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Published: October 4th 2008
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The horror
Like you and I, these bones belonged to living people. Like these bones, you and I will one day be nothing more. April 1975 was certainly a historically significant month and not only because of my birthday. On the 17th of April Phnom Penh was “liberated” by the Khmer Rouge and on the 30th Saigon “fell” to the North Vietnamese Army. Not that I would remember but I’m sure most of the world soon forgot about the second Indochina war. America had lost and returned home, there was no more news to report. Too bad for the people left behind. With Pol Pot as “Brother Number One”, the Democratic Kampuchea (as Cambodia was renamed) regime imposed a version of agrarian collectivization with the goal of restarting Khmer civilization in "Year Zero".
It was not for some years before the west learned of the horrors committed inside Democratic Kampuchea. Until the Vietnamese liberated Phnom Penh in 1979 and Pol Pot fled to Thailand, it is estimated that some one to two million Cambodians perished. They died from forced labour, food shortages, disease, executions and in the failed war with Vietnam from 1977 to 1979. A number of select “enemies”, about 14000 in total, were sent to political prisons and never returned. The history of these political prisoners has been preserved for us to
visit at infamous sites including the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh and the Killing Fields of Choueng Ek 15 km out of town. Visiting these places, staring at the skulls, reading the stories of the victims and the perpetrators, certainly leaves an impression. Some people, those who believe in ghosts, are afraid to visit. For me, visiting these places is necessary to some understanding of Cambodia today, a nation scarred by recent history. In a broader context, genocide is a recurring theme in the history of humanity.
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is logically the first place to visit. A former high school, it was hastily converted into a prison by the Khmer Rouge in 1976 and operated until 1979. I visited on one fine and clear morning. Arriving early, navigating my way through the grid of Phnom Penh’s streets, there were no crowds yet and my first impression was of the relative quiet and peace inside the grounds. It’s a place where visitors keep their silence in respect for the dead and sometimes from shock. Wandering slowly along the corridors, I had the place to myself. There was only a faint murmur of distant street life
Tuol Sleng Prison
Bars and barbed wire. slipping through the barred windows and the occasional click of my camera’s shutter. It was not so peaceful later on, near ten a.m. as small groups of tourists came through the gates.
Some of Tuol Sleng is reconstructed but overall it feels quite original with the ceilings collapsing in places and the floor tiles matching the photographs on display. If you believe in ghosts, this place must be haunted. There are few artefacts to see, most rooms and cells are empty. The stories of victims and of staff were of most interest to me.
Victims were from all parts of the country and from all walks of life, from peasants up to high ranking comrades and friends of Pol Pot. Moreover, whole families were imprisoned, the number of children that passed through Tuol Sleng has been estimated at 2000. Victims were tortured and many yielded lengthy “confessions” as more talking meant less torture. Residence time averaged two to four months before prisoners were transported to the killing fields for liquidation.
To work at Tuol Sleng must also have been traumatic. Regular workers had little choice but to keep their heads down and work diligently. The youngest were
Ghost of Tuol Sleng
Taking a photo of the reflection on the glass creates a ghost-like out of focus effect of the image underneath. 10 to 15 year old children working as guards, they would be approaching 50 years of age today. Whatever role one played, peasant or soldier, innocent or guilty, it was a terrible time. You don’t see many older people in Cambodia today and understandably they seem rather silent and withdrawn.
The Killing Fields of Choueng Ek were the final stage in my tour of horror. A pot smoking Englishman and (English language) teacher from my guesthouse set me up with his moto taxi friend, Hon. It was a longish ride out past the airport, the shooting range and then entering the countryside. Turning left, we rode down a smaller road and arrived at a vacant parking area and ticket booth. I was early again.
Again, there’s not a great deal to see at Choueng Ek but plenty of time and space. The most obvious feature is the memorial stupa. In 1980, 86 out of 129 mass graves were excavated and the remains are preserved inside this tower of skulls. I wonder where the rest of the bones are?
Exploring this former longan orchard (a lychee-like fruit) in the early morning was peaceful and pleasant, meandering through the
More Victims of S-21
Security Office 21 (S-21) was Democratic Kampuchea's premier security institution. mass graves, with the birds singing. Some bored village kids outside the fence asked for money. Over by the entrance some workers were constructing something unnecessary, probably for tourists. Some bones and rags are piled up at the base of a tree. The sign says “Please don’t walk through the mass grave!”
Not wanting to spend too much of Hon’s time, I finished up and we rode back towards town, stopping for breakfast at a roadside restaurant. He thought it was great that I bought him breakfast. Back in Phnom Penh I paid the agreed fare, 20000 Riel (about 5 dollars) and left Hon to continue his working day. A tip would come tomorrow when he took me to the airport.
Going backwards in my travels, the first killing field I visited was at Phnom Sampeau near Battambang town (I wouldn’t call it a city). Battambang province is the rice bowl of Cambodia and was “battlefield number one” for Democratic Kampuchea’s economic growth. Like everywhere else there were "enemies" to be purged and I suppose this was the fate of the people whose remains are kept in a cave on top of a hill in the countryside.
Sign at Killing Cave
Details are few and it's not clear the victims at Phnom Sampeau were killed as depicted in this painting. There are some Buddhist temples on Phnom Sampeau, donation boxes, all things that I usually pass around. It took some time to find the killing caves. Accompanied by my moto driver, we first went to the wrong cave. Some kids with torches guided us through this uninteresting limestone cavity and after that we sat down, rested and I wondered what to do next. It was a steamy morning before the rain and this garden in a gully afforded a cool respite. The kids asked for money: “sam loi”.
Moving to the killing caves, there was a sign and a man to collect a small donation, about a dollar. Concrete stairs lead down to the cave where there is a glass case full of bones. I spent a quiet few minutes in contemplation, my driver worshipped at the reclining Buddha to the side. I asked him if anyone in his family was killed by the Khmer Rouge: yes, some relatives were killed by Pol Pot but they were not murdered here. I then asked him if any members of his family worked for the Khmer Rouge: yes, a few. Cambodians I talked to never spoke of the Khmer Rouge, they referred only to Pol Pot as if the horrors of Democratic Kampuchea can be attributed to one evil man. I think they are somewhat ashamed that many thousands of Cambodians were complicit in the Democratic Kampuchea regime, that amongst their families and relatives were perpetrators as well as victims. It will take the passing of the older generation for Cambodia to shake off this guilt.
The peace of the killing cave was disturbed by a European woman, heard before seen, talking to her guide who didn’t have to respond, just put up with her verbal diarrhoea. Misunderstanding the guide’s English, she thought these people were killed in 1929 and I corrected her: it was 1979. She took some photos and left soon. I heard her asking “Did Pol Pot kill these people?”
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