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S21 Genocide Museum & Choeung EK Killing Fields
We visited the S21 Genocide Museum and Choeung EK Killing Fields today. As we expected it was an emotional but learning experience for both of us. We asked our tuk tuk driver named Rambo to take us to the museum first so we could get a better understanding before visiting the killing fields, it only cost us $2 each for entry and $6 for a guide to walk us around while telling us about what happened. Our guide was a Cambodian lady, at first it was a little bit difficult to understand her but we managed and it was definitely worth having her show us around, we would never had learnt as much as we did without her. She told us that the site was a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Prisoners were taken there to be interrogated, sick unimaginable torture was used on the prisoners to force them into confessing crimes they had not committed. Even to this day no body understands why these orders from Pol Pot were issued. Many believe he was obsessed with power and became over paranoid that everyone was against him. Cambodia had already been through a civil war so when the Khemer Rouge won the war the cambodians celebrated believing their lives would turn for the better. But only two hours after he was elected Pol Pot had already sent his men out into the fields to collect young farmers ready to volunteer as his soldiers. Little did they know they would also be victims. They were aged between 14 to 18 years and were trained to kill. Pol Pot chose youngsters so they would be easier to train, if they didn't obey orders they would be accused of being a traitor and tortured and killed themselves. In the early months of S-21's existence, most of the victims were from the previous Lon Nol regime and included soldiers, government officials, as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks, engineers, etc. Later, the party leadership's paranoia turned on its own ranks and purges throughout the country saw thousands of party activists and their families brought to Tuol Sleng and murdered. Those arrested included some of the highest ranking communist politicians.
The prison was made up of four buildings named block A, B, C and D, after a female prisoner killed herself by jumping off the roof they covered the front of the buildings with barbed wire, which was electrified to prevent any more prisoners from committing suicide. A large sign was displayed outside listing the strict rules of the prison in front of a large wooden frame with steel rings at the top, it was used as playground apparatus for the school children to play on, then it was used for torturing the prisoners. Three very large pots were placed below the frame, prisoners were hung upside down, whipped and beaten untill unconscious. Then they were dunked into the pots which were filled with prisoners excretment to wake them up so the torture could continue. The original pots are still there today.
Our guide showed us fourteen graves outside the blocks, these were the graves of the last people that were tortured and killed in the prison. They were found by the Vietnamese soldiers in 1979, their bodies were too decomposed to be identified, one of the victims was female. Only seven men survived the prison but only two of them are still alive. Both of those men were at the prison today selling books, it was a privilege to meet one of them and shake his hand. He showed us how they ripped his toe nails out with pliers.
Before we walked into the first building, block A, our guide explained to us that it was considered the most important building out of the four. The rooms which were once class rooms were used to interrogate prisoners and were left exactly as they were found. Building A held the most important prisoners from diplomats to government officials, who were tortured between six to seven months, never being unchained from the bed. The tiled floor was covered with large blood staines, there were blood splats across the walls and on the ceiling from when they were tortured and killed. Each steel bed has been left in the room. When we saw this we both felt a cold chill go through our bodies. There was a large canvas hanging on the wall of the photo that was taken when the room was discovered. One of the last fourteen victims was in the photo tied down on the steel bed, our guide pointed out a vulture sitting on the victims stomach. The bird had been eating the remains.
The next room was in the same condition, the photo on the wall showed a victim tied down on the bed, their body was twisted round so their stomach was facing down, but their face was facing the ceiling from where they had cut his throat and twisted his head.
Another room had a shovel on the bed. The photo on the wall showed a victim tied down, our guide pointed out his face to us and told us he was killed by having his head, jaw, cheekbones and nose smashed in by the shovel.
The other rooms in the building were filled with similar stories of torture. I had a lump in my throat as we were shown around the rest of the building and told of the horrific acts that took place. The whole time we asked ourselves, 'Why? How can anybody let alone young teenagers commit such atrocities?'
Block B was filled with the original apparatus that were created specifically for torturing. Paintings created by one of the seven survivors have been placed on the walls throughout the building. He painted the torture that was inflicted on himself and images that others had experienced while in the prison. A soldier that was envolved in torturing the victims was taken around the prison after the paintings had been put up, he said the paintings were very accurate and what was shown did in fact happen.
One of the paintings showed a victim having their nails pulled out of their fingers and alcohol poured onto the wounds. Other paintings showed different examples of victims being dunked into water untill unconcious but not killed. There was also a wall showing photo evidence of the other kinds of torture commited, one included acid being inserted into a victims nose. We stood in front of the wall and looked for a moment in slience, we could see the terror and sadness in the victims eyes as they were forced to stare at the camera and sometimes forced to smile. It was impossible not to shed a tear for them. I hid my sadness from our guide behind my sunglasses, she spoke with anger and strong emotions as she explained what had happened to each of the victims in the photos. She said sometimes the victims were forced to eat human feces and drink urine.
The fourth building, Block D, contained classrooms with tiny cells built into them to keep the prisoners locked up. The cells had no window, bed or toilet. They were given an old metal ammo container or just a bottle to use as a toilet. Some cells held groups of prisoners! In other rooms there were displays of the mettle shackles used to chain prisoners together in rows by their ankles. They were not allowed to speak to each other or make a sound. One prisoner whistled a tune and was tortured then killed for doing so.
