Thursday, March 4, 2010

Genocide (graphic content warning)

The first three photos are from the Genocide Museum at Tuol Sleng (S-21), and the other three are from the killing fields. Let's start with Tuol Sleng first.
The first photo shows one of the four main buildings in this high-school-turned-prison/torture house. What's at first shocking is the suburban setting: it's an unassuming high-school surrounded by houses and businesses. The barbed-wire was installed after someone committed suicide to prevent (ironically?) other inmates from following suit. At the time, all the windows were shut to block the light. Men were placed in tiny cells (maybe 6' by 3') and women/children were placed in the larger classrooms. All slept on the bare floor. The next photo is in one of the many rooms displaying the photos of the inmates. (With Vee is our guide.) The third photo is of one of the last 14 people murdered by the KR as the Vietnamese army descended on the city. The photos were taken by the Vietnamese as they discovered the rotting corpses.
The killing fields are just as real. The skulls and bones (and clothes!) of those dug up from mass graves are now on display - and you can actually touch them!. The only other thing I'll point out is that some of the skulls that were dug up still had blindfolds on - as you can see in the 5th photo.

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