The Killing Fields

Above: One of the many bones unearthed by the rain


Wow, what an eye opening day today was..  We visited S-21 and the killing fields.  S-21 is an old school in Phnom Penh that was converted to a prison and place of torture during the reign of Pol Pot. Today S-21 is a museum and you can tour through its many rooms and see the devastating pictures of all the torture and atrocities that occurred there.  Visiting here sure explains a lot about why Cambodia is where it is today.  The thing that stands out most is that every one you meet has been affected by what took place during the Khmer Rouge regime.  In an effort to create a new Cambodia in line with their ideals, they killed one third of the population.  Their main target was the intellectuals.  Teachers, lawyers, doctors, and, in fact, anyone who wore glasses.  Within three days the capital city of Phnom Penh was empty of all its inhabitants.  The people of Phnom Phen were forced to walk out.  Many had large journeys to make to find family to live with. Our bus driver told us he and his family only had to walk 30 km but because of the massive number of people being forced to evacuate it took them 2 weeks to make this journey.  They were forced to leave so quickly that they could not take much in the way of food or water.  Many died of starvation. He said this was the second way that the Khmer Rouge killed the Cambodians. Starvation, he said, was cheaper than bullets.  It is estimated that half of the 3,000,000 that died, died by starvation. Our bus driver went on to describe how  he saw dead bodies floating past him as they journeyed down the river.  He was only 7 years old.  He lost an uncle, aunt, and many cousins.  He was with his brother when he died.    Our tour guide at S-21 lost her mother and father and the tour guide at the killing fields had much the same thing to say. No one in Cambodia was untouched.

        Walking around the killing fields, for me, was terrible.  Even though I have been to many of the Nazi concentration camps, I was unprepared for what I would see here.  Because of the rains the graves are now all very shallow.  We were walking over clothing that was coming to the surface from the graves below. Our tour guide picked up 3 or 4 teeth to show us as we walked by. And we all stepped over a human jawbone that was beginning to be unearthed.

            There is so much more I could say but again time does not permit.  The very worst of what I saw is pictured below........The details of which are to gruesome to share