The Killing Fields

It is nearly impossible to imagine the mass murders and destruction that took place in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime. Many of us have learned of the Holocaust and the Vietnam War in school, but remain unaware of the systematic devastation of a nation that took place in Cambodia only one generation ago.

Following the Cambodian Civil War and until the end of the 1970s, approximately one fourth of the population was erased: murdered, enslaved, driven out, or starved to death by the ruling Khmer Rouge. It is estimated that 1.7 million people, out of a population of 7 million, died. Those with ties to government, professionals, intellectuals, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Muslims, Christians, and Monks were targeted.

The term “The Killing Fields” was coined by Dith Pran, the Cambodian journalist whose story of escaping the Khmer Rouge regime is told by the famous 1984 film of the same name. We will visit the Killing Fields, home to the monument Choeng Ek.

The glass stupa, filled with the skulls, bones, and clothing fragments of murdered children and families, is a sobering site. This memorial park surrounds the mass graves of thousands of executed people in memory of all those who were murdered during the Cambodian genocide.

We will also visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, often referred to as “the Auschwitz of Cambodia.” The museum, whose name means “Strychnine Hill”, is a former high school that was converted into Security Prison S-21 under Pol Pot’s rule. In what were once classrooms, visitors can see where political prisoners were held and tortured. Photographs of former prisoners line the walls.

The buildings at Tuol Sleng, for the most part, have been preserved as they were when Pol Pot’s regime collapsed in 1979. Visiting Tuol Sleng is not easy or pleasant; the images are haunting and one cannot help but mourn those who suffered there. Still, an important part of visiting Cambodia and understanding the national culture is learning about the recent history that has so gravely impacted the nation.

A portion of your tuition goes to sponsor Global Giving, a project whose goal is to collect and record the stories of survivors of the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Tibet. We will also help our students, if they like, to raise funds in their schools or communities to provide additional aid.