The Killing Fields

On our second day in Phnom Penh we took a taxi out to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. The grounds are deceptively peaceful when you consider the history of this place. When Pol Pot came to power and during the rein of the Khmer Rouge, more then 3 million people were killed at the killing fields. They brought them here by the truck load and either immediately executed them, or they kept them in dark rooms in groups to wait to die because they were bringing in so many people at one time that they couldn't keep up with killing them. There were mass graves that were dug up later and hundreds of skulls were put in to this tower you see here as a remembrance to them. The grounds do not have many of the original structures but there are signs explaining what was once there and what happened.

I find it interesting that we learn so much about Hitler and the concentration camps in school when we are young, yet half as many people were killed during the 3 years that this was happening in Cambodia as were killed during WWII. And this was in the late 70's- something that we should definitely be more aware of. This was a sad thing to visit but I think important because it illustrates a huge portion of recent history in Cambodia. Our tour guide for Angkor Wat was in Siem Reap during this time frame and he lost his father and brother to this genocide. He said he was lucky to escape death because even though he was a student (which were killed off) he was not a high enough educated student so he wasn't killed. The Khmer Rouge killed off women, children, men, students, teachers, rich, poor- anyone that would be considered a threat to them- and anyone who thought capitalism was okay. They were essentially trying to kill free thought among the people.