Another room displayed some of the weapons used to torture the victims. Such as metal poles, which were heated then used to kill women after they had been raped by putting them inside the women. Pliers were used to burn and pinch off nipples. Scorpions and giant centipedes were used to sting prisoners. An electric chair was also on display with a photo of a lady holding her baby about to be electrocuted. Every room was filled with sadness and sickening horror.
Pol Pot never actually visited the prison or met his victims, he had everything documented, every victim was photographed as they entered the prison, the photos are displayed in the museum now. The female prisoners with babies were forced to watch their children killed by being smashed against a wall and were then tortured themselves, this was shown in the paintings and confirmed by surviving guards from the prison. We noticed that our guide began to look very sad, me and Chris were both thinking the same thing, she looked like she may have been in her early fifties so we assumed she must have experienced Pol Pots rule. Chris asked her if she did, then she told us her story. She was only fourteen when the regime began, she was separated from her family and forced to work in the rice paddies. She experienced beatings, she pulled up her skirt and showed us her scars from her shackles and beatings. Both her parents and all her siblings were killed. She told us she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and still has terrible nightmares as well as physiological problems which she must take medication for everyday. Hearing her story made the tour even more personal. We thanked her and then watched a video about the events. She still does not know why Pol Pot done what he did. He even tortured and killed close friends and colleagues and their families that he didn't trust anymore. One of them had worked at S21 for years and died there with his family.
We left the museum with sadness in our hearts, three million people in Cambodia were killed by their own people! It happened only thirty seven years ago which means there are a lot of people still alive today that have lost someone close to them due to the regime and are most likely suffering with the same problems as our guide.
Rambo was waiting for us outside the museum. Next he took us to the Cheoung EK Killing Fields, this was where the prisoners were taken to be killed and buried.
We paid $5 each which included an audio tour. As we walked down the path leading to the graves we listened to stories from the soldiers, telling us about how they transported so many prisoners to the fields. They told the prisoners lies to keep them quiet in the trucks, they believed they were being moved to a field to work.
Each grave was filled with one hundred to four hundred and fifty bodies. The ground around and above the bodies would have expanded as the gases from their decomposing bodies was released, the stench would have been vile. Most of the graves have been exhumed which has left the ground sunken in, heavy rain has caused some bones and teeth as well as the clothes on the bodies to rise up and out of the ground. These have been collected over the years and kept on show in glass boxes. Bones, teeth and clothes are still appearing out of the ground today, seeing them for ourselves made it all more real. Most of the bones and clothes from the graves which have been exhumed have been put on display in a large pagoda in the centre of the fields. The pagoda was built in remembrance of the twenty thousand people that had been killed and buried there. The levels in the pagoda have been filled with thousands of skulls.
We were told about a type of palm tree growing in the fields, it's thick branches are lined with serrated edges, similar to a saw. The soldiers used the sharp branches to slit their victims throats after beating them around the head with a bamboo stick. Other objects used as weapons were axes, hammers, knifes and other farmers tools that could be used to break their skull. DDT was thrown onto the bodies before they were buried 'to finish the job' as they put it.
We sat for a moment and listened to the upsetting stories from women and men that have lost a loved one during the regime, it was so sad. Pol Pot ordered his soldiers to kill the families of those accused, even young children and babies, he said this was so that no one could take their revenge! His saying was 'Better to kill an innocent, than let an enemy go'. But they were all inocent! Some of the prisoners confessed to false crimes because they couldn't take anymore torture. Others died during torture, none were ever going to live.
One grave in particular was filled with the corpses of women and babies. The grave was protected by a fence of which bracelets and flowers have been placed. Our audio guide told us about a large tree next to the grave and how it was used. It was called the 'Killing Tree', soldiers held babies by their legs and hit their heads against it until they were dead. They did this infront of their mothers before raping and brutally killing them too. Some of the babies were thrown into the air and the soldiers held their guns with bayonets attached for them to land on. A large glass box has been put on display next to the grave and filled with the clothes of the babies.
When our tour came to an end we met up with Rambo again, he asked us with an excited attitude if we would like to go to the shooting range! We declined, we weren't exactly in the mood to use a gun after what we had seen, so we asked him to take us back.
On our way back to the hotel we booked our bus ticket to Otres Beach. We only found out about this beach the other day when I noticed a comment on somebody else's Facebook page! Good old Facebook. The write ups look good so we are looking forward to a couple of days doing nothing on the beach. For the rest of the day we have just chilled out in the pool.
Charlotte & Chris
- comments
P Reading this sent chills all over my body and my eyes well up. Terrible, unthinkable torture at its worst. I can’t even begin to imagine what all those people went though. Why would anyone do this? What sort of a human being could do that to a baby and kill its mother?! Makes me sick to my stomach. I think you both chose wisely about not going to the shooting range. After walking through what you had just seen, I don’t think I could have done that either! X
Natly Wow charlotte another heart felt blog with pictures still in my head, how horrible!!! I dont think im gonna do any moaning for a little while or get upset that ive only lost another 1lb, there are far worser things in life! Im still reading all your blogs and find it very interesting infact its like im reading a book and awaiting for the author to publish the next chapter. Still thinking of you glad your both keeping safe and enjoying what sounds to be a very educating but fun experience. Xxx
Charlotte Hello, It was hard writing it out, going over all the horrible thoughts again. We have just visited the war museum in Vietnam, some of the torture that happened was worse! Seeing and learning about it all makes us feel really fortunate x x