Cambodian Killing Fields: Unforgettable. Unimaginable.
The Choeung Ek killing fields were one of numerous killing fields under the rule of the Khmer Rouge regime.
On a recent stop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I took a visit to the Choeung Ek killing fields – a journey recommended to me many times over. From the city center I hired a tuk-tuk for the 45-minute ride to the fields. As we strode out along dusty roads – with all the usual Southeast Asia roadside clamor – I found myself struggling with an uncomfortable eagerness to experience what I’d been told is an extremely “well done” and “moving” exhibit. An exhibit that fully immerses the visitor in one of the darkest human movements in recent history.
The Choeung Ek killing fields were one of numerous killing fields under the rule of the Khmer Rouge regime and in operation throughout Cambodia during the late 1970’s. The regime, led by Pol Pot, is estimated to have executed over one million people in these various killing fields.
The Khmer Rouge came to power during a time when Cambodia was weakened by American bombs from the Vietnam War. As Pol Pot rose to power, he took advantage of the vulnerable rural population to form the working base for a grand plan to triple rice production and build a self-sufficient society. Pot rejected city life and believed that peasants were key to developing this self-sufficiency. Those that posed any potential threat to his plan were imprisoned, tortured, and/or executed. This included anybody that was educated, spoke a foreign language, wore glasses, had soft hands—the list goes on and on.
When you arrive at the killing fields you are provided with an audio tour, which includes descriptions of various landmarks and events, along with personal accounts from survivors of the period. While writing can do little justice to the depths of emotion evoked as you stroll through this land and are blanketed with true tales of human horror, perhaps a description of one of the final stops on the tour can provide some insight to the experience:
After you are led through mass graves, listen to accounts of hammers and bayonets piercing skulls, and ponder quotes such as “better to kill an innocent by mistake than to spare an enemy by mistake,” you are stopped at a tree. A sign in front of the tree reads the following: Killing Tree Against Which Executioners Beat Children. It was in this spot that Khmer Rouge executioners held the babies of prisoners by their ankles and swung them headfirst against the tree. To this day the bark remains darkened by blood stains.
On the tuk tuk ride back to the city I was immersed in an ever-elusive presence—hanging on to scenes of a man cutting his fingernails with scissors, motorbikes weaving in and out amongst the dusty haze, and the tuk-tuk driver stopping unexpectedly to let two schoolgirls cross the road. They smiled and waved as they strolled by.
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