Holocaust as Career: The Khmer Rouge, the Nazis and the Banality of Evil

• Print
• E-Mail
• Feedback

In moral terms, by ruling out the option of imposing the death penalty, the tribunal in Cambodia has elevated itself above the culprits and their killing spree. But there are other drawbacks to the "Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia," as the tribunal is called. Corrupt Phnom Penh officials serving on the tribunal have attempted to limit any accounting for Cambodia's past to a handful of cases, thereby diverting attention away from the fact that former members of the Khmer Rouge still hold government offices in Phnom Penh today. Likewise, there is now some doubt as to whether the now-elderly senior Khmer Rouge leaders will ever be tried. These include Nuon Chea, the regime's former second-in-command, former President Khieu Samphan (1976-1979) and former ministers Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith.

After some initial hesitancy, the Cambodian people have now started showing interest in the Duch trial. More than 50 witnesses have testified in it; close to 25,000 people have watched the hearings in the public gallery of the tribunal; and millions have listened to radio broadcasts of courtroom proceedings. "For me," says a Cambodian woman who lost many relatives during the dark years, "it was a triumph to see this former official -- once so arrogant and all-powerful -- sitting helplessly in the dock." She added that she would like to see Duch "rot" in prison and die behind bars.

But that outcome is not entirely guaranteed. A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of Duch, which was seen by SPIEGEL, arrives at astonishing conclusions. According to the report, Duch was indeed responsible for his actions; he was "meticulous, conscientious and control-oriented"; but, nevertheless, he managed to "compose powerful defense mechanisms on his own, particularly through the selective perception of facts." Still, the experts also arrive at a disturbing conclusion: From the psychologists' point of view, the former commandant of Tuol Sleng can one day be re-socialized and reintegrated into society. But whether he is released, the report continues, "depends, of course, on more than just medical considerations."

• Back
• 1
• | 2
• | 3
• | 4
• | 5

• Part 1: The Khmer Rouge, the Nazis and the Banality of Evil
• Part 2: Later Parallels
• Part 3: Parallels in the Dock
• Part 4: Blind, but Creative Obedience
• Part 5: Punishing, Stalling and Rehabilitating