The Killing Fields

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The only thing we felt we really needed to do while in Phnom Penh was visit the Choeung Ek Memorial (otherwise known as The Killing Fields). Sounds like a strange pastime and odd to have it high on our list as a priority, but as disturbing as it was we wanted to know about the events that have so recently shaped this country’s history. (Warning – don’t read on if you get upset easily)

There was probably nothing that could have prepared us for the visit. We listened to the audio guide that we were given as we walked along the path. The birds singing and the sun shining created a peaceful atmosphere that actually seemed to highlight the horrors that we were hearing through the guide. There are signs up all around the fields asking people to keep quiet, but there was no need for them. We were stunned into silence.

The audio guide described how the prisoners were executed (beaten, or their throats cut, to save money on bullets). We stopped at mass graves, the most harrowing of which was filled with women and children, next to ‘The Killing Tree’ where babies were torn from their mothers and had their skulls smashed. The thing that strikes me the most about it is that there was no difference between those people and myself. If I had been born at that time, in this place, it would have been me also. The tour ends in front of the huge memorial stupa, which is filled with bones of many of the victims. It is a fitting way to honour those who died.

The next stop was the S-21 museum, Tuol Sleng School that was used as a prison during Pol Pot’s reign. The tiny brick and wooden cells are still in place, and in the larger rooms there are massive billboards holding hundreds of black and white portraits of the prisoners. Some of them looked really young, like really young. Barely in their teens. As well as being a prison, Tuol Sleng was also a massive torture centre for the Khmer Rouge. Every prisoner that was brought there was accused of working for the CIA, KGB, or otherwise being involved in a movement against Pol Pot. If they did not confess immediately, they were subjected to a regime of brutal torture. One of the rooms had books of the confessions, signed by the prisoners – one of the hardest things to read, knowing that they were innocent, you can imagine the lengths of torture that they would have been subjected to in order to sign such blatantly untrue and damning confessions.

It really wasn’t so long ago, around 30 years, and you can still see the scars on the country. Tourism, for the most part, is helping the economy, and there are some great community and ecotourism initiatives springing up around the country, but there is still a long way to go. Hopefully we can be a part of making things a bit better here as we make our way around this beautiful country.

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