The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and S-21

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Photos on google, search for: site:www.travelblog.org 186399

It’s difficult to express in words the effect these two places had on us but we'll attempt to share how we felt with you. The killing fields were 15km outside of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh and were the site of the largest number of mass graves (17000 bodies found approx) created by the genocidal regime under Pol Pot. Despite the regime's attempt to cover up this place, the shallow graves and fragments of the victims clothes make it clear to see the atrocities that occurred only 30 years ago. The dead are commemorated in a large modern stupa, which contains the discovered skulls, bones and clothes of the victims. Walking around the Killing Fields was an extremely sombering and gut-wrenching experience.

The Pol Pot regime was responsible, by some estimates, for the murder of 2 million Cambodians (within a space of 5 years!). Many of the people, including all their family, were killed because they were highly educated or could speak foreign languages. The regime's rational for these killings were that these people were a threat to their ideology. By killing them they would bring Cambodia to the "year zero", where they could force a new era of extreme Communist rule. One of the most harrowing stories of the Pol Pot regime was how they plucked young children from their families and trained them to work as enforcers of the Khmer Rouge party. According to the Khmer Rouge, the children’s minds had not been corrupted like the generations before them and were worthy of the "new world" that was being created. These children would often torture and kill, sometimes even their own family members.

S-21, short for Security 21, was originally a High School before the Pol Pot regime turned it into a secret prison for the torture of the so called prisoners. Nearly all of the prisoners at S-21 were later executed at the killing fields of Choeung Ek. Inside the prison cells, the instruments of torture were still visible, along with photos taken of the scene when the prison was discovered - needless to say these scenes were disturbing. Several rooms were dedicated to those who were held at S-21. Seeing the 100's of pictures, side by side, was horrific.

It was hard to believe that such atrocities occurred only 30 years ago and the pain and suffering that Cambodian people have undergone will surely be stirred as the war crimes tribunal of members of the Khmer Rouge soon begins.

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Comments

[Anne]

Horific
Hi there. It all looks horific. Reminiscent of some of the scenes at Belsen. Hoep you are having more pleasant experiences on your Birthday Dom!! Love Mum xx