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Published: August 7th 2007
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Victims' faces
The Khmer Rouge kept records of their victims, taking photos of every new arrival at Tuol Sleng. There are rows and rows of these photos on display in the museum showing how terrified the people were. And you can still see victim's blood on the floors, ceilings and walls of the buildings. My trip continued from Battambang to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I didn't know what to expect, so mixed reviews I had heard. Well, I loved it, in spite of the chaotic traffic. The city is full of beautiful colonial villas and even if the history has been more than horrible at times, I liked the strong presence of it. It's always interesting to visit the places that feed your imagination and give an insight how things have been in the past.
On the first I evening I did nothing much, just wondered around the riverside. I had the most expensive meal of my trip at the famous Foreign Correspondents Club, where the atmosphere and views are unbeatable but food disappointing.
Some of the sights in Phnom Penh are not exactly pleasant so I decided to do all the hard sightseeing on my first full day. I went first to Tuol Sleng, a former school that served as the Khmer Rouge's primary interrogation centre 1975 - 1979. This was followed by a visit to the Killing Fields, where the victims from Tuol Sleng and elsewhere were brought to be executed and buried in the mass graves. In the
One of the child victims
What bothers me is that at the same time when I was a happy toddler using most days playing with my brother these Cambodian children were made to work over 12 hours a day and starve to death. I remember being aware and sorry for the starvation of the African children but this is something much more unbearable. evening I went to see a documentary about the history of Cambodia, as I had so many questions yet to be answered after the day - it is so hard to understand how the country can come to the situation like that, hide it from the rest of the world and somehow recover from it.
Tuol Sleng (also called S-21) was a devastating place to visit. I hired a personal guide who told me about the Pol Pot's regime and terrifying things that took place during those four years. I don't think even Nazis were quite as cruel with their torturing methods.
It all started on 17 April 1975, following a five-year civil war, when victorious Khmer Rouge troops entered the capital. Thousands of Phnom Penh residents came to celebrate in the streets of Phnom Penh - not because the people were supporters of the Khmer Rouge but they felt great relief that the war had come to an end.
Unfortunately joy quickly turned to fear as people noticed that the Khmer Rouge troops weren't celebrating with them. Toughened after years of brutal civil war and American bombing, the Khmer Rouge marched the boulevards of Phnom Penh
in black pyjamas with icy stares on their faces. Many of them were only teenagers. The troops soon began to order people to abandon their homes and leave Phnom Penh. "The Americans are going to bomb the city!" was the answer given to residents if they asked why they had to leave Phnom Penh. No exceptions were made - all people, young and old, had to evacuate as quickly as possible.
In reality there were no American plans to attack the city. The deception was a ploy to get people into the countryside. The Khmer Rouge believed that cities were tools of capitalism. In order to create the ideal communist society, all people would have to live and work in the countryside as peasants.
The city residents of Phnom Penh and other Cambodian cities were seen as the root of all capitalist evil in the eyes of the Khmer Rouge. It didn't matter if you were a teacher, a tailor, a civil servant or a monk: you were seen as enemy of communism, the personal political ideologies were irrelevant.
As the city people were forced out of the urban centres they soon learned of the new rules
Torture
There were only seven survivors left at Teul Sleng at the time when the Vietnamese came to rescue. One of them, an artist called Heng Nath, has painted pictures of the torture. Here scorpions are coaxed from a box next to a woman as her nipples are pinched with pliers. that were being imposed by Angka ("The Organization"), the secretive team of Khmer Rouge leaders who dictated the lives of every Cambodian citizen. Among these new rules, religion, money and private ownership were all banned, communications with the outside world eliminated and family relationships dismantled.
People were living and working in the unbearable conditions. Families were often separated, even small children were taken away from their families. Everybody needed to work ridiculous hours on the rice fields with hardly any food. People were given two meals a day, both consisting only of few spoonfuls of rice. All the rice they produced with that their hard work was exported to China.
As a result many people died for diseases and malnutrition. Those people who survived but were not well enough to work often vanished: after being taken away to a distant field or forest, they would be forced to dig their own graves before Khmer Rouge soldiers would hit them on the back of the head with a shovel. It didn't matter whether the blow killed them or not; either way the victims were buried on the spot and left to die a suffocating death.
The lives of
The Killing Fields
There is a memorial at Choeung Ek with the glass case containing the skulls and bones of over 8,000 people murdered there.
people were seen as having little to no value, so even the most minor infraction was enough reason to get sent to a killing field. For example, trying to find and eat extra food (such as insects or grass) was a capital offence. Associating with a relative without the permission of Angka could get one killed. If you spoke French, you would die. If you were educated, you would die. If you practiced Buddhism, you would die. If you wore glasses, you would die.
There are no words to describe the cruelty of the torturing methods the Khmer Rouge used. Or what do you say about their solders cutting the stomach of the man still alive, taking his liver out and forcing the man's wife, who saw all this, to fry it on the pan for their supper?
No-one know how many people died in total, estimates vary from 1.8 million to 3 million Cambodians and several foreign people who didn't get out from the country on time.
What astonishes me is, that the Khmer Rouge leaders or members were never punished - no Pol Pot or even the smallest link of this cruel chain. These people
who so cruelly killed and tortured so many people are still living there, as a part of the society, amongst all the others. Even if the majority of the Khmer Rouge solders were just youngsters and brainwashed, it is hard to understand how Cambodian people can live with these people every day, when basically everybody has lost family members because of them.
After Toul Sleng I went to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. It is Cambodia's best known Killing Field although it was just one of the many, many in the country. More than 15,000 people are believed to have been murdered there.
Anyway, on the third day I moved on to do some happier things: I e.g. saw the Russian market, a great place to do some souvenier shopping if you have space in your backpack (which I don't), and the glimmering Royal Palace, including the Silver Pagoda.
The three days I had scheduled for Phnom Penh didn't seem to be enough and I faced a tricky dilemma: should I stay for another two days and see the rest of the sights with some extra time for luxuries such as gym and massage or should
I move on to the cost and relaxed as per original plan. Eventually I decided to stick to the plan and bought a ticket for the 7am bus in the following morning.
You should always listen to your instincts! Firstly I met a very nice man with whom I had quite a hilarious evening dancing Gypsy Kings and who seem to be genuinely sorry to hear I was leaving (he was planning to do cookery course and other fun things). Secondly Sihanoukville proved not to be a pleasant place at all. But more about that next time.
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Jaana
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Myöhästyneesti onnea täältäkin!
Moi! Ja onnittelut vielä jälkiääteen! Unohdin onnellisesti... Aika karulta ja synkältä vaikutti tämä paikka. On se huikeaa, miten julmia ihmiset voivat toisilleen olla! Ollaan me vaan synnytty onnellisten tähtien alla.. Toivottavasti saamme olla jatkossakin. Jaksamista ja hyviä kokemuksia toivottelee Jaana, valmistunut. :)