Please read If Heaven Could Cry: Part 1 to gain a greater understanding.
“How could these worms come out from our own skin?” –
Teeda Butt Mam, a surviver of the Khmer Rouge killing fields
Teeda continues, “They told us that Americans were going to bomb the cities and they forced millions of residents of Phnom Penh and other cities out of their homes. We believed them because they were our own. But the Khmer soldiers were indeed our worst nightmare.”
When the Khmer Rouge won the civil war in 1975, their grand prize was not necessarily winning the land. It was their freedom to ‘declare history dead’ – to erase personal identity, pride, senses, religion, loved ones and souls. “I was declared VOID”, recounts Teeda. Through force, control and manipulation, they instilled a Spirit of Fear deep into the heart, mind and soul of the Khmer people. (note: Most Cambodians are of Khmer ethnicity)
Fear still echoes today through their stories:
“My greatest fear…”
“…and looked fearful.”
“…but in a frightened and fearful way.”
“…thousands of frightened people running…”
“Our family was scared to death.”
Can you even imagine living each day in a constant state of fear, wondering if today is the day you will die? One day you are told to forget your previous existence. If you were an adult you are treated like an animal and forced to work 16 hours a day off a spoonful of rice. If you are a child you are told to forget about your parents; in fact, you are encouraged to hate them. Nobody, not even your family or closest friends can be trusted. If you showed any sign of homesickness, you will be beaten – possibly to the point of death.
Angka (the Khmer Rouge Regime) is your new family and deserves your total devotion. If you are a child, you are trained to steal, kill and destroy without mercy. It is time to ‘be re-educated’. Below is part of a song ‘the great Angka’ requires you to sing each day:
Oh, Angka, we deeply love you. We resolve to follow your red way.
We study hard both numbers and alphabet. To be good workers with good minds
In order to extend the revolution.
Most children were either trained to kill or died themselves from sheer exhaustion or starvation. Adults were divided into two categories: the poor, rural, uneducated, working class and the influential, educated, ‘lazy’, city class. The poor was the future of Cambodia. The influential had to die; they could not be properly re-programed.
Chances are
if you are reading this, you would have been killed.
Literacy, especially in English, was a no-no. If you are a former soldier, a policeman, or with the CIA, you would be killed. If you are a businessman or capitalist, you would be killed. If you are a rich farmer or a landlord, you would be killed. If you are an intellectual, a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher or a student you would be killed. If you are a monk, missionary or nun, you would be killed. If you are a celebrity or a writer, you would be killed.
Would you still be alive today?
(These pictures were taken from inside the S-21 torture prison which is located in a former high school building in Phnom Penh. This was a location of intense interrogation and torture. Around 20,000 inmates were destroyed (most city folk). Only 7 lived to tell of the horrors that took place within the confines of the barbed wire fences)
The above quotes and song lyrics can be found in
Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields by Dith Pran. I highly recommend that everyone reads this book to gain first hand testimonies from children that survived this time period. I also encourage all to watch the movie “Killing Fields”. The movie features Dith Pran and his survival story.
Please read If Heaven Could Cry: Part 3 for the rest of the story.
