| The Toul Sleng museum of genocidal crime was formerly a school. It is one of the saddest places that I have ever visited, and it really brought home to me the atrocities that were carried out by the Khmer Rouge when they were in control of Cambodia. |
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When the Khmer Rouge seized power, they destroyed everybody's clothes and most of their possessions (radios, machines etc.) The whole population was forced to wear Black uniforms. The people were evacuated from the cities and the towns and forced to 'return to basics', and live off the land. The only building that remained populated in Phnom Penh was the school. This was converted into the prison known as S-21. Here the captives were tortured before going to their deaths at the killing fields of Choeung Ek. The prisoners were generally kept at the prison for 1 to 6 months; it was the lucky ones who only spent a month there before their termination.
| We were shown around the place by a guard, who himself had been subjected to the rule of the Khmer rouge; you could tell be his expressions as he explained the exhibits the sadness he still felt. The feelings that he gave out were not those of hatred but of lack of understanding. He was searching for the answer to an unanswerable question, WHY! When he was talking about the people who died, he kept repeating, "it doesn't matter who you are! Pol Pot kill Khmer Rouge, he kill Religious, he kill foreigners, he kill people who disagree, he kill people who agree, he kill people who think and he kill people who don't think". |  |
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THE SECURITY REGULATIONS � You must answer accordingly to my questions -- don't turn them away. � Don't try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that. You are strictly prohibited to contest me. � Don't be a fool, for you are a chap who dare to thwart the revolution. � You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect. � Don't tell me either about your immoralities or the essence of the revolution. � While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all. � Do nothing, sit still, and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting. � Don't make pretexts about Kampuchea in order to hide your jaw of traitor. � If you don't follow all the above rules, you shall get many many lashes of electric wire. � If you disobey any point of my regulations, you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge. |
| Artwork by the Cambodian Artists Assistance Project |