They demanded and then forced the people to leave the cities and live in the countryside. Everyone not knowing whats going on, children crying mothers trying to comfort them, men trying to protect their familys.If I could imagin the chaos that happen at that time it would seem like this.
The city was completely emptied. The Khmer Rouge was determined to turn the country into a nation of peasants in which the corruption and higher living of city life would be completely uprooted. Anyone who had an education, glasses, soft hands, lived in the city, had money, and was a teacher, Dr., lawyer anyone with a degree were taken and killed. Forced to work the fields that they knew nothing about, many had been worked to death because of starvation and forced labor for 14-16 hours a day.
The Khmer Rouge government arrested, tortured and eventually executed anyone suspected of belonging to several categories of supposed enemies. Anyone with connections to the former government or with foreign governments of Cambodia, were killed. Professionals and everyone with an education, or even people wearing glasses (which, according to the regime, meant that they were literate), were killed. Many artists, including musicians, writers and film makers were executed. Ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Thai and other minorities in Eastern Highland, Cambodian Christians, Muslims and the Buddhist monks had been killed as well. Many of the former urban dwellers were deemed to be guilty by virtue of
their lack of agricultural ability so they too were killed.
8,000 skulls found in this one killing field are in this memorial it has eight levels
One the left are impressions are the sites of the mass graves. The right, school that was used as a tocher prison.
I went to one of the 343 killing fields in Cambodia and S-21 which is one of many torture prisons in Cambodia. The killing field was a place where an estimation of 2 million people were killed, with 20,000 mass grave sites spread across Cambodia.
Walking around with an audio set on, so I could understand what happened at the killing fields. With horrific details and actually seeing mass grave sites was all too much for me. It wasn’t until I came to a place that had a canopy over it to protect the mass grave site of a resting place of 100 women and children. What got me was when I was told that the tree next to the mass grave was called “the killing tree”. Soldiers would hold babies upside-down by their feet and hit them against the tree until they were dead, then throw them in with their dead mothers. At point I felt numb, how could man be so evil and do something like that. Kill innocent women, children, and BABIES. Walking around the fenced in area people over the years have left bracelets in memory of the women and children of the mass grave. The colors and the number of bracelets just touched my heart. I said my own little prayer in my head to let these victims rest in peace.
The killing tree were they would kill babies and throw them in the grave with their mothers
Just a few of the many bracelets that have been left in rememberace of the women and children.
It was very hard to walk around were so much death had happened. After the killing fields we went to S-21 which was one of the many torcher prisons. Not just men and women were tortured but children as well. Many were killed while being questioned and tortured, but many survived, but then where sent to the killings fields to be killed. Looking at all the photos of the people who were taken to S-21 which was 14,000 people in 3 ½ years.
Looking into the children’s eyes, seeing confusion, and helplessness brought me to tears. I couldn’t take my eyes off their own eyes, couldn’t stop looking. It’s like looking into the faces of the children I work with at ministry. I did the math in my head most of them would be in there mid to late 30’s early 40’s. They would have their own children if they survived I can still see their eyes, looking back at me. Room after room with photos of men, women, and children at one point I told the other two that I was done. I was tired physically and mentally. Just seeing how they torchtered, killed, and buried the bodies in mass graves, I have enough of sadness to last me for a good time.
One of the many walls of children who were torchtered
Due to the “Cambodian Genocide” which is what people called those three in half years of hell, the human population at the time was 8 million and an estimate of 2 million men, women, and children were murdered. That’s a third of the population at the time. Now 80% of the human population in Cambodia is under the age of 30, only 8% are over the age of 60.
Walking around today I found out what man is really capable of. I prayed to God that people will see what has had happened and learn that given power to the wrong person is the first step to genocide.
