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KillingFields

THE KILLING FIELDS

The Killing Fields

Between 1975 and 1978 the Pol Pot led Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of up to 3 million citizens, including children. 150 prison camps were established across the country of which Tuol Sleng S21 is the most famous. Today it houses the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum along with the memorial park at Choeung Ek where thousands of S21 prisoners were systematically killed. Less than a handful of people survived.

Warning: This story contains some confronting and graphic information of torture and genocide.

Turol Sleng S21

Tuol Sleng, or S21 prison was once a Phnom Penh suburban school.

Turol Sleng S21

It's remarkable how much it still looks like a school. Blackboards hang on the walls of cells and interrogation rooms.

Turol Sleng S21

The school was covered in barbed wire, the windows, doors, wrapped in it.

Tuol Sleng S21

When Vietnamese soldiers entered Tuol Sleng prison on 7 January 1979 they found prisoners, alive and dead strapped to beds. They also found a number of young children.

Turol Sleng S21

A woman cleans the museum where blood still stains the floors.

The Killing Fields

Up to 20,000 prisoners went into Tuol Sleng prison. Between 7 and 200 are thought to have survived. The rest were executed in the grounds or at the nearby 'killing fields'

The Killing Fields

Babies were dashed against a tree and thrown into the grave pit with their mothers.

The Killing Fields

When the rains come the clothing, teeth and bones of victims rise to the surface like ghosts wanting to be found.

The Killing Fields

Victims remains are interned in the memorial and identified by gender and approximate age.

Choeung Ek Memorial Park

Depressions in the earth mark where mass graves were found.

Choeung Ek Memorial Park

Visitors to the Killing Fields have began impromptu memorial at grave sites.

Chum Mey - Survivor

One of the few survivors of Tuol Sleng prison, Chum Mey testified at the ECCC against the prison commander Kaing Guek Eav (Duch). He is one of the founders of The Association of Victims of Democratic Kampuchea (Ksaem Ksan)

PHNOM PENH: CAPTURING THE CAPITAL

RuralMarket

SCENES FROM A RURAL MARKET

There are no supermarkets here. No sterile isles of white. No walls of refrigerators or shiny plastic packaged goods. No shopping trolleys or mall muzak. Here the isles are the orange dust of the roads and local farmers and fishermen line them with fresh goods. Some of the produce still moving.

The market is filled with vibrant colours, sounds and smells. Of tropical fruits, blood raw meats and exotic spices. People haggle. Neighbours chatter. Vendors shout their goods on offer. Scooters manoeuvre between pedestrians to pause and purchase. Around the corner, a smoke haze hovers over food being cooked and sold straight from the charcoal.

THE FLOATING HOMES OF TONLE SAP

TonLeSap

Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia but its exact size depends on the season. During the monsoon season, its size can increase incredibly from 2500km2 to 16,000km2 with waters rising up to 10m. The floodplain has been an important agricultural area since the Angkorian civilisation. Today, over a million people live in the greater Tonle Sap area riding out the lake's rise and fall in stilt houses and on floating villages.