Pol Pot, born Saloth Sar, was a Cambodian revolutionary and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 to 1979. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Khmer nationalist, he led the Khmer Rouge group from 1963 until 1997. From 1963 to 1981, he served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. Pol Pot was responsible for the brutal death of 1.7 million of his own countrymen.