The Killing Fields and S-21

On our way down to the South of Cambodia we stopped to spend two nights in Phnom Penh, only as we wanted to visit the Killing Fields and genocide museum. I think it is so important to see these things, learn from them and try to ensure it never happens again.  We spent the morning in one of the near by Killing Fields and then to the old S-21 jail now the Genocide museum in the city.  I was under no illusion that this would be difficult but I really under estimated how horrific it would be.  It is just so hard to fathom that anyone could do to people what the Khmer Rouge did to their people.  It is so difficult to understand how people could be convinced into following such a crazy regime but very important that we try too to prevent it again.  

At that time Cambodia had been suffering for years from the American bombs, high unemployment and 80% were living in extreme poverty and when someone came and told them who was to blame (educated city dwellers) and that it was time to do somethings about it some people listened.  Sadly, this is far from the first genocide in modern times and without educating the world it is probably not the last time that we will hear such a story.  

 For obvious reasons I did not take many photos, but just wanted to capture a picture of the monument constructed for the thousands that died in this killing field.  It is unimaginable the suffering that these people endured and for reasons such as  wearing glasses, having soft hands, being educated, having a second cousin doctor or just answering a question wrong.

What is amazing about people is our resilience, one quarter of the population were executed at this time.  Twenty years of civil war followed and you could not meet more friendly, positive and forward looking people.

This was a sign from S-21 in Phnom Penn.  20 000 people went here, and there is only a handful of known survivors.  The torture they endured before finally being executed is beyond comprehension.  What else shocked me is the Worlds reaction to these events, which I never knew before.  When Pol Pot and his regime were finally chased into the jungle by the Vietnamese the world considered Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge the rightful ruling party in Cambodia for 20 years.  The UN even let the Khmer Rouge send members to them, unbelievable. Pol Pot was finally arrested in 1997 at the age of 73 and died under house arrest in under a year (lots of theories of how..) he was never tried for his crimes.

It was a hard day, but so glad we came.