Dark Corridors & Darker History of Tuol Sleng in Cambodia

As I detailed it out in my previous blog, a trip to Cambodia can be an emotional churn. The country still has reminders of the atrocities of the cruel Pol Pot regime scattered across the country’s landscape.

In this blog, I will share with you my experience visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The museum is a powerful and emotional reminder of the atrocities that occurred in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s.

As I entered the museum, I was struck by the eerie silence that permeated the halls. The museum is housed in a former high school that was transformed into a prison and interrogation center by the Khmer Rouge. The stark white walls and barred windows of the classrooms were a stark reminder of the horrors that took place within them.

The museum is filled with exhibits documenting the genocide, including photographs, artifacts, and personal accounts from survivors. One of the most powerful exhibits was a wall filled with the photographs of the prisoners who were held at the prison. As I looked at the faces staring back at me, I could not help but feel a sense of sadness and horror at the suffering that they endured. While the photographs of all these souls who endured such evils evokes extreme sadness, the proof of the hatred Pol Pot and his met evoked was evident from their photos. Their photos were also displayed there, but the faces have been scratched out by someone. I am assuming it was a visitor as the fierceness of the scratches showed that the person was acting out in pain and anger. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed people in Cambodia for their perceived opposition to the regime's ideology and vision for a communist society

Pol Pot was a Cambodian politician and revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. During his time in power, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge carried out a brutal campaign of mass murder and genocide that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people, or approximately one-quarter of the country's population. The Khmer Rouge had a vision of creating a classless society based on agrarian communism, which meant that they wanted to abolish all forms of private property and establish a system of collective farming. To achieve this, they launched a radical and violent campaign to purge Cambodia of anyone they considered to be an enemy of the revolution, including intellectuals, professionals, religious minorities, and anyone suspected of opposing the regime.

The Khmer Rouge believed that urban areas were breeding grounds for capitalism and imperialism, and they sought to eliminate them by forcibly relocating millions of people from the cities to the countryside, where they were put to work on collective farms. The conditions on these farms were extremely harsh, and many people died from overwork, malnutrition, and disease.

The Khmer Rouge also set up a vast network of prisons and detention centers, where they tortured and killed anyone suspected of being an enemy of the revolution. These prisons, including Tuol Sleng, were used to extract false confessions from prisoners, who were then executed or sent to labour camps.

Walking through the prison cells and torture chambers was a chilling experience. The tiny cells were barely big enough for a person to stand up in, and the rusted metal beds and shackles were a stark reminder of the inhumane conditions that prisoners were forced to endure. One of the most moving exhibits was a room filled with the clothes and belongings of the prisoners who were killed at the prison. Seeing the shoes, clothing, and personal items of the victims was a powerful reminder that they were real people who had families and lives before they were taken to the prison.

While unlike the memorials of the killing fields, there are no skulls and bones that serve as a harsh reminder of the torture these people bore, Leaving the museum, I felt a deep sense of sadness and anger at the atrocities that took place in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime. But I also felt a sense of hope, knowing that the museum is working to educate visitors and prevent such atrocities from happening in the future.

Visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was a sobering and emotional experience. It is a must-visit destination for anyone interested in learning about the history of Cambodia and the resilience of its people in the face of unimaginable horrors.