were leaders of their revolutions. That is pretty clear. From the senior Khmer Rouge leaders interviews it does seem like he was prodded along to take the mantle of leadership.

Although I have no evidence, I believe that the Chinese and the cult of personality around Mao was an influence on the Khmer Rouge leadership needing a figurehead for their movement.