S21 / Genocide Museum - Phnom Penh - Things To Do Reviews

S21 is the infamous prison where almost 20,000 men, women and children were interned, tortured and sent to await death for supposedly being spies against the Khmer Rouge. The prisoners were kept in tiny cells with a metal box for a toilet, tortured until they named other supposed spies, and eventually taken to Choeung Ek killing field for execution. Only 4 people survived S21.

Today, the prison is the site of the Genocide Musuem. For $6 you can take a tour of the prison, or go on your own for cheaper. There is a documentary that is shown twice a day, and an exhibition of photographs of both prisoners and prison guards. People have written over and defaced all of the photos of the prison guards, in which you can see the pain that still lingers in a country that generally has only bright smiles for tourists to see. One of the four survivors was kept alive by painting pro-Khmer Rouge propaganda paintings; after he was freed he painted the true horrors of the prison, and these paintings are shown throughout the museum as well.