I was at school in the 1970s, when this ex-school was being used by the Khmer Rouge to interrogate (i.e. torture) thousands of Cambodians from all walks of life. Like most people, I was completely unaware of the apparently mindless cruelty being inflicted on the victims. Pol Pot had a lot in common with other communist leaders, including paranoia for his own safety and a willingness to be completely brutal in restructuring Cambodian society. Between 1975 and 1978, over 17,000 people were held at Tuol Sleng (commonly known as S-21) before being taken to Choeung Ek to be killed. Tuol Sleng is now a museum, one of the grimmest you’ll find anywhere. You can imagine what it would have been like
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Pol Pot had a lot in common with other communist leaders, including paranoia for his own safety and a willingness to be completely brutal in restructuring Cambodian society. Between 1975 and 1978, over 17,000 people were held at Tuol Sleng (commonly known as S-21) before being taken to Choeung Ek to be killed.
Tuol Sleng is now a museum, one of the grimmest you’ll find anywhere. You can imagine what it would have been like as a school, ringing to the sounds of children playing and laughing. It’s silent now. Some of the rooms have the iron bed frames used for torture and the shackles used to restrain the prisoners. Some have row upon row of photographs of the victims, expressionless faces of all ages. They must have known the pain that was to be inflicted on them in the coming weeks and months, and what their fate would be. The regulations of the prison are displayed on a notice board:
6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all
This was all less than 30 years ago. There must be many people in Cambodia with a past that haunts them even now.
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