Cambodia - 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge kill almost 2 million Cambodians in an effort to create the "perfect" agrarian society.
Now far be it for me to give you a history lesson (never one of my strong subjects in school!) - I can only tell you what we saw and heard today...a brief glimpse into horror in its purest form. A menace that worked its way through 40% of Cambodia's population completely under the radar of all the world;s superpowers.
Admittedly my knowledge of the Khmer Rouge was minimal before this trip and only a quick read of our Lonely Planet bible did I begin to get an idea of what went on. From our guesthouse in Phnom Penh we organised a trip out to Cheoung Eok, better known as the Killing Fields along with two Americans we met. The site is located about 25km outside of Phnom Penh, a 40 minute tuk tuk journey through the crazy streets of the city - let's just say not alot of these drivers would pass their Theory test back in Ireland! Arriving at the Killing Fields you are straight away hit with a somber air. the noisy clatter of Phnom Penh and its street sellers respectfully overwhelmed by the silence here. We organised a tour guide to show us around the site - beginning with the 17 floor "strupa" or monument to the dead - 17 levels of skulls and bones uncovered from the mass graves on this site. 17 levels represent the date Pol Pot came to power, the 17th of August 1975. Our guide, who spoke with a noticeable and understandable distain, told us how prisoners were driven here from S-21 in the middle of the night, after they had spent days or weeks being tortured in order to sign a confession for a fictious crime they had not committed. The educated members of society were targetted first - the doctors, teachers, journalists...even anyone who wore glasses. Foreign embassy workers were given 24 hours to leave the country. When the prisoners arrived, shackled and blindfolded, they were led to the sign in building. Chillingly reminiscent of the astrocities committed in Auschwitz the prisoners were told they were being led to new homes and new jobs. When their name was called they were led out back to one of the many mass graves, and kneeling on the ground they received a swift but blunt hit to the head with a bamboo stick or axe, their throat was then slight and body dumped on top of their fellow countrymen - bullets were not used as they were considered a preciouis commodity and not to be "wasted". We were taken around to the graves where some 20,000 Cambodians lay - one of 229 similiar Killing Fields around the country. Sunken earth indicates where the ground holds its prisoners...and most shocking are the tattered remains of clothing and bone still peaking up from the ground where the rain has washed away the dirt.
None of us could even mutter a word as we silently walked around the grounds. Our guide told us how poison was used to defer the rotting smell of the bodies so it was up to two years after the regime had ended that fields were still being discovered. In the 4 years of terror in Cheoung Eok only one person managed to escape with his life - one of three truckdrivers who ferried the prisoners from S-21 to Cheoung Eok - not wanting to leave too many traces of the killing the Khmer Rouge would themselves kill the executioners, truck drivers and any of their own who showed even slight signs of weakness. It can be hard to relate and connect with such a tragedy in one respect as I believe we have become desensitised to violence through modern movies, video games etc, where seeing skull and bones no longer has the same impact. But the magnitude of what went on here cannot be ignored.
After lunch we were taken to Tong Seul (S-21) - the torture camp in Phnom Penh that had previously been a highschool. Four buildings taken over with the purpose of torturing, harassing and breaking the spirit of Cambodians. When the camp was discovered by the invading Vietnamese in 1979 14 bodies were found dead, twisted in an agonising portrait of their final moments - their bodies were buried in memory on the grounds of S-21. Our guide, a woman who herself had parents and brothers killed by Pol Pot told us how she, at the age of 5, had to walk from Phnom Penh to Battamberg to escape the death herself - a 300km, 3 month walk across a country plagued with starvation and death. We were shown various rooms and exhibitions of the equipment they used to torture the inmates. We were also shown hundreds of "mugshots" of both the prisoners upon arrival and their captures - what struck us all was the age of the Khmer Rouge soldiers - merely boys of 10-15 years old. They were used as it was alot easier to brainwash them into believing what they were doing was right.
The countrywide starvation also helped flood the ranks of the Khmer Rouge with people willing to do anything for a promised meal. Seeing pictures of these children holding the responsibility of the lives of thousands in their prepubescent hands is not soon forgotten. We then watched an hour long film documenting one woman's struggle against the Khmer Rouge - most interesting about the film was an interview with the escaped truck driver who described in detail how he would bring the prisoners over to the graves and sometimes,when goaded,execute some prisoners himself - the man himself is protected by the government as he waits to testify against the Khmer Rouge. We left the museum still wondering how this could have happened, and in such recent history too...I don't think anyone can possibly offer up an explanation.
It was certainly an eye opening day for me, as I mentioned, not knowing much about this tragedy before. We would wish and hope that events like this would never happen again but unfortunately we do not have the luxury of choice. 
