Cambodia's Horrific Past*

On Sunday we decided to venture to the outskirts of town to visit the Choeug Ek Genocidal Centre (The Killing Field). The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975).

Pol Pot (leader of the Khmer Rouge) became the leader of Cambodia in mid 1975 and set about establishing a new civilisation by forcing city dwellers to leave their homes and live in remote countryside locations in forced slavery. He closed banks so there was no monetary system, he closed all schools and universities so there were no educated people and closed all buddist monestaries so there was no religion. He then set about killing all scholars, doctors, train engineers and teachers so that his new civilation could start. On the audio tour we took at Choeug Eks, it stated that 1 in 4 people in Cambodia were murdered by the Khmer Rouge.

Heart shaped leaves on the killing fields*

Choeug Ek is a heart wrenching tribute to the victims of the Khmer Rouge. Dozens of mass graves are visible above ground, several which have not been excavated yet. It is not uncommon for bones and clothing to surface after heavy rainfalls due to the extremely large number of bodies still buried in the area... it's just awful. A Stupor (a buddist building honouring the dead) has been built and houses skulls, bones and clothes of the people who were exhumed after the fall of Pol Pots government in 1979.

The Stupor honouring the dead. 

After this we went to the Tuol Sleng (also known as Security Prison 21 or S-21) Genocide Museum in the city. This was a high school that was turned into a detention, interrogation and torture center. The classrooms have all been converted to various forms of torture and holding cells. Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there were only seven known survivors. The buildings at Tuol Sleng have been preserved as they were left when the Khmer Rouge were driven out in 1979. The regime kept extensive records, including thousands of photographs. Several rooms of the museum are now lined, floor to ceiling, with black and white photographs of some of the prisoners who passed through the prison.

As difficult as this day was, it is important to see and learn in order to have a better understanding and respect for the Khmer culture and people. I was really moved and affected by this experience and amazed at how humble the Cambodian people are with such a violent and horrific past just 32 years ago. As I walk through the streets of Phnom Penh and look into the faces of the older people, I can't help but wonder what they have seen in their lifetime.