View source for Pol Pot

=== Childhood: 1925–1941 ===
Pol Pot was born in the village of [[Prek Sbauv]], outside the city of [[Kampong Thom city|Kampong Thom]].{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=7|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=15}} He was named Saloth Sâr, the word ''sâr'' ("white, pale") referencing his comparatively light skin complexion.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=18}} French colonial records placed his birth date on 25 May 1928,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=7}} but biographer [[Philip Short]] argues he was born in March 1925.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=15}}

[[File:Prek Sbauv.JPG|thumb|left|[[Prek Sbauv]], the village where Pol Pot was born and spent his early years]]
His family was of mixed [[Chinese Cambodian|Chinese]] and [[Khmer people|ethnic Khmer]] heritage, but did not speak [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and lived as though they were fully Khmer.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=18}} His father Loth, who later took the name Saloth Phem, was a prosperous farmer who owned {{convert|9|ha|acre}} of rice land and several draft cattle.{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=8|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=15, 18}} Loth's house was one of the largest in the village and at transplanting and harvest time he hired poorer neighbors to carry out much of the agricultural labour.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=15}} Sâr's mother, Sok Nem, was locally respected as a pious Buddhist.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=8}} Sâr was the eighth of nine children (two girls and seven boys),{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=8}} three of whom died young.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=16}} They were raised as [[Theravada Buddhism|Theravada Buddhists]], and on festivals travelled to the Kampong Thom monastery.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=20}} Despite his family's relatively prosperous origins, in an interview with [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] television in 1977, Pol Pot claimed that he was born into a "poor, peasant family".<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|last=Jones|first=Christopher|date=20 December 1981|title=In the Land of the Khmer Rouge|work=[[New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/20/magazine/in-the-land-of-the-khmer-rouge.html}}</ref>

At the time, [[Monarchy of Cambodia|Cambodia was a monarchy]] but the [[French Protectorate of Cambodia|French colonial regime]] held effective political control of the country.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=14}} Sâr's family had connections to the Cambodian royalty: his cousin Meak was a consort of King [[Sisowath Monivong]] and later worked as a [[ballet]] teacher.{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=8|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2pp=16–17}} When Sâr was six years old, he and an older brother were sent to live with Meak in [[Phnom Penh]]; informal adoptions by wealthier relatives were then common in Cambodia.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=8}} In Phnom Penh, he spent 18 months as a novice monk in the city's Vat Botum Vaddei monastery, learning [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] teachings and to read and write the [[Khmer language]].{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=9|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2pp=20–21}}

In summer 1935, Sâr went to live with his brother Suong and the latter's wife and child.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=23}} That year, he began an education at a [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] primary school, the École Miche,{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=17|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=23}} with Meak paying the tuition fees.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=17}} Most of his classmates were the children of French bureaucrats and Catholic [[Vietnamese Cambodians|Vietnamese]].{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=17}} He became literate in [[French language|French]] and familiar with [[Christianity]].{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=17}} Sâr was not academically gifted and was held back two years, receiving his Certificat d'Etudes Primaires Complémentaires in 1943 at the age of 18.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=28}} He continued to visit Meak at the king's palace, and it was there that he had some of his earliest sexual experiences with some of the king's concubines.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=27}}