Tol Sieng Genocide Museum

Stepping into the room was eerie enough, thinking of how many people had been killed in the same space, brutally tortured. The fact that the place was once a children's school only confounded the emotion, the same place being a centre of joy and learning until Pol Pot had his way. How can anyone be so cruel? I cannot imagine meeting anyone like him. I struggle to believe such people could exist, them being so far away from my frame of reference. Even the nastiest people could never be so cruel, surely not...

Ascending through a power struggle in Cambodia, Pol Pot's Democratic Kampuchea party (also known as the Khmer Rouge) brought radical communist reform with immediate effect. In 1975 he assumed office and quickly began to displace people from the big cities into the countryside, so that the Cambodian economy could be completely independant - running on its own natural resources. Many died from not knowing how to survive out of the city. He split up families to increase efficiency, forced marriages and had many intellectuals and learned people killed as they were a threat to his new system. Anyone who didn't agree with his policies could easily be imprisoned, tortured and killed so centers were set up - enter S-21 (now tol sieng genocide museum). At least 17000 people were killed there between 1975 and 1979, initially members of opposing political movements but eventually high ranking members of Pol Pot's own political party - on suspicion of dissidence. Once his regime had collapsed a few reporters discovered the place and it has since been preserved as a reminder to future generations. Dead bodies were found in many of the classrooms, now in each room you will find a picture of the last dead body to have occupied it complete with graphic torture wounds. To really bring it home, the torture 'bed' and shackles remain in each room to this day. 

The Khmer Rouge were meticulous in keeping records. In the museum you will find photographs of many of those killed under the regime. Entire walls filled with pictures, separated into men, women and children. God knows how many children he had killed, some of them looked as young as 5 years old. My heart sank when I saw those innocent faces, for what crime could they possibly have committed?

It was a solemn occasion, but it was heart warming to see the positive exhibits in the final exhibition hall. Messages of peace and healing, moving on from the hellish past and growing toward a brighter future.