Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Killing fields of Cambodia

The school house turned into the infamous prison S-21


A torture chamber


The Kamir Rouge photographed all prisoners



Fish net barbed wire were on the balconies, so noone could commit suicide


On the bus to Phom Penh I met a couple guys, one from UK, one from Holland, and we decided to share a tuk tuk to get to a guest house. The next day all three of us get another tuk tuk ride to the S-21 prison museum. For those who don't know about the history of the Pol pot government days here in Cambodia, look it up. In short, it was a mini holocaust where 1.7 million of Cambodia's 8 million citizens were tortured and killed. When the kamir rouge, under the dictator Pol Pot came into town, they converted a school in the middle of Phom Penh into a prison, complete with torture Chambers. They named it S-21, and this was our first stop of the day. It was kind cool to see one of the survivors there, signing his book for people, that he had written about his time in the prison.



Our second stop of the day was the actual killing fields. This place is where the prisoners from S-21 and other places, aftere being tortured, were brought to be executed. It was a sobering experiance, seeing the mounds of skulls, and recently excavated mass graves. I heard it compared to Auswitch (sp?) from the holocaust, by other people there. One of the workers said that when it rains heavily and floods, teeth and other bone fragment from the estimated 8000 bodies, are washed up and exposed, then collected by the crews.
 
 
 
 
 
 







5 comments:

  1. Wow, very powerful and sobering reminder of how horrible humans can be to one another all in the name of power and greed!

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  2. Did you know that a lot of American's didn't and still don't know that that has happened? Crazy, bc I am guilty of that. Chris and I JUST heard about the killings a couple monthes ago by someone which is embarrassing to say. But it was so recent!! Very sad!!

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  3. That was from Summer actually, don't know why is says John.

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  4. Hey! Thanx for playing 'Round the World'! This was a shocking event - so sad for so many people. Have you seen the movie??

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  5. I've seen the movie when I was in primary school and I tell you, it left a lasting image in my mind! I've been to Cambodia though I'm sorry to say I didn't visit the Killing Fields. My memories of the movie was gruesome enough. (Visiting from Red's Blog Hop. "Puerto Galera in One Day")

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