April 8-10
Killing Fields
Today we took a tuk tuk to the Choeun Ek Genocidal Center to learn about the "Killing Fields." Sometimes I feel so ignorant that I don't know about historical events such as this one. More than a million people were killed during the Pot Regime in the mid 70's. Victims were detained and tortured at this time -- and were then beaten to death by the killers with canes, bamboo stumps or the heads of hoes, they were also stabbed with knives or swords. They died without being able to say goodbye to their children or loved ones.
The victims ranged from peasants to intellectuals, foreigners, women and children. At this genocide center today, I literally walked by the mass graves where all these people were placed after being killed. Each of the graves had a simple sign that read, "mass grave with 166 victims without heads," or "mass grave of more than 100 victims, all children and women." I think the area that stirred the most emotion for me was this massive tree in the middle of all the graves that read, "Killing Tree--against which executioners beat children to death."
I have never visited any Holocaust centers, but I imagine it is just as heart wrenching as this.
There was a memorial stupa (a sacred structure that contains the remains of the deceased) literally took my breath away when I realized that it contained more than 8000 skulls and bones which had been recovered from the graves. It definitely serves as a tribute and reminder of the atrocities that took place and effected millions of Cambodian people.
Killing Fields
Today we took a tuk tuk to the Choeun Ek Genocidal Center to learn about the "Killing Fields." Sometimes I feel so ignorant that I don't know about historical events such as this one. More than a million people were killed during the Pot Regime in the mid 70's. Victims were detained and tortured at this time -- and were then beaten to death by the killers with canes, bamboo stumps or the heads of hoes, they were also stabbed with knives or swords. They died without being able to say goodbye to their children or loved ones.
The victims ranged from peasants to intellectuals, foreigners, women and children. At this genocide center today, I literally walked by the mass graves where all these people were placed after being killed. Each of the graves had a simple sign that read, "mass grave with 166 victims without heads," or "mass grave of more than 100 victims, all children and women." I think the area that stirred the most emotion for me was this massive tree in the middle of all the graves that read, "Killing Tree--against which executioners beat children to death."
I have never visited any Holocaust centers, but I imagine it is just as heart wrenching as this.
There was a memorial stupa (a sacred structure that contains the remains of the deceased) literally took my breath away when I realized that it contained more than 8000 skulls and bones which had been recovered from the graves. It definitely serves as a tribute and reminder of the atrocities that took place and effected millions of Cambodian people.
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