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Cambodia 2005

All images ©2005 Laurie & Kairen Wilson 


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Sihaunouk Ville cont..

Koh Rong Sanglam cont..

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but Soooo!

 

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it was someone's birthday so the crew provided sundown gin and tonic...how good does it get?

 

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Phnom Penh - The Killing Field

We returned to the capital to visit the infamous Killing Fields and S21 (a torture camp).

From 17 April 1975 to December 1978 when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia, between one and four million people died in what became known as the “killing fields”, at least 20 per cent of the population, the death toll increased by Khmer Rouge paranoia.

The methods of execution were barbaric and the justification for individual deaths incomprehensible. 

Just outside the capital the Cambodians have preserved just one of the many places of execution and torture.  every city and town had it's own location with harrowing tales to tell.

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The 17 storey-high Memorial Stupa of Skulls erected at the Choeung Ek Genocide Centre, has a central column of victims skulls.

 

 

 

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The methods used to kill children and babies was to beat them against this tree.  They were also fed to crocodiles in other locations

 

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Bones and clothing remain as a memory.

 

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Women were mass raped before being killed.  In order to save on bullets people were killed at night, their hands bound behind their back made to kneel in front of the mass grave where they were either stabbed or beaten with sticks on the back of the neck until they fell into the grave.

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An ankle shackle

 

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Phnom Penh - S21 Tuol Sleng (poisonous hill or place) Genocide Museum

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Previously a high school Toul Sleng was established as a torture centre and prison in 1976.  1720 people worked there involved in the torturing of people.  A total of 10,499 people died here (not including children).

A very ordinary building surrounded by barbed wire is split into three blocks.  One block for the torture of prisoners.

 

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There are a number of torture cells in which the original bed, shackles and instruments used together with a photograph on the wall of the dead victim that was found in there by the Vietnamese in 1978.  The bodies of these victims are buried outside the block

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The gallows.  

Victims hands were tied behind their backs and they were then raised by the hands to the crossbar.  When they lost consciousness they were lowered and plunged head first into the pot of cold water to start the process all over again

 

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Block 2

The Khmer Rouge destroyed all historical records of their country but maintained meticulous records of all their victims.

The photographs include babies, children, men and women of all ages.  

The reasons for execution were trivial, e.g.. cautioning or assisting an elderly person to prevent tripping would result in death.  

Being sick and recovering would be viewed as malingering because you were not sick in the first place would see you taken away for 'schooling'.  No one returned from school.  As a result many surviving children were very fearful of school.

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Leg shackles

 

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Barbed wire was erected across the front of the building after a pregnant woman committed suicide by throwing herself off a second floor balcony.

 

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Block 3

Individual cells crudely built to house prisoners.

 

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A water tank built with one purpose only..to kill in a most horrific manner by self-drowning through fatigue

 

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There were a number of paintings depicting life in S21.  These were painted by one of the seven survivors.

There are many accounts of the people who worked in S21.  It was clear that they had two options - kill or be killed.

They however remain outcasts in the community.

 

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Having visited the sites and read the accounts, seen the photographs etc.  It is still difficult to comprehend how a regime could wreak such horror, terror and atrocities in such a short period of time.  We came away with questions as to why? 

The World looked away.

A piece of graffiti on the walls of S21...

'when it was a school no-one died, when it was a prison no-one learned'

Will we ever?

Phnom Penh - The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda

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Similar to the Royal Palace in Bangkok, this is the residence of the King.

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Kratie

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A department store on legs!

 


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                   © Copyright 2005 KEBLAWBEN - Laurie & Kairen Wilson. All rights reserved

Many of the images on this page are  copyright Laurie Wilson/Alamy

Stock photography by Laurie Wilson at Alamy
This page was last updated on 11-03-2005.