Last week we had the opportunity to visit S-21, the highschool that was turned into a prison during Pol Pots ruling in Cambodia. I had seen a History Channel movie on S-21 before I left for the Race, but actually standing in the rooms where 20,000 people were killed was really impactful. I was filled with so much emotion. S-21 was designed for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture & killings. The Khmer Rouge would kill anyone who was assocaited with the miliatry or government. If your family worked for the government or military you were killed. If you were educated, wore glasses, were a teacher or a doctor you were killed. They also killed all religious people. 90% of Christians were killed. If the Khmer Rouge thought you were hiding something they would interogate you until they got the answer they were looking for. Once they got their answer, whether it be that you hate Pol Pot or that you have family that knows someone who knows someone, you would be killed. By the end of Khmer Rouge’s rule in 1979, 2 million people were killed, 1/3 of the Cambodian population.
bloody handprint still remains on a wall
Everyone who was imprisioned at S-21 had their photos taken & all of their interrogations/torturings/confessions were documented.
There were only 7 survivors of S-21. This man is one of them.
This past Thursday we also were able to go to the ‘Killing Fields’. These fields are located a couple miles away from S-21. I’m not sure how many mass graves were on this land but we saw probably 30? If you were not killed at S-21 then you were taken to these fields to die. Truckloads of people were taken to these fields every month to be killed & disposed of. Men, women & children were killed here. We heard stories of how they were killed but they are too graphic for me to put into words on here.
Monument built to display skulls/bones/clothes of those buried here
mass graves
clothing still buried in the dirt
sign reads ‘Killing tree against which executioners beat children’
I now have so much more respect for anyone in Cambodia that is above the age of 32. Any Khmer person who is 32 or older and still living means that they survived Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. I can’t imagine how much their lives were impacted by this. We watched a film on S-21 & the killing fields after we left S-21. There was a lady interviewed whose daughter and husband were killed. Even 30 odd years later she still had a very very hard time getting out her story. I pray for the families who are still dealing with the difficult loses.
