Visiting the genocide museum and the killing fields was not a harrowing experience. There, I’ve said it. I was expecting the visit to be tough, but I felt strangely detached. I cried many times, but listening to what happened and seeing the photos, I was numb. I don’t think it’s because I’m an ogre. I think it’s because my brain just can’t comprehend it. This one’s a toughie, guys. But important. Really important.
What follows is my understanding of what happened. I’m afraid I haven’t verified and properly researched all this, which I’d really like to do but unfortunately don’t have the time as I travel.
In 1975, Cambodia’s population was between 7 and 8 million people. Over the next four years, the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of up to 3 million people (there is, and probably never can be, a reliable figure). Through systematic murder, malnutrition, forced labour and disease, Cambodia lost between 20% and 40% of it’s population, with anyone of intellect, education or direct opposition “destroyed”. Khmer Rouge’s communist fantasy was of a self-sufficient agriculture-based society, and anyone who jeopardised this dream was murdered. And their families, to prevent revenge attacks in the future.
In 1970, the Khmer Rouge waged war on the government (who weren’t particularly popular), selling the Communist ideal to the people. On April 17th 1975, they marched victorious into Phnom Penh, and many thought it a positive step … but within hours armed soldiers appeared on the streets and ordered everyone out of the city, spreading rumours that the US (who were still at war with Vietnam) were going to bomb. The Khmer Rouge then opened fire on people as they left. Within three days, the city was deserted as people duly returned to their “old country”, i.e. the province from where their parents had come, and were forced into hard labour. Overnight, all businesses, hospitals, schools, police stations, universities, post offices and any form of private ownership were abolished. Religion was banned. Money in bank accounts was no longer owned by the account holder, houses and land became the property of the state.
Soldiers were selected from rural families (so they had little or no education) with promises of equality and prosperity, and then brainwashed to carry out the abhorrent crimes of the Khmer Rouge who were now leaders of “Democratic Kampuchea”. Led by Pol Pot, security stations were set up around the country. Doctors, lawyers, teachers and other skilled and intelligent people were tricked into revealing their backgrounds with offers of jobs and then arrested and accused of various fictitious crimes. Soft hands or glasses were also a death sentence. They were then taken to the security stations. Here, they were systematically tortured until they confessed to, for instance, being spies for the CIA or the KGB, and had named others.
Tonl Sleng was one such security station. Originally built as a high school, the facilities and equipment were converted into cells, torture chambers and instruments of torture. It was code-named S-21.
Tortured to confess to a crime that they did not know, prisoners had their throats and stomachs cut, and were left to bleed. Toenails and fingernails were pulled out. They were hung upside-down until they lost consciousness and then dunked into chemicals, such as DDT, which awakened them so the tortune could continue. Once a confession had been obtained, they were marked for destruction.
Every few days (for the lucky ones), they were stripped and hosed down. They then could not lie on the floor until it had dried. Speaking was forbidden. Each prisoner was measured and photographed upon arrival – the documentation of the Khmer Rouge is extensive and detailed.
Each night, trucks containing 70 to 80 people would leave the compound “for a new house” and arrive at Choeung Ek, 17km south of Tonl Sleng. One by one, each prisoner would be taken from the truck, made to kneel in front of a large, deep pit with their hands tied behind their back and blindfolded, and were beaten to death. Hammers, machetes, hoes, axes, jagged edges of palm leaves. Anything the soldiers could find. Bullets were expensive, and not to be wasted. Babies were held by their feet and slapped against “the killing tree”, found in 1979 stained with blood and human flesh. The dead body was then pushed or thrown into the pit. And then they murdered the next one. And the next one. And. The. Next. One.
DDT was poured over the bodies to finish off anyone who hadn’t died, and reduce the stench of rotting flesh. Screams were drowned out by blaring revolutionary music. And it was deliberately far away from civilisation, so nobody could hear, see or smell what was happening at Choeung Ek, or “The Killing Field”. They were checked on to and off the truck to ensure nobody had escaped. Approximately 20,000 men, women and children were brought S-21. About 200 survived.
So, what the f*ck was the rest of the world doing at this time? The short answer, it would seem, is “not giving a sh*t”. Cambodian borders were closed, with only diplomats allowed in and out of the country. And the genocide was taking place in secret. It was the Vietnamese, along with Cambodian defectors, who liberated the country, with the Khmer Rouge falling on 7 Jan 1979. They went into hiding in the jungle, where they regrouped. Yet, they were still recognised as the ruling party of Cambodia by first-world countries. Not only were they given a seat on the UN council, but they were also given funding. Yes, apparently the UN saw fit to continue giving money to the Khmer Rouge. In fact, Pol Pot lived happily (albeit in secret) until the age of 73 when, it is believed (but, again, can never actually be proven) that, upon getting wind of the fact that the world was on to him, was poisoned by one of his soldiers. Nice get-out clause.
In Jul 2010, the commander of S-21, known as “Duch”, was sentenced to life in prison for war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder. Most of the other perpetrators have died before trial, some murdered by others within the regime, with one or two awaiting a trial that is unlikely to come to court in their lifetime.
I’m no historian, but the similarities to the Nazis are frightening: the mentality of the leaders, the way in which they controlled others to carry out their crimes, the systematic torture and murder of vast numbers of people within a short space of time, the obliviousness of the rest of the world until so much damage had been done. That this could have happened so soon after Hitler is devastating. Did we not learn? How many times will this have to happen before we learn to predict it? Surely it’s just a matter of time until it happens again…?
And I got back to my hotel room. I turned on the TV. And my heart skipped a beat.
North Korea.
A leader who imposes their will on the population, in the pursuit of a warped ideal. Who keeps things secret. Who has the mentality of a meglomanic. What’s happening behind those closed doors? Is it any of our business? Yes, it is. It is absolutely our business. Just like acid rain in Sweden is our business. Because we are humanity, and we have a responsibility that crosses nationality, race and gender. And I suddenly felt scared, upset and utterly useless. Genocide could be happening right now, and nothing is known about it, let alone being done about it. Suddenly the Cambodian genocide and the Killing Fields became real for me in a way that it hadn’t done during the day. I still can’t comprehend it, but somehow the threat of it is something my brain can process. And it is a harrowing thought.