In 1975, Tuol
Svay Prey
High School Tuol Sleng Museum
The museum's entrance is on the western side of 113 St just
north of 350 St, and it is open daily from 7 to 11.30 am and from 2 to 5.30 pm;
entry is US$2.Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rough was meticulous in keeping records
of their barbarism. Each prisoner who passed through S.21 was photographed, sometimes
before and after being tortured. The museum displays include room after room in
which such photographs of men, women and children cover the walls from floor to
ceiling; virtually all the people pictured were later killed.
You can tell in what year a picture was taken by the style
of number board that appears on the prisoner's chest. Several foreigners from Australia , France
and the USA
were held here before being murdered. Their documents are on display. As the
Khmer 'revolution' reached ever-greater heights of insanity, it began devouring
its own children. Generations of tortures and executioners and were in turn
killed by those who took their places. During the first part of 1977, S-21
claimed an average of 100 victims a day. When the Vietnamese army liberated Phnom Penh in early 1979,
they found only seven prisoners alive at S-21. Fourteen others had been
tortured to death as Vietnamese forces were closing in on the city. Photographs
of their decomposing corpses were found. Their graves are nearby in the
courtyard.
Altogether, a visit to Tuol Sleng is a profoundly depressing
experience. There is something about the sheer ordinariness of the place that
make it even more horrific; the suburban setting, the plain school buildings, the
grassy playing area where several children kick around a ball, ousted beds, instruments
of torture and wall after wall of harrowing black-and-white portraits conjure
up images of humanity at its worst. Tuol Sleng is not for the squeamish.
