Cambodia's Brutal Past

The past couple days have been filled with learning about Cambodia's bloody history. It's impossible to understand what has shaped this country into what it is today without diving into the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror.

When Pol Pot marched into Phnom Penh in 1975, no one knew what citizens were in for. His radical ideology had him convinced there were spies within the country, and he was determined to exterminate anyone who could betray him. As a result, he established S21 Prison, more commonly known as Tuol Sleng, in Phnom Penh.

At S21, prisoners had to state what they could've done to betray the state. People were forced into confessing for crimes they had never committed, mostly because the torture became too much to bear. Prison commanders would document their biographies and take photos, most of which haunt the rooms of S21 today.

Once their biographies were documented prisoners were placed into rooms. The type of room depended on what type of person they were. Some were placed in small cells, others placed in large rooms on their own, shackled to the bed.

Prisoners were kept here and tortured for 1-6 months depending on what their crime was. During this time, people were tortured in the most inhumane ways possible. People were dropped into buckets of human waste, had their fingernails ripped out, had small cuts made on parts of their body, etc. If a person was able to survive S21 and torture was complete, they were loaded onto trucks and taken out to Choeung Ek, more commonly known as the Killing Fields.

Only 11 people managed to survive S21, one of which I had the pleasure of meeting. Chum Mey managed to be useful to the S21 commanders because unlike them, he was literate and was able to help document biographies and confessions. Today he lives in Phnom Penh and has penned a novel about his life, which I purchased and look forward to reading.

Choeung Ek was the end for anyone who ended up there. People were killed with a blow to the head or a slit to the throat because Pol Pot thought bullets were too expensive. Once killed, people were thrown into mass graves, unmarked and unknown to the world. Currently, 86 mass graves have been dug up. There are several more, but they will remain undisturbed in order to bring peace to those buried there. It's not uncommon to walk through Choeung Ek and see bones under the path, as the rain washes the dirt away and unearths what lies below.

Once the bones were/are unearthed, they get placed in the memorial stupa that lies in the middle of Choeung Ek. The 17 tiers in the stupa hold the bones of everyone who has been found at the Killing Fields thus far.

The past couple days have been mentally and emotionally exhausting, but I can't express how happy and thankful I am to have gone to both of these places. The suffering of the Khmer people has made them stronger, and I've never met a more kinder group of people. These historical sites are hard to bear, but I think they've made me understand Cambodia a bit better.