In all my earlier posts, I have found great happiness in writing about the topics. But this post makes me feel depressed and I write with a heavy heart. Having lived in Cambodia for five wonderful years, I empathize with those people and also understand why they still do not want to talk about it or even now raise their voice against any thing be it political or even everyday life.
I am just going to write a little about Khmer Rouge. Khmer Rouge, or the red Khmer which lasted from 1975-79 was led by Pol Pot and others. Pol Pot thought of making Cambodia a leading producer of rice beating China and for this he needed plenty of people to work in fields. The idea behind it may have been right but the implementation led to killings of thousands and thousands of innocent people. Anyone who had soft hands, wore spectacles, was bald was considered educated and they were the ones targeted first. It is said that the Riels (Cambodia currency) was all scattered on the streets, the government treasury all vandalized. Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia was vacated in a short time and around 2 million people were everyone asked to work on fields to produce rice. The year is rightly said to be the "year zero".
Families were separated, one in five family became a victim to one of world's worst genocide. A friend of ours said he was 9 years at that time but survived only because he lived in an isolated place and survived by eating coconuts and sea food.
Intellectuals were imprisoned in Tuol Sleng or S-21 which was originally a school, Ponyeah Yat. The name of the school was changed to Toul Svay Prey High School. From here they were transported to the killing fields as they came to be known for they were mercilessly killed here.
There are around 300 killing fields throughout Cambodia and round 2 to 2.5 million people were killed during that time, many due to starvation, illnesses.
The closest killing field near Phnom Penh is Choeung Ek, which is 12 kilometers away. Around 17,000 people were killed here.
The place was a beautiful longan orchard and you still see fruits on the trees. Around 1980, after Khmer Rouge ended, a person noticed some bones in the area and that is how the place was discovered. It was shocking to see so many human bones and skulls.
The victims on the pretext of being released were brought at night to these killing fields. No one suspected anything.
To save on ammunition, many ways were adopted to kill the victims. One was using the stem of palm tree, Borassus flabellifer. The stem has spines on it and severing a neck like a serrated knife was easy. All were then thrown into pits. DDT, Dicholoro diphenyl trichloride, a strong chlorine based pesticide was scattered over the bodies to get rid of the stench after bodies start rotting and also kill those who still had some life in them. I shudder to think about all this.
Mass grave of 166 victims without heads
Pictures representing the torture:
Still every year after the area gets flooded bones surface to the top. On May 3, 2005, an agreement was signed not to disturb the remains of people still buried.
I am just going to write a little about Khmer Rouge. Khmer Rouge, or the red Khmer which lasted from 1975-79 was led by Pol Pot and others. Pol Pot thought of making Cambodia a leading producer of rice beating China and for this he needed plenty of people to work in fields. The idea behind it may have been right but the implementation led to killings of thousands and thousands of innocent people. Anyone who had soft hands, wore spectacles, was bald was considered educated and they were the ones targeted first. It is said that the Riels (Cambodia currency) was all scattered on the streets, the government treasury all vandalized. Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia was vacated in a short time and around 2 million people were everyone asked to work on fields to produce rice. The year is rightly said to be the "year zero".
Families were separated, one in five family became a victim to one of world's worst genocide. A friend of ours said he was 9 years at that time but survived only because he lived in an isolated place and survived by eating coconuts and sea food.
Intellectuals were imprisoned in Tuol Sleng or S-21 which was originally a school, Ponyeah Yat. The name of the school was changed to Toul Svay Prey High School. From here they were transported to the killing fields as they came to be known for they were mercilessly killed here.
There are around 300 killing fields throughout Cambodia and round 2 to 2.5 million people were killed during that time, many due to starvation, illnesses.
The closest killing field near Phnom Penh is Choeung Ek, which is 12 kilometers away. Around 17,000 people were killed here.
The place was a beautiful longan orchard and you still see fruits on the trees. Around 1980, after Khmer Rouge ended, a person noticed some bones in the area and that is how the place was discovered. It was shocking to see so many human bones and skulls.
the monument for victims
On entering the site, as you have paid for the ticket, you get headphones available in language of your choice. There is choice between English, Spanish, Chinese. Moving forward, the place is marked by numbers and you play that number which gives an information regarding that spot. You put on your headphones and the audio starts.
Loud music was played on speakers to stop the moans and screams of people from going outside.
Most of the signs are self explanatory.
one of the pits unearthed
There are plenty of such pits which were unearthed which revealed mass killings.
Mass grave of more than 100 victims of children and women. majority of them naked
longan trees with fruits
One of the pits which contained the graves, arrow pointing
There are many more like this throughout the place.
heads kept inside the monument
museum
Museum gives the whole time line and history of Khmer Rouge and must be visited by every visitor.
Pictures representing the torture:
people being ushered into vans from the torture center
van on its way to killing fields
man being tortured
bodies thrown into pits
