On April 17, 1975, a former school in Phnom Penh was reopened by Pol Pot as a centre for the "detention, interrogation, torture and killing after confession" of enemies (real or perceived) of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot ruled the country until 1979 and after he was deposed Toul Sleng was turned into a museum to document the incredible suffering the Cambodia people underwent during his rule.
As the brochure I picked up there said, the point of the museum is to "[keep} the memory of the atrocities committed on Cambodian soil alive"as it is "the key to build a new strong and just state.
As you can imagine, being there was a very sobering experience and getting a glimpse of such oppression is quite heart rending. A few pictures will hopefully convey the the experience better than my words could. A good first person account of life under the Khmer Rouge is a book called "The Killing Fields" by Haing Ngor.
As the brochure I picked up there said, the point of the museum is to "[keep} the memory of the atrocities committed on Cambodian soil alive"as it is "the key to build a new strong and just state.
As you can imagine, being there was a very sobering experience and getting a glimpse of such oppression is quite heart rending. A few pictures will hopefully convey the the experience better than my words could. A good first person account of life under the Khmer Rouge is a book called "The Killing Fields" by Haing Ngor.
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