Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) and Beoung Cheoung Ek

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21)

       

                              

Prior to the Khmer Rouge take-over of Cambodia, Toul Sleng was the Toul Svay Prey High School. In 1975 the school was occupied by Pol Pot’s security forces and turned into one of a number of nationwide detention and interrogation centers. Its innocuous setting, in a quiet suburb of the capital, was matched by an innocuous reference number: Security Prison 21 (S-21 for short). It soon became the largest center of incarceration and torture in the country. Most of the 17,000 detainees, including a handful of westerners, were subsequently taken to the Choeung Ek ‘killing field’ and executed. Incredibly, the regime kept accounts of all interrogations and confessions and these incriminating files were discovered following the Vietnamese invasion in 1979. The files have since been the subject of detailed, historical research and have provided a unique perspective on the paranoia and mistrust that infected the Khmer Rouge regime from top to bottom.

    

       

                       

                                                                              

 

Beoung Cheoung Ek

The Khmer Rouge regime under Saloth Sar (better known as Pol Pot), controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979. On April 17th, 1975 all citizens of Phnom Penh were moved out of the city by the Khmer Rouge, and forced to begin new lives farming in the rural areas of the country. During this period, around 2.5 million Cambodians died. Most of the deaths were due to malnutrition, overwork, absence of medical care and neglect. However, the regime also brutally killed thousands of people it suspected of treachery. It is important to note that there are ‘killing fields’ all over Cambodia. However, the best known is at Choeung Ek, about 30 minutes drive from Phnom Penh at Stung Mean Chey. The road is good and the museum is clearly signposted.
Over 17,000 men, women, children and infants were executed at Choeung Ek. Many of the dead had been detained and tortured at the equally notorious S-21 prison (now the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum). Following interrogation at Toul Sleng, prisoners were often transported to Choeung Ek for execution. Choeung Ek is still a grisly, wretched place dominated by a tall stupa containing the skulls of over 8,000 victims of the regime arranged by age and gender. Further human remains are sometimes visible in the makeshift graves surrounding the stupa. Please be respectful of these should you be unfortunate enough to encounter them.
Visits to Choeung Ek or S21 are a matter of personal choice. These are not easy or pleasant places to witness, and tourists should be aware of that before making the decision to see them. Both sites may seem out of place with the friendship and courtesy you will have experienced in Cambodia. However, they form a very real and unpleasant reminder of the nation’s history.