Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

*Published on **2018-10-02** by **Kelley @ traverse this earth** | Categories: Travel, solo travel*

—

The second building had more examples of how the people housed at S21 lived. They were only here for a few months at most, to get a “confession”. Their suffering was not eased in any way. A reported 20,000 people moved through this compound. Seven survived.

The first thing that happened to a prisoner, after being brought here in a blindfold, was a photograph. Each person was documented and their mugshots kept.

Quite possibly the most famous one is this photo. It shows a woman getting her mugshot taken while she’s holding a very young baby in her arms. Her name is Chan Kim Srun and that is her child. Neither survived.

Not long after those mug shots were taken, other horrors were introduced. Those in charge gave detainees some time to familiarize themselves with the rules. They are posted to this day. A few are “while getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all”, and “If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge”.

Then the interrogation started. Tactics of interrogation included electrocution, waterboarding, or the use of a sloped board where the prisoner is facing up and water is poured over their face to induce the fear of drowning, pulling finger or toe nails out with pliers then pouring alcohol on them, pouring salt water on open wounds and all sorts of neglect. Women were raped by their captors. Some people did not survive the two to three months they were given.

Once the confessions they needed were recorded people were lied to. They were told that they were being moved to a different location. By cover of night they were moved from S21 to the Killing Fields where they were murdered for their “crimes”. (You can visit The Killing Fields [here](http://www.traversethisearth.com/2018/09/25/the-killing-fields/).)

Barbed wire hung outside the windows to be sure that inmates did not escape or kill themselves.

Bars on the windows assured the same thing.

It is a different view looking in than looking out.

I walked into the first door, wondering what it was like to experience this in the 1970s.

The first thing I saw inside were holding cells.

Shaped crudely with brick and mortar, classrooms were turned into cell blocks.

A look inside made my stomach turn. This is one of the smaller holding cells. Something like six or seven people would be housed here by chaining them to a metal link on the floor. I’m not sure if that is blood on the floor nor did I ask.

I look down the hallway built by tunneling through the walls.

As I approach one doorway I see this wall telling a story.

I don’t take the time to try to figure out what these numbers mean. In the last room I look at the face of those who passed through here.

(This image is not mine…simply used to understand the scale of the number of photos on the walls.)

Once I had seen all S21 had to offer, I headed toward freedom with a very different appreciation for it.

Just before I left the compound, a spot of hope showed up. Left by a Japanese tour group, 1,000 colorful paper cranes decorate S21.

Japanese legend holds that anyone who will fold 1,000 paper cranes will be given a gift from the gods. Their wishes are clear.

The same one held by everyone who comes here.

S21 and The Killing Fields were incredible and heartbreaking. The fear of what we can do to other people can be crippling but we must not let it be. In speaking against this type of hatred and in acting against those who perpetrate hatred and violence we can find space. This place stands as a reminder of what we can do and a show us the possibility of what we can rid ourselves of.