Prior to 1975, Choeung Ek was an orchard & a Chinese cemetery. This particular killing field, with 129 mass graves, is the site of the brutal executions of more than 17,000 men, women and children, most of whom first suffered through interrogation, torture and deprivation in the S-21 Prison (Toul Sleng) in Phnom Penh. Choeung Ek, now a memorial site with a memorial stupa containing thousands of skulls, is a chilling reminder of the brutalities of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. On the way there we passed rice paddies & rivers, playing children & grazing livestock. Everything seemed so pastoral & peaceful, all the while hiding the atrocities that occurred here. Walking around these mass graves was a harrowing experience, knowing from our previous visit at the S-21 prison museum, what happened here & how they were killed.
There were many of these places dotted all over Cambodia. In fact, over 350 actual killing fields have been officially recognized. Between 2 and 3 million people died under Pol Pot's regime in what has undoubtedly been one of the most devastating examples of crimes against humanity in world history. Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.4 to 2.2 million out of a population of around 7 million, which is as much as 30% of the population.
The Khmer Rouge judicial process, for minor or political crimes, began with a warning from the Angkar (the government). People receiving more than two warnings were sent for "re-education" which meant near-certain death. People were often encouraged to confess to their "pre-revolutionary lifestyles and crimes", which usually included some kind of free-market activity, or having had contact with a foreign source such as a US missionary, or international relief or government agency, or contact with any foreigner or the outside world at all. They were told that Angkar would forgive them and "wipe the slate clean" which in the end meant going to a place such as Tuol Sleng prison or Choeung Ek for torture and/or execution. The Khmer Rouge regime also arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government, as well as professionals & intellectuals. Ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Thai, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Chams (Muslim Cambodians), Cambodian Christians, and the Buddhist monkhood were also the demographic targets of persecution.
Cambodian journalist Dith Pran coined the term 'Killing Fields' during his escape from the regime. A 1984 motion picture “The Killing Fields” which tells his story & his journey to escape the death camps is played by Cambodian survivor Haing S. Ngor. There is also a Killing Fields Museum in Seattle founded by another survivor of the genocide, Dara Duong.
Cambodia has begun its revival & its dark past is part of the reason: Tourist curiosity about Cambodia's genocide has become big business. Tourism has increased by 40 percent every year since 1998. Nearly all tourists will go see Angkor Wat; & over 30 percent will visit the killing fields as well. Hundreds of Cambodians now make a living by guiding visitors through the killing fields and other genocide-related sites. Many guides tell harrowing personal stories of how they survived the Khmer Rouge, often as refugees in Thailand.
More info here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7814000.stm
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