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Published: February 5th 2010
It has taken me weeks to write this blog, mainly because I didn't know where to start. And because I didn't want to relive the haunting visit we paid to Choeung Ek, also known as The Killing Fields, just outside Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We also went to the holding jail known as S21, which now holds the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It is a trip that is not for the faint hearted. For the most part, this blog isn't either.
After a painless trip from Siem Reap we found our way to the riverside esplanade to enjoy dinner watching the world go by. As I looked up from my menu, Philippe enquired “did you see the Elephant?” and I thought he was having a laugh. But low and behold, on the road in front of us, surrounded by tuk-tuks, mopeds, camry's and trucks, was a large elephant, padding along. It was surreal!
The next day we took the day to explore Phnom Penh on foot. It is a surprisingly easy city to navigate, and we quickly found our way to the post-office to send our paintings from Angkor Wat on their merry way to the Netherlands. We also
managed to locate Samba the elephant, working his day job, in the local park, but neither of us was brave enough to take a ride on his back, given the loud traffic in the area. We did enjoy watching the local kids squeal with delight as they handed over bananas and watched Samba cracked them open against his leg before scoffing the lot.
We also had to make a decision about how to fill our time before meeting my parents in Vietnam. Eventually we booked a city tour by tuk-tuk and an early morning bus to Sihanoukville for the following morning.
We had already seen several of the locations included on the itinerary for the city tour, so we asked our driver to take us to the Killing Fields first thing in the morning. I knew very little about the Khmer Rouge before the tour, and I wasn't clear on what I had let myself in for. I am grateful that I ate a solid breakfast that morning, because I wasn't much in the mood for food after what we saw.
We pulled up at 9.30am at the front gate of Choueng Ek. We paid about one
dollar each entry fee, and were directed towards the large commemorative stupa that is up a path directly in front of the gates. A sign there asks visitors to pay their respects by standing in front of the stupa for five minutes of reflection. We purchased some flowers, removed our shoes, and then just stood there.
In front of me was layer upon layer of human bones. Skulls divided according to age and gender, stared out at me, willing me to understand what they had gone through. The eeriest thing was that as we were looking at the remains, we could hear the playful screeches of children playing in the yard of a local primary school. This made me sad to think of the lives of the people buried in these mass graves that were so cruelly cut short, but it was also good to know that it's over and life goes on and a new generation of Cambodians can now enjoy their lives.
After visiting the stupa, we walked around the grounds, pausing at each wooden sign to learn about the cruel acts that were carried out at that spot, and the number of remains that were
found in each pit. The means of killing the people varied, but the most horrific place I saw was
the killing tree, where we were told that the Khmer Rouge held babies by their feet and swung them so that their heads bashed against the tree. They were then flung into a pit where their mothers lay beheaded, covered with chemicals to counteract the smell of decay.
How could no one know that this was going on? Why were the people tortured so much by their killers before they were put to death? It is estimated that 17,000 people were executed at Choueng Ek over a four year period. Most were killed using farmers tools and brute force.
After walking around the grounds, we were silent as we watched a video in the museum in the grounds. The video showed a summary of daily life during the regime and images of the aftermath. We also heard from a local man who 'discovered' Choueng Ek, at the end of the Khmer Rouge regime. What he saw then doesn't bare thinking about. The room next door explained the history of each of the senior members of the Khmer Rouge. Most
were sent to France to be educated on scholarships. Pol pot didn't even achieve his degree. Their notions stemmed from their membership of the French Communist Party. They wanted to achieve a country of zombies who had no more or less than their neighbour. Education was a waste of time. Rice production was the priority. Individualism was punishable by death.
From the Killing Fields we boarded our Tuk-tuk again and were brought to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which is what the S21 prison has now been converted into. It used to be a secondary school before the Khmer Rouge decided it should be used as a prison and interrogation centre. As we walked around the exhibition the reality of the atrocities that occurred between 1975 and 1979 began to sink in. There were rooms where people were tortured that still showed blood stains ingrained in the tiles on the floor. The hold cells were no bigger than a confession box, but held much more than one person.
Signs in the centre of the yard showed the list of 'Security regulations' which, among others, included:
- Don't try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that,
you are strictly prohibited to contest me.
- While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.
- If you don't follow all the above rules, you shall get many lashes of electric wire.
They didn't have a chance. And what was their crime? They were academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, government officials, or worse still - only related to someone Pol Pot deemed an enemy. The most shocking statement I read while visiting the museum was that children of enemies of the regime were killed “to prevent possible future retaliation”. Inmates were tortured until they furnished the names of their family members. The museum housed walls filled with photographs of the inmates. All had the same haircut, all shared a look of fear while the photo was being taken.
Walking around the site I felt numb. Most of the other visitors had to take a break from inside and could be seen staring emptily into space on benches in the yard. I have visited Auschwitz which too was horrible, but somehow visiting here felt rawer, mostly because it happen
so recently.
It was not an easy tour to take, but I agree with
the Cambodian Governments reasoning for having the museum and the stupa at Choueng Ek: they want to educate people to ensure that it never happens again.
On our return from the museum I found myself looking at the Cambodians on the street around me. Anyone over 35 would remember the regime. Anyone over 50 was lucky to be alive. There was a notable absence of elderly people, and after our day of education I knew why: they had been wiped out.
Entire pieces of Cambodian culture have been lost, because the people who could have passed it down were exterminated and no one was willing to learn or be educated, because to do so they risked their own and their families life.
Cambodia is a wonderful country to visit and it is a credit to the spirit of its citizens that they have managed to move on from such an evil chapter in their history.
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anneke
non-member comment
really, your story made even me quiet for at least a moment. What a special tour you're making, must be the best choice ever! So much to learn and to experience by visiting it for real! pfff, no words left for this moment.