The Killing Fields (Dec. 15, 2014)

Some things I saw on the street walking back to the hostel, as my friends wanted to go to Tuol Sleng, which I already saw. Sorry for the 'out of order' photos, but the blog is being weird. You'll just have to   excuse my crazy set up.

Rice stall on street

Independence monument

Independence monument

Cool vehicle parked by my hostel. Great wood work!

 Well, today, I finally got to visit the Killing Fields. I am so glad that I saw that movie last night as it helped a lot with understanding the political climate at that time. Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge was a really powerful, and sick man from what I gather. He was educated in France, a teacher, and member of the Chinese Communist Party at the time. He rallied troupes, focussing on the young, peasant boys, to act as soldiers for his cause. He believed that friction between the Working Classes and the Capitalists, was a good thing that promoted equality within the Working Class. He called the Working Class peasants the Old People, and anyone else with education, possessions, a skill or developed trade, anyone who spoke another language, as well as others who he deemed as a threat to his beliefs, the New People. These were the people he targeted during his regime as leader of the Khmer Rouge. He mobilized at the end of the Vietnam War which was bleeding into Cambodia at the time. This was sort of how so many people didn’t really realize what was happening, as they thought it was all part of the neighbouring country’s war. It was not. It was one man’s deranged perception of what a revolution was and how this was to take place. 

Within 3 days, during 1975 I think, of him mobilizing his troupes, all of the cities in Cambodia were evacuated and the people moved to work camps in the country. These were called Community Camps where everyone worked 12-14 hours per day with two servings of rice soup, no possessions, often separated from family, and hopeless. They were accused of crimes that they didn’t do, and killed by the millions for no reasons except that they might not agree with the philosophy and threaten the ‘cause’. It was incredible to walk through one of these Killing Fields, where in secret, thousands of arrested Cambodian people were taken, to be killed, by the truck loads. 

The soldiers played music very loud to cover the screams in the night of the thousands being killed and thrown into mass graves. There are over 300 of these Fields throughout Cambodia, the one I visited was the biggest. It is called The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, but there are many others. No one knew what was going on in these gated areas, and were led to believe that they were training centers for soldiers and the like. Not mass killing factories. They used DDT to throw onto the bodies to cover the smell of so many rotting dead, played music to cover the sounds, and saved on the cost of bullets by bludgeoning, slicing, beating and using torture tools to kill the innocent people. 

There was an audio guide with this tour which had excerpts from actual victims of the Camp, as well as Khmer soldiers that worked there for Pol Pot. It was incredible and I’m so glad I went. I think the best thing is to read the captions for the photos as there is a lot of information. The ride there took about 40 minutes and we went through some new areas on the way out of town to the Killing Field.

Street scene on the way

Street scene

Street scene

Street scene

Street scene

Street scene

Sign for Killing Field

Map of Killing Field

Group I went with
Two Australians, one Dutch guy

View from front entry

First sign

Second sign

Beautiful tree in compound

First Mass Grave

Photograph of what they dug up from the
Mass grave when this Killing Field was
discovered

Self Explanatory

View by the river which is the back barricade
for the compound

Looking out into the rice fields

Self Explanatory

Clothes that keep coming to the surface
when it rains, and are collected for respect

Teeth and small bones that still surface in the rain

Bone on walkway as I went through

Small bones found lately

Women and children mass grave

Tree that they swung babies/
small kids by the feet to crack
their skulls. One man told that
when they found this place,
there was brain and blood on
the tree

Mass grave

Close up of 'children' tree

Long view of grave and tree

Collection of bones that keep appearing

Tree where the speakers to drown
out the screams were hung

Mass grave

Distant view of Magic Tree for speakers

Skulls collected from graves and
stacked, by age, into 17 layers in
a Memorial Stupa on the property.
This building is about 7 stories tall.

So there it is. Not very pretty, and incredibly hard to believe, but none the less, true. I feel so sad for the victims and think about this kind of thing happening in our lives, and to us. It would be so
incredibly scary and you would be powerless. This must never happen.

Sign

I didn't do much after walking back to the hostel. I just showered, talked to the two Dutch girls that are staying in my room, and then watched a movie with them. An early night as the day was kind of heavy, and a lot of walking. A good day, but I'm tired and am happy to sleep.

I don't have any plans for tomorrow during the day, but in the evening, I will join the University Prof from New Hampshire, that I met on the poetry boat, and listen to some music with her. She told me about this great couple who sing, and will be in Sihanoukville while I'm there. They are playing in a nice bar very close to me, tomorrow night and Theresa invited me to come along. She seems really nice and very interesting, so that will be good. Otherwise, I think I might go to the shopping mall and get some snacks for my bus ride to Sihanoukville on Thursday.

More tomorrow.