On April 17th 1975, Phnom Penh fell under the control of the Khmer Rouge; a communist group led by a man named Pol Pot. Within three days they had forced all of the residents of the city into the countryside and into labour camps. The Khmer Rouge directed a ruthless program to “purify” Cambodian society of capitalism, Western culture, religion and all foreign influences. They wanted to create an isolated and totally self-sufficient state and anyone who opposed this were killed. Markets, schools, newspapers, any religious practice and private property were forbidden and the currency abolished. Anyone educated, middle-class, religious or involved in the military were identified and executed. Families were separated. Children were encouraged to spy on adults, including their parents.
An estimated 1.5 – 3 million worked or starved to death, died of disease or exposure, or were executed for committing crimes. Crimes punishable by death included: not working hard enough, complaining about living conditions, collecting or stealing food for personal consumption, wearing jewelry, engaging in sexual relations, grieving over the loss of relatives or friends and expressing religious sentiments. The Khmer Rouge also killed people for being educated, having soft hands, wearing glasses or speaking another language.
With this horrible history in mind I decided to visit some of the sadder sights of Phnom Pehn today: The Killing Fields and S:21.
The Killing Fields / Choeung Ek
Choeung Ek (known as The Killing Fields) is the site of a former Chinese graveyard and orchard about 17 km south of Phnom Penh. It is the most well-known of the sites where the Khmer Rouge regime executed people between 1975 and 1979.
When the Khmer Rouge fell in 1979, over 8,800 bodies were discovered in mass graves over the site. It is believed that many of the dead were political prisoners who had first been detained and tortured in the Tuol Sleng detention Center before being moved on to be murdered at Choeung Ek.
Today there is a large memorial, marked by a Buddhist Stupa, in the center of the site. It has acrylic and glass sides and more than 5000 human skulls fill the interior. The lower levels are open during daytime hours and the skulls can be seen directly. Many of the skulls have been shattered or smashed in and on a few you can clearly see a hole where a bullet has passed through the brain.
Before I arrived at the Killing Fields I didn’t really know what to think. To me visiting a place such as this is not something to look forward to, but is an essential part of discovering the history of the country. It is a place where so many horrific things have happened that you can’t really begin to understand it.
As a tourist you get a set of headphones and you listen to facts about the site as you walk round. Most of the buildings that were there during the Khmer Rouge have long since fallen down or been knocked down, and what you find now is basically a field with clearly marked mass graves next to a large lake. Many of the pits in which the bodies were dumped have been exhumed and you can still see fragments of human bone around the site.
It was difficult for me to understand how this terrible could happen, it’s so sad.
S-21 / Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
S-21 was originally a high school and was turned into a prison under the Khmer Rouge. It held people who were inside the Khmer Rouge and those who were thought to have betrayed the movement. Almost all of the prisoners had worked in the armed forces, factories, or administration.
Upon arrival at S-21, the prisoners were photographed, tortured until they confessed to whatever crimes their captors charged them with, and then executed in Choeung Ek. The prisoners’ photographs and completed confessions formed statements that were submitted to Khmer Rouge authorities as proof that the “traitors” had been eliminated. Of the approximately 20,000 people who were imprisoned at S-21, there were only seven known survivors. At least 20 other similar centers operated throughout the country.
As I walked round I was struck by the fact that the prison is in a well built up area right in the middle of the city. It used to be a school and you can still that about the buildings now, even with the barbed wire surrounding most of the balconies (this was done so that the prisoners could not jump from the high balconies and commit suicide).
The photos of all of the prisoners are displayed in one of the buildings and I was really saddened to see hundreds of children and teenagers amongst the prisoners. Some of them didn’t look much older than three or four, I cannot imagine what crimes they are supposed to have committed and I dread to think what was done to them to get them to confess to a crime that they haven’t committed.
There isn’t really that much to see inside the buildings and I didn’t really know how to feel as I walked around the site. There are random pieces of torture equipment left in some of the rooms along with photos of some of the people and how they had been tortured, which made me feel a bit uneasy.
So, overall, a sad but educating day.
Powered By Fondant Fancy 