Deadly Blue

The shape and color of garments give them a certain, unmistakable appearance. It is often an indicator of personal, social, or political status or even of affiliations, such as professional groups. However, in history, colored garments, accessories, or fabric elements in certain colors served to mark their wearers in order to differentiate them from others. These people were generally forced to wear such indicators, which were often deadly, such as the blue krama during the time of the Khmer Rouge.

Krama

A krama – often with a characteristic gingham pattern – is a thin cotton scarf (fig. 1). It is considered traditional clothing of the Khmer people in Cambodia and was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2024. It is generally worn wrapped around one’s head and is used – by both men and women – as sun protection as well as a scarf, belt, accessory, and sometimes even a hammock for babies. Kramas are used in religious rituals, in the preparation method of food, and, last but not least, in healthcare. In the past, they were generally made by women in a domestic environment. Today, kramas are produced industrially and in many different colors and patterns (fig. 2).

Kramas Used by the Khmer Rouge

A krama with a red and white gingham pattern was part of the official uniform of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s. Led by Pol Pot (1925/28-1998), they established a radical communist reign of terror in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 and overran the country with systematic violence. The Khmer Rouge sought the lives of all those who they considered critics or enemies of their system. Around a quarter of the population of Cambodia, almost two million people, did not survive the terror of the Pol Pot regime.

The Khmer Rouge used blue kramas to mark supposed enemies of the people or traitors (fig. 3). The people who were forced to wear blue kramas were subjected to the despotism of the Khmer Rouge to an even greater extent than the rest of the population. The population living near the border with Vietnam also experienced this during the war with their eastern neighbor. The Khmer Rouge accused them of collaborating with the enemy. The people who came from there were considered “Khmers with a Vietnamese spirit” and were to be exterminated after their deportation, according to the Khmer Rouge. In order to identify them in other parts of the country, they were given a krama made from blue fabric as part of the deportation. Cambodian import lists from 1978 record the import of 250 t of blue fabric (Kiernan 2008: 404ff).  All those who had been given a blue krama were forced to wear it. This was tantamount to their death sentence, as almost all of the Cambodians deported from the Vietnamese border region were gradually murdered by the Khmer Rouge (figs. 4 + 5).

Fig. 3: Blue krama (photo: B. Ihde 2025).

Fig. 4: Prison of the Khmer Rouge’s in Phnom Pen (photo: K. J. Donell, 2019 / Alamy stock photo).

Fig. 5: A decorated fence surrounding children’s graves on one of the Khmer Rouge’s ‘Killing Fields’ (photo: Y. Werner, 2019 / Alamy stock photo).

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Further Reading

Kiernan, Ben, 2008. The Pol Pot Regime. Yale University Press. Pp. 404–411.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2024. Cultural practices and expressions linked to Krama, a traditional woven textile in Cambodia. (https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/cultural-practices-and-expressions-linked-to-krama-a-traditional-woven-textile-in-cambodia-02115#:~:text=A%20socio%2Dcultural%20staple%2C%20krama,food%20and%20in%20health%20care).

Vor 40 Jahren: Beginn der Terrorherrschaft der Roten Khmer. (https://www.bpb.de/kurz-knapp/hintergrund-aktuell/204989/vor-40-jahren-beginn-der-terrorherrschaft-der-roten-khmer/).