The Killing Fields

One of the more solemn visits so far on my trip has been to The Killing Fields.  The Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia under Pol Pot in 1968. They proceeded to empty the cities completely of people and reorganize the country into work camps. All personal possessions were stolen, and all intellectuals were executed. Doctors, lawyers, historians, and anyone else who possessed higher learning were all killed. People with glasses, or any kind of genetic defect were killed, and when one person was executed their whole family was also executed to avoid creating enemies of the state.

   


           The genocidal center is not what you would first expect.  The majority of it is open air and there aren't many original structures left. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge most of them were torn down out of anger or necessity to rebuild. Every part of the Khmer culture was decimated. Estimates range from one out of every three or four people in the country were killed during that time. It was less than fifty years ago since they were forced out of the country. It's possible to still see the effects of the genocide. Most Khmer recipes were even lost  and it is hard to find most of the amazing cuisine that existed before the devastation.

The front of the museum, unfortunately photography is not allowed inside

             The museum itself is not that large, only a few spacious rooms that house artifacts and biographies of victims and the despots that controlled the Khmer Rouge. Inside are the single outfits given to men and women as they could own nothing else; A single black light cotton set of pants and shirts with a red checkered scarf. Inside are also the field implements that were used by the people forced to work in the fields, and those used to murder them when bullets became too expensive.

       This is a mass grave that housed the remains of over four hundred and fifty victims. The monsoons still to this day wash up bones and teeth and even cloth from the victims. People leave bracelets on the posts to honor the dead who were  buried there. The remains have since been removed as much as possible and given proper burials. This is only one of over fifteen mass graves at this killing field alone, there were maybe even hundreds scattered around Cambodia. Some have been forever lost to the jungles.

 

     This is probably one of the most somber and chilling parts of the genocide museum. This is the killing tree. The Khmer Rouge smashed babies and very young children into this tree in front of their parents eyes. Sometimes this was even done by children who has been brainwashed by the Khmer Rouge. To this day you can still see evidence of the brutality on the tree. It is one of the most horrific things imaginable, right next to it is a mass grave the children were thrown into. If their parents showed any emotion they were also killed, usually on the spot. Pol Pot had the policy that it was better to kill a friend accidently than to miss killing an enemy. Killing whole families was best so no one would be left to rise up and seek revenge. The tree is also covered in bracelets left by those who wish to pay their respects and honor the dead.

     This tower is many stories tall and houses the skulls of the dead who were left here. They have all been cleaned and analyzed by foreign forensics experts from around the world, significantly from germany.  If you look inside the glass you can see the fractures and bullet holes in the skulls. This place is considered one of veneration. Khmer culture requires that one cover their knees, shoulders, and remove their shoes before entering. The design of the temple was carefully chosen and is decorated in Buddhist fashion with nagas on the sides and roofs. Nagas are magical hydra headed snakes who the Khmer people believe they descended from.

    The experience of the killing fields is very somber, at first it is very hard to identify inside oneself. Some things are so unbelievable, it is very hard to imagine that this could happen, but it did.