SIDE TRIP 27: Killing Fields in Cambodia
I can't fathom the depths of evil people are actually capable of. The bloodstained metal beds with iron shackles, the chilling devices for torture, the faded black and white photographs of those who perished in the genocide - - men, women, children, infants.... thousands of them. They stare straight at the camera, blank expressions on their faces, knowing perhaps that they were going to be killed soon.
Welcome to Tuol Sleng, the detention and torture center full of crude cells and torture devices used to extract confessions in Stalinesque purges of the Khmer Rouge. As hundreds of thousands of Cambodians slowly starved in the rice fields where they were banished, a select number of political prisoners and their families met a terrible fate inside the interrogation center. Tuol sleng was then known as the "place where people go in but never come out". Of the nearly 20,000 people who were known to have entered, only 6 are known to have survived. After interrogation, the victims were taken away to the farming village of Choeung Ek, killed and then buried in mass graves.
Today, a glass stupa stands in the center of what ïs now known as the "Killing Field", housing some 8,000 skulls and bone fragments - - chilling testaments to the insanity of a devil named Pol Pot.
I'm never going back to these places. Once is enough.
TUOL SLENG
one of the shackled beds
one of the paintings done by a survivor
photo of one of the victims
KILLING FIELDS
skulls
Welcome to Tuol Sleng, the detention and torture center full of crude cells and torture devices used to extract confessions in Stalinesque purges of the Khmer Rouge. As hundreds of thousands of Cambodians slowly starved in the rice fields where they were banished, a select number of political prisoners and their families met a terrible fate inside the interrogation center. Tuol sleng was then known as the "place where people go in but never come out". Of the nearly 20,000 people who were known to have entered, only 6 are known to have survived. After interrogation, the victims were taken away to the farming village of Choeung Ek, killed and then buried in mass graves.
Today, a glass stupa stands in the center of what ïs now known as the "Killing Field", housing some 8,000 skulls and bone fragments - - chilling testaments to the insanity of a devil named Pol Pot.
I'm never going back to these places. Once is enough.
TUOL SLENG
one of the shackled beds
one of the paintings done by a survivor
photo of one of the victims
KILLING FIELDS
skulls
posted by Miki at
6:47 PM
4 Comments:
an evilest of devil, this despot is a disgrace to humanity.
yep. and he and his comrades hadn't even paid for their sins yet. too bad he died before standing trial.
Hi. This is quite long, but bear with me...
I have an aunt who is currently working as a volunteer in Cambodia. She's a tough one, having worked with the Reds (here in Mindanao) during the 70s and 80s. At our family reunion last month (December 2005), she narrated to me her experiences in that foreign country, and on how Cambodians are trying (so hard) to cope with a horrible past.
"Had my faith in God not that strong, I would have gone insane," was how she described her experience in Cambodia. I was stunned. My aunt is no stranger to violence. She has witnessed death a couple of times, and has experienced torture herself when she was abducted by the Philippine Military in 1987, - a dark incident in her past the she's not willing to elaborate. I thought she has seen the worst.
As most of us know, Mindanao's history is tainted with violence and carnage. During my childhood, I heard stories about an activist-priest who was shot in broad daylight, whose murderer, not satisfied with the slaughter ate a portion of his victim's brain; in a nearby barangay, at seven in the morning, a chapel full of Sunday worshippers was peppered with bullets. More than 40 people, including women and children died on the spot; Right after our flag ceremony, the teacher-adviser of the school's grade six class wailed. It was eerie. She got the news that her husband, a tricyle driver was murdered. A couple of months later, the husband of our school principal was shot to death. They were together on the night of the murder. Our school principal almost lost her left ear because of the attack. She survived. We had two teachers wearing black uniforms during the entire school year. Every time we see them, we are reminded that violence could happen to anyone, anytime.
I know that there are people who witnessed far more horrible tales of human struggles. What I did not expect, is that, somewhere in Cambodia, hundreds of thousands (or say millions) are facing violence beyond imagination on a daily basis. I've read about them in the Asiaweek, and have seen the film the "Killing fields." But the photos that my aunt showed me (similar to what you posted), made me feel sick. I felt like throwing up. Looking at them transported me back to my childhood, when violence was so real. Too real that it would make you feel dizzy.
Somehow I'm still thankful that what happened to the people of Cambodia did not happen to us here in Mindanao. I hope it won't.
It is unthinkable how evil a person can be. How horrible humans can become.
And my aunt? She's back in Cambodia now, trying to make a difference. I can only pray that she won't lose her sanity.
hi! thanks for sharing your thoughts. when i went to tuol sleng, my cambodian guide refused to go inside. he waited for me outside the gate. and i understood why when i was done touring the place. it was chilling. the pictures do not quite capture the horrors of what happened there.
and like i said in my post, i am never going back there.
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