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15.10. Traces of a Genocide

Lofalitsidwa: 15.10.2018

Today was and hopefully remains the most distressing day of our journey so far. We visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former school that was used as the S-21 torture prison by the Khmer Rouge. In 1975, the followers occupied all major cities in Cambodia and drove the local people out to the countryside. There was a great fear of bombings by the Americans, who heavily bombarded Cambodia alongside Vietnam, which is often forgotten even though thousands died here as well. Consequently, there was a great sense of insecurity and anger in the country, the perfect breeding ground for radical organizations like the Khmer Rouge. They followed the ideology of 'Angkar', the order, and dedicated everything to it. Every action was for the benefit of Angkar, to rebuild a stable and strong communist state.

The idyllic impression is deceptive
The idyllic impression is deceptive

Here, the so-called 'New People' were imprisoned, a term that was very loosely defined. This included intellectuals such as artists, teachers, doctors, or people who simply came from the city. The criteria also extended to banalities such as wearing glasses, having soft hands, or using modern technology. All these people ended up at this 'place you enter and never leave', as it is commonly called.

Eighteen thousand people entered, ten survived...


And this horror can only be partially understood when you move through the rooms with an audio guide, in German, and have to listen to what people from the same country can do to each other. It would take too long to repeat everything.

It is worth mentioning that very correct records were kept of who was admitted when and why. No one was killed 'without reason'. It was only after weeks of the worst torture such as electric shocks and waterboarding, four spoons of soup a day, and being isolated from their families that the prisoners confessed to everything their guards wanted to know and accused their relatives, even if it wasn't true. The Khmer Rouge didn't care. They had their confession and could kill the person in question, whom they no longer saw as a human but as a simple threat to Angkar.

There is much more to write about, but I won't go into further detail for now.

In the museum itself, you could see the old cells and torture instruments, some of which still had blood on them. Also impressive were the long photo walls of the inmates and their torturers, together with the recounted individual fates.

The cells inside
The cells inside
A photo wall of the victims, a child on top
A photo wall of the victims, a child on top
After this tour, we continued to the next memorial site, the 'Killing Fields', because if you're already in the mood, you might as well take advantage of it.
The 'Killing Fields' were one of over 300 execution sites of the Khmer Rouge, where many inmates from the previously visited S-21 were also brought. From 1978 onwards, 300 people were killed here every day. Gunshots were too expensive, so there were other methods of execution: with blunt objects, weapons, sharp bark from palm trees, or chemicals given to the people in the pit to neutralize the smell.
When you walk between the burial mounds and imagine how many masses found their premature death here, you begin to truly understand the importance of common sense and independent thinking, and to appreciate living in a time like today's in Europe.
A large shrine was erected in the middle of the 'Killing Fields' as a great monument, containing an incredible number of skulls up to the ceiling and other bones. They were all sorted by age and gender, and many of them have holes or notches in their skulls that caused their death. They all face outward, towards a simple freedom that was denied to them, and which they hopefully have now found.
The memorial shrine
The memorial shrine

I don't know how well my description expresses the emotions felt at the memorial sites. Both places were well-visited, but it was very quiet everywhere and often you could see people needing a break in the sun or simply crying. As with so many things, you have to visit them yourself to understand, which you should definitely do if you are near Phnom Penh.





Yankhani