I just got back from a long weekend in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and on Friday I went to the 'Toul Sleng' makeshift prison. At Toul Sleng, a former high school, 20,000 Cambodians from all walks of life and all ages were tortured and forced to confess made-up war crimes against Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. After being held in miserable conditions and brutalized, they were exterminated in the Killing Fields just outside of town. Only something like 10 of the prisoners survived.
Aside from he tiny cells, iron shackles, and torture devices, the thing that impacted me the most were the pictures. They took mug shots of every victim when they arrived at the prison(of which thousands are now on display). When you look into their eyes you see only fear, confusion, and helplessness. What a moving display.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
All in all, the Khmer Rouge killed 1.5 million of their own people, or around 20% of the population of Cambodia.
And, I suppose more importantly, genocide of this kind is still happening in other parts of the world right now.
Aside from he tiny cells, iron shackles, and torture devices, the thing that impacted me the most were the pictures. They took mug shots of every victim when they arrived at the prison(of which thousands are now on display). When you look into their eyes you see only fear, confusion, and helplessness. What a moving display.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
All in all, the Khmer Rouge killed 1.5 million of their own people, or around 20% of the population of Cambodia.
And, I suppose more importantly, genocide of this kind is still happening in other parts of the world right now.
