So yesterday we visited Cheoun Ek and Tuol Sleng, also known as the Killing Fields and S-21. I will be the first to admit that it was a very emotional experiance and both Keerit and I felt largely overwhelmed by all that we saw and heard.
For those of you that don't know the history of the Khmer Rouge, here is a little bit of background for you:
The mid-1970s saw the end of the Cambodian civil war and the rise of a new brand of communistic thought brought apon by the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot. Pot was a strong believer in the Moaist brand of communism, and soughts to create a classless society in Cambodia based on an Agrarian model. So when Cambodia was slowly recovering from the effects of the Vietnam war, Pot rode the wave of anti-monarchial sentiment to establish a party focused on creating a classless society run on Marxist-Leninist princepals. Attacking the capital of Phnom Penh, Pot seized control of the country on the back of his Khmer Rouge party and began a campaign to purge Cambodia of all Western and capitalist influence. Declaring himself leader of the nation, Pot forbade the use of money, books or any item that indicated differences of class, ability or knowledge. He outlawed all forms of religion and education, seeing them as a doorway to capitalism. The cities of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh were forcibly and completely evacuated within the span of a single week and all residents were forced to work on communal 'farms' and slave labor camps in the rural areas. Families were split apart, never to come into contact again. Hundreds of thousands would die of starvation, often being forced to work 24 hours a day with little or nothing to eat.
To imagine what this might have been like, imagine a city like Calgary being completely evacuated within the span of a single week, and then forced into labor camps for the rest of thier lives. Families and individuals would be rounded up seemingly at random and sent to different parts of the country, never knowing where one another were or even if they would ever see them again
After gaining control of the country, and fearing espionage by the west, and subsequent reprisal for thier actions, the Khmer Rouge began executing anyone that might become a threat to thier beliefs and regime. They began targeting anyone who was educated (this included anyone who could speak another language, had attended school beyond a primary level, or even anyone who simply wore glasses), as well as anyone who had held a position of power in the previous regimes, or anyone who simply did not follow the rules of thier new society. These individuals (and thier extended families) would be rounded up and taken to detention facilities throughout the country where they would then be shackled and tortured for months at a time, often forced to confess to phony charges of treason and espionage. One such facility was Toul Sleng or S-21. After enduring months of torture (of which many did not survive), these 'enemies of the state' would then be taken to a number of locations around the country and 'disposed of'.
By the end of the 1970s, hundreds of people would be executed daily and buried in mass graves that they themselves would have been forced to dig. These locations are now known as Killing Fields and were the final resting place of over 1million people. Perhaps resting place is the wrong term for these places. The Killing fields were more like the final torture place for the victims of the Khmer Rouge.
In all, over 1/3 of the population of Cambodia was killed in this way by the Khmer Rouge. Thats 1 in 3 people.
One such Killing Field (of which there are hundreds located all over the country) is Cheong Ek. Cheong Ek was a former fruit orchard that was used as a disposal site by the Khmer Rouge for people that they believed had betrayed the State. Men, women, children and even babies were forced to first dig thier own graves and then were either shot, or (once bullets became too expensive) bludgeoned to death and thrown into the overflowing graves. Children were smashed against trees infront of thier mothers and then dropped into the pits, often while they were still breathing, only to be later buried alive by the Khmer Rouge solidiers.
Cheong Ek, though now a monument to the atrocities commited by the Khmer Rouge, outwardly displays little of the horrific imagery that once defined this place. As i walked through the site, i become distracted by the birdsong and bright green rice paddies that stretch far into the distance. The current image is almost serene and cheerful. But as you wander through the site, all the while listening to the narratives of survivors, a haunting quality begins to emerge. As you step across the path, your eyes are distracted by a bone fragment sticking out of the ground bleached in the Cambodian sun. And then a few meters away, you notice a red piece of cloth half buried in the soil, fluttering gently in the wind. And that is when it suddenly hits you. That was a piece of one of the victims. It was a horrifying realization.
The fragments of the victims are occasionally collected and placed into the memorial pagoda, but there are always more. Thousands of people were murdered in that orchard and many have yet to be identified. The central pagoda in the site, created to honor the victims of this place, house thousands of bone fragments and skulls, and is added to continuesly.
It is overwhelming to say the least. Even now i am filled with dread at the thought of what those people went through, and am finding it somewhat difficult to write this post. Needless to say, all the visitors at the Killing Fields remain silent and shocked as they walk through the site.
After that, we headed over to the Tuol Sleng also known as S-21.
S-21 was a detention and torture center where many vicitms of the Khmer Rouge were interrogated before being sent to the Killing Fields. It was previously a highschool for wealthy children but today little of that history remains. The building's walls are covered in rusted barbed wire, and the classrooms display beds with shackles and battery packs that were used to torture the victims. The second part of the site displays the cells in which the victims were held in, these being bricked "rooms" that were roughly a meter wide by a meter and a half long. It is disturbing walking through those rooms, even on a bright day, and i couldn't really handle staying in them for more than a few moments.
As you pass through the school, you come across room after room of photographs. These are the pictures taken of the victims immediatly after they arrived at S-21. There are hundreds of images lining the walls and display boards, and as you walk past them, you realize that of all the pictures on those walls, only 7 of these people survived the prison. Everyone else was either killed during interogation or later sent to the Killing Fields. It's gives the genocide a very human quality that is often lost in the history books.
By 1979, over 1 third of the Cambodian population was dead as a result of the Khmer Rouge occupation. That is one in four people. Pol Pot would eventually be put under house arrest, but he was never tried for his crimes. The Khmer Rouge was until the mid 80s the officially recognized government of Cambodia. Little was known of the atrocities that were commited in this country until years later, but Cambodia has slowly rebuilt itself into what it is now.
Anywho, Ive thoroughly depressed myself, so i think i should stop there. If you're interested in finding out more about the Khmer Rouge era, i recommend checking out the film 'The Killing Fields (1984)' or googling Pol Pot and the Cambodian Genocide.
- k
Ps. The photos show the skulls inside the memorial pagoda, the killing tree, some cloth coming out of the ground, the brick cells at S-21 prison, some of the people that were held at S-21, and the bracelets surrounding one of the mass graves left behind by visitors to the Killing Fields and Keerit standing behind the barbed wire fences that kept the torture victims from commuting suicide.
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