It is in Phnom Penh, so only a ten minute tuk-tuk ride from the apartment. When you go in, past the original barbed wire and corrugated iron fence, the first courtyard area, beside Building A contains the white tombs of the last 14 people, one of them a woman, found dead inside Building A when the Vietnamese liberated the area and prison. There is a notice board with photographs of the bodies in situ. Building A was reserved for high priority interrogations of the more educated and high status persons, including foreigners. Eight foreigners were known to have been kept here and executed at Cheung Ek, including the Australian David Lyon. However, you don't realise that till later as you tend to start in Building D in the next courtyard. Both courtyards have grass and frangipane trees in them, possibly they did then too. I also saw several butterflies, including one on the wall inside a torture (interrogation) room.
The second realisation is that Khmer did this to Khmer.
First we saw the instruments of torture, original. Then the cells, which varied in size from the individual to the 'family sized' and on up to the large group rooms, where people were kept shackled in similar style to African slaver ships. These would include mothers with young babies in their arms. The cells were all as they were left apparently (though I suspect they have been cleaned, Chamrong quite earnestly pointed out blood spots to me), roughly built of brick, breeze block(!) and wood. One of the most interesting things I kept in mind was that the Khmer Rouge 'combatants' (the modern word for them, to avoid prejudice) were totally and completely ignorant. How they had enough nouse to build a wall or construct a wooden cell with hinged wooden doors is interesting. The prisoners would have done it. One of the survivors, Chum Mey, was kept alive to fix the typewriters that the Khmer Rouge made they endless rosters with. In each and every cell was a metal ammunition box. This was the prisoners toilet. They had only the one and when it overflowed they were made to lick up the overflow. The prisoners were also kept entirely and continuously in darkness, blindfolded when moved or tortured in the courtyard. This was disturbing as it strangely brought home the fact that all this would have occurred under the bright sun of an ordinary day like today. Cambodia was not suddenly plunged into natural darkness during these times. In the courtyard can also be seen the original torture frame for a variety of water torture I find particularly horrific (photo at end of this section, next to the photo of the 'rules' of the prison.
The Khmer Rouge took photos and kept fairly meticulous rosters, they had a special photo chair: one of the displayed photos is of a railway engineer who was known to Pol Pot. His entire family was wiped out, deliberately. He was educated.
Paintings - some of these famously done by Vann Nath and Boa Meng, two of the survivors, kept alive because they could paint portraits.
Party members, trial information and the establishment of the ECCC; we saw photos. Again the use of the word 'combatant' is illustrative (bearing in mind the Buddist karma cycle too) as there is documentation and brief interviews with ex Khmer Rouge on display. Including an unrepentant 'group battalion leader', pictured with wife and child; and, one that stays in my mind, a female 'combatant' who baldly says "the prisoners would cry when their fingernails were taken". There seems to be a general move to deliberately try to post blame at the highest level. These are the leaders on trial. They include one woman. Case 001 has just (I think) concluded. This was the trial of Duch, who was in charge of Tuol-Sleng and Cheung Ek and who is the only person so far to admit responsibility and show remorse. I asked but am not sure where the trials are taking place.
We visited the cells of Buliding C and B, fronted by barbed wire after some prisoners tried to hurl themselves (blindfolded) to their deaths.
We finally got back to Building A where the idea of a bed as an instrument or place of torture stayed with me.
Legendarily there were 7 survivors, a myth established by an East German film crew in the early 80's. in fact there were probably more including several children. At this point I realised that two of the men seated near the postcards were two of the survivors. Chum Mey and Boa Meng, the artists. I had actually vaguely heard of Chum Mey's book called 'Survivor' so I spent $10 on that for him, and bowed on parting. Must be so odd though, to sit behind that fence all day. I actually think Vann Math is probably the most interesting survivor story, I believe he has just died.
I plucked up the courage and asked Chamrong what he thought about coming here, and what his father for example may remember of that time. Chamrong said he felt "scared" coming to Tuol Sleng. His father says the Khmer Rouge were 'cruel', and remembers starvation and very thin rice porridge. Chamrong's father must be about my age. This was all only one generation ago.
In 2006 the ECCC conducted an invited tour for not only international guests but also people from all the regions of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge forcibly relocated many people, similar to Mao Tse Tung's Cultural Revolution, similarly causing mass starvation. Communications and infrastructure being what they were (non existent until very recently) it seems wise to do this, so that word of memorials, what actually happened and how they plan to remember it, as well as the trial process, would be relayed beyond Phnom Penh. This also reveals the feelings of provincials on the subject. At an individual level, one woman apparently discovered her brother's photo amongst the photos of the inmates.
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