Killing Fields
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2006
1
47
70
Trip End
Dec 18, 2006
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Thursday, November 9, 2006
This morning, we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (formerly the Khmer Rouge S-21 Prison). Our guide took us through the former prison (it was originally a school) with unbelievable detail. He lost family members during Pol Pot's reign of terror in Cambodia and his composure while telling us of the atrocities was courageous. His anger over these past atrocities and the fact that many Cambodians respsonsible for the atrocities are allowed to walk and live free in Cambodia was noticeable and understandable. He spoke of the influence of Buddhism in Cambodia and how this might account for the populations ability to live amongst the former Pol Pot regimes foot soldiers and leaders without resorting to violence, killing and revenge
01-Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
. When the Vietnamese liberated the camp in the late 70's they found 14 prisoners brutally tortured in the cells. These prisoners were buried on the school grounds and their graves are visible today. We visited the cells where these victims were found. The empty metal beds, leg and arm irons, American bullet storage boxes (used as latrines and emptied a couple of times a month only) were startling in their realism. Above the bed, on the wall, there were large pictures of the tortured victim found in each room. Thankfully for us, the pictures were grainy and faded. Pictures of the victims were displayed in other areas both alive when they arrived and dead after torture, entire families destroyed.
After the museum we took a bus out to the Choeung EK Genocidal Center. Thousands of victims were unearthed here and there is a memorial stupa containing the sculls of the victims. When we arrived, there was a documentary film crew setting up. Our guide pointed out an older slim man standing on the steps of the stupa. This man was one of the few survivors of the prison and killing fields and had painted the scenes of torture that we viewed earlier at the museum. The pathways between the grave pits were dirt and in places pieces of bones and cloth were visible from the victims buried there.
This afternoon we visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, the Russian Market and took motorbikes back to the hotel. We were a bit more subdued than usual after what we had seen and experienced earlier.
