Phnom Penh: the sombre side

Of course, amidst all the fun stuff in Phnom Penh, there was a sombre side too. I visited the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields and learnt more about how Cambodia became the setting for one of the bloodiest genocides in history.

There were seven million people in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took control in 1975 and by the time they were overthrown three years later, around two million had been killed. That's one in four people. Basically at least one member of every family died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. It's mind-blowing when you think of it like that.

In the Tuol Sleng Museum there were photos of people celebrating as the Khmer Rouge tanks rolled into Phnom Penh. Their coming marked the end of the civil war, which had been raging in the country since the former Head of State was deposed by the military five years earlier. But in fact it was only the beginning of something far worse. Within days the city had been evacuated, families torn apart and all had been sent to work back-breaking 12-hour days on farms in the countryside. Anyone seen as being an intellectual was rounded up and killed. This included anyone who spoke a foreign language, wore glasses or had soft hands! Schools, universities and hospitals were shut down, currency was abolished and it was declared to be "Year 0".

Prior to 1975 Tuol Sleng was a high school but it was later taken over by Pol Pot's security forces and turned into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S21). This became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country, with around 20,000 held here during the regime. Only seven survived. It still feels very much like a school and you can imagine children playing here, which makes it quite chilling. Large poles in the playground which had been used for physical education, were later turned into a torture machine.

S21 - the barbed wire was to prevent prisoners from jumping to their death

The "subversives" were brought here and held in tiny cells for 2-4 months, during which time they were subject to interrogation and horrific torture... to the extent that even young boys admitted that they had belonged to both the CIA and the KGB! The museum displayed a photograph of every prisoner as they were admitted, and many of them after they'd been tortured to death. There were also photos of the Khmer rouge prison-guards - many of whom were just young peasant boys. 

Makeshift cells in Block B

Photos of the Khmer Rouge Guards - most are children

Eventually those who didn't die from torture or starvation were transported to the extermination camp at Cheung Ek (the "Killing Fields"). Here in the dark of night, the generators whirred, huge glaring lights were switched on and national music blared out to hide the sounds of people being murdered. Bullets were too expensive so people were beaten and hacked to death into mass graves. Women and children - some no more than babies - were amongst the victims.

The Killing Fields moved me most of all. It was a peaceful place, with green fields, orchards, a lake, and the sound of trees gently rusting in the breeze - entirely at odds with the horrors that occurred here. It was definitely conducive to some moments of quiet reflection. There was an excellent audio guide which brought everything to life, without disturbing the silence of the place.

The Killing Fields: green and peaceful now

There were 129 mass graves found here, containing the remains of almost 9000 people. Not all of the graves were exhumed and even today, fragments of bone and clothing rise to the surface after the rain. People had hung friendship bracelets all around the mass graves and on a tree against which babies were beaten to death. It was a poignant touch. 

Friendship bracelets hang on the fence around a mass grave

The Killing Tree

And of course there's the Memorial Stupa, which is filled with 10 stories of skulls and other bones which were uncovered here. It was hard to take that in until I saw the signs which identified each set of skulls by their sex, and their age when they died. Suddenly I could picture them in life, and that's when I shed a couple of tears. 

The Memorial Stupa

It's hard to think of this happening - that the Cambodia people had to endure such horrific and senseless suffering - and at the hands of their own people. It leaves a particularly bad taste to know that the Khmer Rouge were given a seat on the UN even after these atrocities, and that Pol Pot and the other leaders have never been tried for their crimes (in fact Pol Pot died a peaceful death as a free man, in the late 90's). 

You can still sense the scars here, barely covering the old wounds. This only happened in the 70's so basically anyone older than me lived through it and inevitably lost someone close to them. But they have rebuilt their lives and their society and that's pretty incredible. 

The Memorial Stupa: a place for quiet reflection