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WARNING- killing fields


iwillfly525
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If this LO offends anyone, please let me know and I’ll remove it from this sight. I don’t mean any disrespect to anyone. I know the content of this LO isn’t the most pleasant, but I think I’ve done a good job of scrapping it respectively.

 

On my first trip to Cambodia I only went to the city of Siem Reap because of safety concerns. However, I never felt unsafe their, even when I walking by myself at night (I know, not smart). The whole reason I went back to Cambodia a second time is because I wanted to go to the capital, Phnom Penh to see the killing fields. I have been to a couple of the Nazi concentration camps in Europe, but that doesn’t even come close to what I saw in Cambodia. (I’m not saying that the concentration camps weren’t bad, because they were. But in Cambodia none of it has been cleaned up yet, they don’t have the money or resources and the foreign tourist interest is just starting to pick up. So I wanted to see it before it was commercialized.) I took all of the pictures here off of the internet. There was only two other foreigners there when we were, most of the people were Cambodian. It didn’t seem appropriate to be taking pictures of human skulls and blood stains on the ceiling when so many people were there praying for their family and friends who skulls I was looks at.

 

I know the page is crowed, but I don’t want it to large part of my album. CC is always welcome. All SG products.

 

Journaling reads:

This building was once a high school, but the Pol Pot regime turned it into one of the most gruesome prisons. It became known as Prison S-21. In the 3 years it was in use more than 17,000 people were tortured here before being killed. Only 7 prisoners who entered S-21 left alive. It has since been turned into a museum. However, very little has been to it. There is still dried blood all over the walls and ceilings and the torture equipment that was used still lies inside rusting.

 

This Memorial Stupa was built in 1988 on the grounds of Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. The memorial contains 8,985 human skulls which are arranged by age and gender. 43 of the 129 mass graves at this killing field still have not been excavated. Approximately 2 million people died during the 3 years, 8 months, and 21 days that the Khmer Rouge were in power.

 

When the Khmer Rouge would kill their victims, they would have them kneel in line. They didn’t want to “waste” any bullets, so instead they used the but of the riffle to smash their skulls in. This often required hitting the victim several times before he or she died. If the victim was a child or baby they picked the child up by his or her feet and hit the child head’s against a tree until he or she died.

 

None of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge party have been brought to justice. Many of the leaders have already died of old age. Two are on trail now, but it is questionable weather they will live long enough to be sentenced.

From the album:

Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand

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You have to scrap the bad with the good sometimes...this is obviously something that touched you and you felt you needed to preserve your memory of...you did a good job keeping it real and respectable.

 

Thank you for sharing this, I was in Poland some years ago and visited Treblinka (Nazi Concentration Camp) and I remember vividly the sickened feeling I had there. I sobbed continually and will never forget that experience as I'm sure you will never forget your visit to the killing fields. Things like this make you take a very deep breath and count every single blessing in your life.

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You have to scrap the bad with the good sometimes...this is obviously something that touched you and you felt you needed to preserve your memory of...you did a good job keeping it real and respectable.

 

Thank you for sharing this, I was in Poland some years ago and visited Treblinka (Nazi Concentration Camp) and I remember vividly the sickened feeling I had there. I sobbed continually and will never forget that experience as I'm sure you will never forget your visit to the killing fields. Things like this make you take a very deep breath and count every single blessing in your life.

 

I can't say it any better than Cindy did.

 

I'm glad you shared this with us!

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We humans have in us the best and the worst. This is an example of some of our worst and an eye opener as well. How many more times do we have to have this in our collective history? When will we ever learn that life is a sacred blessing? Thanks for sharing this. It is a moving page, respectfully done.

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There is not much I can add except, thank you for sharing this with us. I can tell from your journaling this affected you deeply. Please keep sharing your photos and experences with us, they are powerful!

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Guest kim.erwin@gmail.com

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I agree with what others have said...powerful moments deserve to be scrapped, even if they are uncomfortable. I, too, have visited concentration camps in Europe (Auchwitz among them) and found it to be one of the most powerful moments of my life.

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