April 17th, marked the 42nd anniversary of the start of the mass genocide that took place in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, killing over 2 million people. In 1975, The Khmer Rouge (leader’s name was Pol Pot) took control of the Cambodian government and seized control of Phnom Penh, the country’s capital city. Their goal was to turn the country into a communist agrarian utopia but in reality, they emptied cities and evacuated millions of people to labor camps in the countryside, where physical abuse, disease, exhaustion, and starvation took place. The Khmer Rouge regime not only was extremely brutal but generally singled out doctors, teachers, monks, journalists, artists, the rich, anyone with an education, and ethnic or religious minorities. Even people that wore glasses were considered a threat because they were looked at as intelligent. No one was immune from being considered an enemy and even if a person was considered to be on the “right side” one day, the next day, it could be completely different. Many Khmer Rouge members were also killed during purges. A phrase Pol Pot used often was “to stop the weeds, you must also pull up their roots,” meaning, that if one family member was killed, they felt the need to go behind and kill the rest of the family as well.
Money, free markets, schools, private property, foreign styles of clothing, religious practices, and other aspects of traditional Khmer culture were abolished, and buildings such as schools and government properties were turned into prisons, stables and camps. (S21 was originally a high school)
Children were brainwashed into becoming “child soldiers” and were a huge tool for the Khmer Rouge. They were considered easy to control and would follow orders without any hesitation. Sometimes, to the point where many were forced to shoot their own parents.
The killing fields (over 300 in the country) were sites set up where the Khmer Rouge took people to be killed once they could no longer work, had “confessed” to their alleged crimes, or simply just were not seen as being useful anymore. It’s estimated that over 1 million people were killed at these sites and were buried in mass graves. Some of these killing fields are still not open to the public due to landmines but many other killing fields have been excavated to give the victims proper burials.
In 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia, overthrew the Khmer Rouge and installed a socialist regime comprised of Khmer Rouge defectors. The rest of the party fled west into jungles along the Thai border carrying out guerilla attacks against the Vietnamese. Many of the members of the Khmer Rouge escaped to Thailand. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge as an insurgency until 1997 when he was arrested and placed under house arrest. The organization continued to exist until 1999, by which point most members had defected, been arrested, or died.
One of our first days here in Cambodia, we had the opportunity to visit one of the killing fields and also S-21 which is the prison that the people were kept at for interrogation before being carted off to a killing field to be executed at some point. This was one of THE most heartbreaking days I’ve experienced on the race. If you know me, you know I’m a HUGE history fanatic so getting the chance to see and experience this was just so incredible… but very hard. Walking through the killing field and at the S-21 prison, the only talking you hear is the audio in your ears telling of the horrors that happened right where you’re standing. Innocent people, innocent lives taken from them just like that. All for what?? Because the government simply “felt” they might be a threat because they were intelligent or had money. There’s a distinct sadness and dreariness that lingers over these places. Sadly enough, I had no idea about this genocide until I saw Cambodia was on my route and people started mentioning these sites. This is a prime example that pure evil does exist in this fallen world we live in. It has also made me look at the people of Cambodia so differently. I see them, and feel empathy. I feel sadness. I hurt for them. A lot of these people managed to survive that but also had to live through that and witness the tragedy of so many people being killed. I really encourage everyone who reads this to read more on this genocide. There’s so much more information about all of this that is yes, heartbreaking, but interesting. Here’s some of the pictures I captured of my experience.
(Mass graves)
(Mass grave for victims)
(Mass Grave of 166 victims without heads)
(People leave bracelets as a sign of their respect)
(Mass grave where over 100 victims were found. Majority were women and their children)
(Magic Tree-This tree was used to hang a loudspeaker on blaring music to cover up the moans of victims while they were being executed.)
(The graves of the last 14 victims at S-21 prison)
(Prison cells at S-21)
(Prison cells at S-21)
(Where the keys to each prison cell were numbered and hung)
(The memorial at S-21 for all the victims)
There’s a book several of us are reading right now that’s a true story of a girl who survived the genocide. It’s called “First, They Killed My Father.” It’s awesome and I encourage you to read it!
-Leah
