The Killing Fields

 The Killing Fields 

                                                  

The stupa to commenorate more than 9,000 skeletons of people found in mass graves at this one site, just one of hundreds across the country.

We drove out of town but just to give a flavour of the city sky line and break all those preconceived ideas of Phnom Penh, here ar a few views such as a giant shopping mall...

...a view across the river...

...and another view across fields on the outskirts of the city...

...and the city is still expanding such as this giant multistorey complex being built, but judging by the mass of wires in the foreground, some of the infrastructure has yet to catch up. 

Then we arrived at the Killing Fields, properly known as the Choeung Ek Genocide Centre. We had a guide to take us around the site, widely known but it is just two hectares. He was born before the genocide but survived although his grandparents and parents were victims. There are several mass graves here, now just hollows in the ground to record the site of each one as the victims have been re-interred in the central stupa.

The central stupa.

                                                 

The tree where a loudspeaker was positioned to drown out the shouts of those being murdered.

The tree against which children and babies had their heads smashed. Although innocent, whole families were massacred to prevent revenge attacks by family members in later years. None of the buildings have survived and some of the torture implements and items used to kill people have been lost.
                                                 
Even Khmer Rouge supporters were not immune from suspicion. Another mass grave had the headless bodies of 166 people.  Many were Khmer Rouge soldiers, identified by their uniforms, who were suspected of not supporting the regime.

A statue with the words 'Never shall we forget the crimes committed during the Democratic Kampuchea regime'.

Few people were taken directly to the killing fields. Most were first put in prison and tortured. Many of the victims at Choeng Ek came from the prison known as S21. This was a former school but with the Pol Pot regime returning to Year Zero and eliminating all opposition and any potential opposition, especially of the educated classes, there was no need for schools. They were used either as prisons, torture centres or for indoctrinating the susceptible to be puppets of the regime.

A view across the central courtyard. 

A former classroom, used as a single cell with shackles welded to the frame of a metal bed. There were head and shoulder photos of each of the victims. Only seven people survived S21. The inhumanity, terror, torture and murders only ceased when the Vietnam army retaliated to attacks by the Khmer Rouge and liberated the coountry.

The former school outdoor gym from which children would climb ropes. It was converted to gallows. The exact number of deaths is not accurately recorded but estimates range from 1.5 million to 3 million. That is from a population that at the time that the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and took control of the country, there was a total population of around 7 million.

A memorial in the central courtyard, again with the inscription 'Never shall we forget the crimes committed during the Democratic Kampuchea regime'.

After such an intense day, we had a sunset booze cruise along the Mekong. There were crisps and nibbles and every drink was a dollar, whether it was a soft drink, a beer or a cocktail. There was music, some dancing and a lot of cocktails drunk as we saw the sun set and the brightness of the day turn to dusk just as colourful lights were turned on aboard many of the boats on the river and buildings overlooking the river.