30 Debré, Cambodge, p. 86. This quotation suggests that Saloth Sar planned to model his personal style on that of Stalin rather than on those of other Communist leaders. For final quotation, Thayer, ”Day of Reckoning.“

Chapter Four

1 From Loth Suong’s interviews with Stephen Heder (1981) and with author (1990).

2 Kiernan, HPP, pp. 122-123; and from author’s interviews with Keng Vannsak (1986). In 1953 Sar probably still considered Son Ngoc Thanh a genuine nationalist. Steve Heder’s interview with Saloth Chhay (March 1975). Chhay died under Democratic Kampuchea. In a November 1974 interview with the Australian journalist Niel Davis, Chantaraingsey, whom Saloth Sar may have known from his childhood, recalled that when Sar visited him in 1953, “he was already working with the Vietnamese.” I am grateful to Steve Heder for his notes from these two interviews.

3 Chanda, Brother Enemy, p. 58. See also W Burchett, The China-Cambodia-Vietnam Triangle (London, 1981), p. 54, which relies on another interview with Pham Van Ba.

4 For Pham Van Ba’s recollection and the DK statement from 1980, see Kiernan, HPP, p. 123; and Khieu Thirith’s complaint in 1981 in Becker, When the War Was Over, p. 91. See also Thirith’s interview with Becker (October 1980), Echols Collection, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, N.Y., which mentions “Saloth Sar’s sad experiences with the Viet Minh,” and the confession of Meas Mon (Keo Samnang), which tells of Mon’s participation in 1953-1955 in a military unit on the border that was “half Vietnamese and half Khmer.” (All confessions are in the Tuol Sleng Archives, Phnom Penh.)

5 Stephen Heder’s manuscript interview with Chea Soth (1981); and Kiernan, HPP, p. 60. Chea Soth survived the Pol Pot period and became a minister in the PRK. In 1953 Tou Samouth held several military and political titles including chief of the territorial organization, assistant chief of the party cadre committee, and chief of the Issarak Front (see SHAT Archives, 10H 5613).

6 In his interview with Steve Heder, Mey Mann said that “Grandfather Tou established residence in a house in Tuol Svay Prey on a piece of land purchased by Saloth Sar.” This part of the capital, where Saloth Sar taught school, later became infamous as the site of Democratic Kampuchea’s interrogation and extermination center known at Tuol Sleng.

7 Vorn Vet’s confession (typed version), p. 3, states that Saloth Sar brought Thuok into the Cambodian Communist party at the end of 1954.

8 Ibid.; Kiernan, HPP, pp. 154ff. Sien An, Rath Samoeun, and Yun Soeurn were purged under Democratic Kampuchea. See also Carlyle Thayer, War by Other Means (Sydney, 1989), pp. 16-17. Nuon Chea’s draft history of the Communist party of Kampuchea, prepared in 1997 (hereafter “History”) mentions a figure of 1,500-2,000 evacuees. I am grateful to Nate Thayer for a copy of this document, and to David Ashley for a translation.

9 From author’s interview with Thiounn Mumm (May 1988). Chheam Van, Mumm’s brother-in-law, recalled meeting Saloth Sar at this time and discussing politics. On at least one occasion, Saloth Sar used the name “Pol” (or “Paul”) in France (author’s interview with Keng Vannsak, May 1987).