Now far be it for me to give you a history lesson (never one of my strong subjects in school!) - I can only tell you what we saw and heard today...a brief glimpse into horror in its purest form. A menace that worked its way through 40% of Cambodia's population completely under the radar of all the world;s superpowers.
Admittedly my knowledge of the Khmer Rouge was minimal before this trip and only a quick read of our Lonely Planet bible did I begin to get an idea of what went on. From our guesthouse in Phnom Penh we organised a trip out to Cheoung Eok, better known as the Killing Fields along with two Americans we met. The site is located about 25km outside of Phnom Penh, a 40 minute tuk tuk journey through the crazy streets of the city - let's just say not alot of these drivers would pass their Theory test back in Ireland! Arriving at the Killing Fields you are straight away hit with a somber air. the noisy clatter of Phnom Penh and its street sellers respectfully overwhelmed by the silence here. We organised a tour guide to show us around the site - beginning with the 17 floor "strupa" or monument to the dead - 17 levels of skulls and bones uncovered from the mass graves on this site. 17 levels represent the date Pol Pot came to power, the 17th of August 1975. Our guide, who spoke with a noticeable and understandable distain, told us how prisoners were driven here from S-21 in the middle of the night, after they had spent days or weeks being tortured in order to sign a confession for a fictious crime they had not committed. The educated members of society were targetted first - the doctors, teachers, journalists...even anyone who wore glasses. Foreign embassy workers were given 24 hours to leave the country. When the prisoners arrived, shackled and blindfolded, they were led to the sign in building. Chillingly reminiscent of the astrocities committed in Auschwitz the prisoners were told they were being led to new homes and new jobs. When their name was called they were led out back to one of the many mass graves, and kneeling on the ground they received a swift but blunt hit to the head with a bamboo stick or axe, their throat was then slight and body dumped on top of their fellow countrymen - bullets were not used as they were considered a preciouis commodity and not to be "wasted". We were taken around to the graves where some 20,000 Cambodians lay - one of 229 similiar Killing Fields around the country. Sunken earth indicates where the ground holds its prisoners...and most shocking are the tattered remains of clothing and bone still peaking up from the ground where the rain has washed away the dirt.
None of us could even mutter a word as we silently walked around the grounds. Our guide told us how poison was used to defer the rotting smell of the bodies so it was up to two years after the regime had ended that fields were still being discovered. In the 4 years of terror in Cheoung Eok only one person managed to escape with his life - one of three truckdrivers who ferried the prisoners from S-21 to Cheoung Eok - not wanting to leave too many traces of the killing the Khmer Rouge would themselves kill the executioners, truck drivers and any of their own who showed even slight signs of weakness. It can be hard to relate and connect with such a tragedy in one respect as I believe we have become desensitised to violence through modern movies, video games etc, where seeing skull and bones no longer has the same impact. But the magnitude of what went on here cannot be ignored.After lunch we were taken to Tong Seul (S-21) - the torture camp in Phnom Penh that had previously been a highschool. Four buildings taken over with the purpose of torturing, harassing and breaking the spirit of Cambodians. When the camp was discovered by the invading Vietnamese in 1979 14 bodies were found dead, twisted in an agonising portrait of their final moments - their bodies were buried in memory on the grounds of S-21. Our guide, a woman who herself had parents and brothers killed by Pol Pot told us how she, at the age of 5, had to walk from Phnom Penh to Battamberg to escape the death herself - a 300km, 3 month walk across a country plagued with starvation and death. We were shown various rooms and exhibitions of the equipment they used to torture the inmates. We were also shown hundreds of "mugshots" of both the prisoners upon arrival and their captures - what struck us all was the age of the Khmer Rouge soldiers - merely boys of 10-15 years old. They were used as it was alot easier to brainwash them into believing what they were doing was right.
The countrywide starvation also helped flood the ranks of the Khmer Rouge with people willing to do anything for a promised meal. Seeing pictures of these children holding the responsibility of the lives of thousands in their prepubescent hands is not soon forgotten. We then watched an hour long film documenting one woman's struggle against the Khmer Rouge - most interesting about the film was an interview with the escaped truck driver who described in detail how he would bring the prisoners over to the graves and sometimes,when goaded,execute some prisoners himself - the man himself is protected by the government as he waits to testify against the Khmer Rouge. We left the museum still wondering how this could have happened, and in such recent history too...I don't think anyone can possibly offer up an explanation.It was certainly an eye opening day for me, as I mentioned, not knowing much about this tragedy before. We would wish and hope that events like this would never happen again but unfortunately we do not have the luxury of choice.
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