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*warning- graphic content*
After some rain yesterday we got to go and see the killing fields and genocide museum today, it was a hard day and emotionally draining! I'm glad we did it though, it's a big part of their history and important to know about.
It was very shocking and even more shocking that it all happened about 40years ago (1975-1979). I couldn't get my head around that, imagining all these horrific events taking place where we stood as little as 40 years ago.
We visited the killing fields at Choeung Ek first, picked up our audio headset and set off. It was a very hot day and we were overall surprised at how beautiful and peaceful it was, hard to believe the horror, torment and crimes that were committed to thousands of people here not long ago.
There are about 20,000 mass graves across Cambodia and an estimated death toll up to 2.5 million people from the Khmer Rouge regime during its rule of the country. The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Thai, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Cham, Cambodian Christians, and the Buddhist monkhood were the demographic targets of persecution.
This was Cambodians against Cambodians, led by an evil man called Pol Pots.
People were kept at Tuol Sleng, a former school turned prison, where there we tortured until being transported blindfolded to Choeung Ek, not knowing what was happening. Just horrific to imagine.
There were mass graves everywhere around the fields with memorials. People had hung bracelets and thrown money in to show respect. A lot of bones, teeth and clothes keep coming to the surface today, especially when it rains, in one area bones and a tooth were very evident in the soil, horrible to see. Some graves contained women and children. They killed children to prevent any revenge in later years, hearing how they did this and standing before the tree they used (I won't say any more, the image will stay with me for sure) brought tears to my eyes and again I couldn't believe this was less than 40 years ago.
The last stop was the very big, grand memorial stupa, this was magnificent and a true symbol of memorial and peace, but with a dark side. Over 5,000 skulls of the victims were housed and shown within the tower. With many showing signs of the torture and abuse they suffered.
Reflecting on what we'd learnt and seen we set off to visit the Tuol Sleng or S21 museum. This was the prison in which they were kept and tortured, forced to make up stories of their guilt and pleed for forgiveness. During the regime all the cities were left deserted like ghost towns as residents were arrested or driven out into forced slave labour in the countryside. Here was very eery, not an enjoyable experience. The cells were left with the bed and torture equipment and a graphic photograph displayed on a wall which made me feel quite sick, we didn't look into too many of these. The mass detention rooms showed stories, biographies and photographs. Each individual photograph of every victim, men, women and children, that was brought in and photographed for record of the Khmer Rouge.
Exhausted, we headed back and treated ourselves to a much more colourful and brighter cupcake at a nice cafe along the riverfront- this was greatly needed! Hard hard day but I'm glad we did it, I think it's important for people to face the shocking truths of some peoples pasts and know what went on. Hopefully learn from it and prevent anything so horrific from happening again. I'd recommend anyone visiting Cambodia to visit but just be prepared.
- comments
Margaret sounds grueling Emma