Choeung Ek Killing Field - Phnom Penh - TravBuddy

The Khmer Rouge gained control of Phnom Phen in 1975, in the chaos of civil war and U.S. bomb raids relating to the war for neighboring Vietnam. They evacuated the population into the countryside, eliminated modern medicine and forced everyone into backbreaking yet horrendously inefficient rural work projects that plummeted the country into starvation and famine. Men, women, children and babies were systematically taken out to "killing fields" and forced to dig their own graves. "Lucky" people were shot, while others were bludgeoned to death to save bullets. Many were shipped off to prisons like S21, where they were accused of being CIA agents or subversive spies, tortured, forced to accuse others, and finally murdered in the killing field at Choeung Ek.

Today, the sun shines warmly over the open ditches that line the path made for tourists at Choeung Ek. Signs mark the graves -- a hundred women and children found here, 50 bodies there with no heads. At the entrance stands a giant stupa filled with human skulls of unidentified victims. To understand what happened here is devastating, to see it a bit surreal.

Now I'll voice an unpopular opinion about the Killing fields -- I don't think it's a must-see at all. I'm not the kind of person who needs to be see where something occurred or monuments to an event, to understand the wieght of those occurances. Just to give an example, I remember when I was 17, visiting the Vietnam Memorial with a students' program, where everyone cried, except me. But that's because the year before, I was cuddling up with my history book and delving into the Vietnam war, being very touched by photos of the burning monk and dying soldiers, while my classmates skimmed the chapter and breezed through the quiz like it was another chore. Similarly, I've been aware of what happened in Cambodia in the 70's for a while, and was very moved by the first full documentary I watched that really delved into the subject in detail. To me, the killing fields didn't offer any more information than documentaries or books on the subject. While the tower of skulls and rows of ditches may be jarring to some, in my opinion it would be more satisfying to donate directly to Cambodian charities.

I'm not saying don't go. Just that you don't need to if you don't have time, and that it will be more of a powerful exprience for some more than others. But in any case, read up on what happened and think about why it happened.

Other minor but controversial notes: 1. Choeung Ek is currently run by a private Japanese corporation. Personally, I'm fine with this as long as they're doing a very good job preserving the place at a pretty low cost ($2 admission), but some people take offense that the site of such a national tragedy is being run by a for-profit organization. 2. The path leading around the back of Cheong Ek doesn't lead anywhere, and seems to be there to trap tourists with cute kids that follow you and beg for money. It's up to each individual on how to feel about this.

I would definitely recommend going to the Genocide Museum/ S21 prison while in Phnom Phen, however. It's more informative -- you can see a photo exhibit, read quotes from survivors and guards, and watch a documentary as well as visiting the prison. Described in more detail in my next blog entry.

At half past 2 the group gathered and a bus brought us to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Just 15 minutes outside the city, but more than half an hour driving, while concrete roads turned into dirt trails and houses into rickety sheds. These Killing Fields, named after the small town they lie near to, are just one of many to be found throughout Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge - the communist regime that dictated Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and led by Pol Pot tried to turn it into a Maoist society of agricultural working camps - used these killing fields to rid themselves of people who had been detained and tortured in prisons. This specific one was used in combination with Phnom Penh's S-21 prison and 17.000 were murdered in that specific place. Now, that might be shocking but it's only a fraction of the 2 million people (almost 1/3rd of the population) that died during the Khmer Rouge regime, half of which was murdered and half of which died of starvation and illness in the camps.

What awaited us was heart-wrenching and stomach-turning. A large field riddled with holes, all of which represented mass graves. No less than 129 mass graves had been found, 49 of which have not been uncovered. Well, at least not intentionally by man that is, because the rain seasons often washes away the dirt to reveal pieces of clothing and white bones. And you could indeed see those lying all around, leaving little to the imagination. Some of the mass graves had signs explaining how many bodies had been found there, and in what state. There was also a tree with a sign informing visitors that executioners had used it to beat children to death before throwing them in the mass graves.

The unspeakable horror of the place was further emphasized by a big Memorial Stupa. Imagine this large tower with shelves on which 8000 skulls are stacked, neatly sorted by gender and age. Words cannot describe the feeling and it left me speechless for hours. There was also a small exposition featuring a map that showed the locations of the mass graves and actually made clear how many there were to be found. It just goes to show how horrible a species mankind can really be.
And it didn't make sense either. A place like this is supposed to be desolate, dark and overshadowed by rain clouds. Not bathing in sunshine with cows grazing and beautiful butterflies all around, or smiling children posing for the camera and asking for money or candy, as we found it. It's a strange world sometimes.

As horrible as this might seem, a visit to the Killing Fields is an essential part to understanding the history of Cambodia and the cruel capabilities of the human race. It should be included in every visit to this country.

After Angkor Wat the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek are probably the most popular tourist destination in Cambodia. Makes you wonder, should such an awful chapter in the country's history remain as a tourist attraction? Well, in my opinion, yes. Just like for example Auschwitz it is important to remind people of the atrocities that people are capable of, to make sure this will never happen again.
And the current site of the Killing Fields does so in a very discrete way.

Between 1975 and 1978 the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia. In an attempt to change Cambodia into a Maoist, peasant-dominated cooperative all teachers, scholars, monks, students, doctors, mothers and people wearing glasses were detained and executed. In three years time over 17,000 people were transferred to the extermination camp of Choeung Ek.

In 1980 129 communal graves were found at this site, 86 of which have been dug up revealing the remains of 8985 people who were killed by the Khmer Rouge.

There isn't much to see, really. The mass graves resemble holes in the ground and it is difficult to imagine what it looked like when this place was discovered in the eighties, with skeletons everywhere. That said, there are still bones and pieces of cloth skattered casually around the place. Seeing human bones skattered on the ground is a surreal experience.

There are some informative plaques about the horrible history of the Khmer Rouge and the atrocities that took place under the regime.
Of the nearly 9000 bodies exhumed from the graves over 8000 skulls have been placed in a large monument. A monument, featuring skulls arranged by sex and age is really macabre, it's awful, yet at the same time eerily peaceful. By turning the mostly unidentified victims into this monument they received a better memorial than any type of wall, statue, plaque or eternal flame would ever have given them.

So the Killing Fields are definitely worth seeing. It is an important history lesson and seeing the place with your own eyes is so much more impressive than reading about it in a book. Of course there are the happy thrill seekers who come here in order to visit the shooting range to shoot an AK-47 or other left-over military ordnance. Like any poor country Cambodia too will cater for anyone's taste in return for dollars.