Lush grass and large plants decorate the grounds of what was once a predominant Cambodian high school. Taking a peek into the classrooms tells a different story. About 10 small classrooms are furnished with an iron bed, small iron bucket for excrement, and a large photograph of the murdered body that was found chained to that very bed back when the compound was liberated in 1979. Many stains decorate the small rooms and staircases, stains that appear to be from water damage or dirt... These stains, splatters, and large rusty brown patches are actually blood stains. As we look at the picture of the deceased victims and realize how many people were murdered there, the numerous blood stains and speckles greusomely make sense.
The other larger rooms display hundreds and hundreds of pictures of the victims who were killed. It is wrenching to see these images. The people look terrified, angry, unsure, and hopeless. There are women holding infants, toddlers, young chilren, men, the elderly, and even foreigners. It's too much to handle; every so often I must hide behind a display in order to regain composure.
S-21, or Tuol Sleng, was a prison the Khmer Rouge set up to detain individuals that opposed Angak, or Pol Pot. It served as one of the KR's most secretive offices and was used primarily for interrogating and executing anti-KR individuals (S-21 stands for Security Office 21).
S-21 was originally a high school. All of its classrooms were converted into prison cells, the windows were enclosed by iron bars and barbed wire, the larger rooms were divided into many .8m x 2m cells, and the 8m x 6m rooms were divided into mass prison cells.
In order to maintain security in such a large facility, the KR employed a large staff of 4 units to run the 4 branches of S-21. The number of workers totally 1,720 and within each unit, there were several sub-units composed of children from 10-15 years old. These children were selected and trained by the KR to work as guards and while many started out normal, they grew increasingly evil and cruel.
From 1975 to 1978, the prison is extimated to have held a total of 10,499 people, not including the number of children killed by the KR regime at S-21, which was estimated at 2,000. This reports also shows that in 1977 and 1978, the prison held anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 prisoners at any time. The duration of imprisonment ranged from 2 to 4 months, though some important political figures were held between 6 and 7 months.
The museum also displays the torture tools used by the KR guards and soldiers, skulls of victims which exhibit unbelievable head injuries and damage, and numerous paintings by
Van Nath, a well known Cambodian painter and former S-21 prisoner.
After visiting the museum, we took a trip to the killing fields where bus loads of people were taken to be executioned. We walked along narrow paths, around us, large holes--mass grave sites. In the center of the area is a large and beautiful monument that houses thousands of the skulls found buried nearby.
This day was hard. We still cannot even fathom the capacity for evil, how educated people (high ranking government during the time of the KR were basically the only people alive who had any education) could embody such creulty, that such horrors could be committed by so many people. The terrifying thing is that evil has potential in each of us. No one is susceptible to evil tendencies. Not to say that we would do this, but do we really know how we would act until that situation is presented? Many of the people that became soldiers for the Khmer Rouge did not support them politically, but were responding to the basic human need: survival. By going along with the Khmer Rouge, in whatever way they asked, people gained just a bit more time alive. This is NOT to say that what people did was at all justified, but just that it's not a certain type of person that does something like this. People aren't born evil, but we all have the capacity.
