The Killing Fields
Trip Start
Jul 25, 2006
1
149
165
Trip End
Ongoing
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The Killing Fields were Pol Pot's dirty little secret in a witch's brew of dirty little secrets. In a field not far from urban Phnom Penh, soldier set up a small camp in the open fields of the flat, marshy landscape that surrounds the city. Here trucks of prisoners from S21 would arrive, largely at night to be less conspicuous
The Killing Fields
. Prisoners were told they were being transferred to another prison, or sent to a work camp, or even let go, only to be delivered here to their deaths. Often times the soldiers would have the prisoners dig their own graves. They were then lined up, kneeling in front of the pit, and then dispatched one by one, their bodies tumbling into the trench. Other prisoner might then shovel a bit of lime or dirt on top, and then take their turn kneeling. Often times to save expensive ammunition, clubs, axes, and rifle stocks were used to bludgeon captives to death. Accounts exist of soldiers picking up infants, dashing them against a nearby tree, and then tossing the bodies into the open graves.Today, little evidence remains of the nightmare scene that occurred here, until you look a little closer. A tall pagoda graces the site, drawing your eye as you arrive, the tallest structure in the area. As you walk up to it, you realize the walls are glass, and it contains rows upon rows of skulls, femurs, and other human remains. As you walk the grounds, you see depressions in the earth; these are the partially exhumed graves, with hundreds of graves thought to still be undiscovered and unearthed. Pieces of clothing stick out the ground, even this many years later, the remnants of the clothing worn by the victims.
It doesn't make sense, and in the peacefulness of the place, it is hard to take it in.
After the horrible, visceral scenes of Rwanda, I found the Killing Fields of Cambodia to have less of an immediate impact. I suspect this is often the case, as it is a well trodden path on the tourist trail
The Killing Fields
. Still, it is not for immediate gratification that people should go to these types of sites. It is fine to cry and weep, as many do, when looking at these things. I think it is more important what you think and feel AFTER you have left these places of horror. Shedding a few cathartic tears and leaving a place more or less unchanged is of questionable value. I think how these places worm their way into your consciousness days, weeks, even years later is more important. How, in small and subtle ways, they blend into your psyche and help to form the stance from which you view and interact with the world. Hopefully it is a stance that impacts on how we treat one another, the values we hold dear, and a determination to keep trying to bring to life that tired, but oh so important, saying "Never again." 
