TRAVELOGUE Genocide in Cambodia – the Killing Fields & the S-21 Detention Center

The Chokung Ek Killing Fields

With only one full day to spend in Phnom Penh, we decided to first visit the Royal Palace (absolutely amazing traditional Asian architecture) then take a break from fun activities and visit some sites related to the Khmer Rouge genocide . The first stop was the Killing Fields, where the bodies of more than 8,000 people were discovered in mass graves after the war.

In the center of the Killing fields is a pagoda/mausoleum holding the skulls of all the deceased in a glass case that goes up nearly two stories. The actual graves are now just holes in the ground, but for added effect the site has bones and clothing sticking out next to the walking paths and under trees.

Perhaps the most disturbing part was the killing tree against which soldiers would hold children by their feet and whack them until dead. This was in an effort to save precious and expensive bullets…a practice that also led to thousands of bludgeonings, suffocations and throat slittings.

The S-21 Detention Center

Our next stop was the S-21 Detention Center: a former school that was taken over by the Khmer Rouge and converted into a prison and torture chamber. Classrooms were converted into cells, with some as small as 2 feet wide and six feet deep…not even big enough to fit me laying down.

The entire center is now a museum and memorial with a complete history of the Khmer Rouge’s genocide as well as photos of the deceased, both before and after. Based on the words of our tuk tuk driver we though we would be out of the museum in an hour. In reality, it took us nearly three to get through it all.