If you ask a local of Phnom Penh where to go to get to know the city, learn about its history and traditions, hoping for a bright, fun, and easy time, then any local will advise you, smiling, to visit… the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
Yes, they will do it with a smile. And this fact says a lot about the mentality of Cambodians, helps to get to know people and their culture better. They sincerely believe that you can cope with any tragedy with the help of a smile. Both in the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields, all the locals will smile like а Cheshire cat, as if to say: «Yes, this was in our history, but we are moving on».
And there was ... the chaos that the Khmer Rouge created. They came to power in 1975 and quickly began cleansing the local population. The Khmer Rouge exterminated all people: women, children, old people who did not fit the nationality (Vietnamese, Cham), religion, and activities before the regime. Those who were previously engaged in business, worked with foreigners, or in the cultural sphere had the hardest time. In total, the Khmer Rouge killed about 3 million people in Cambodia: from 17 to 20 thousand people in Phnom Penh.
Here, in the building of a normal school, the Khmer Rouge organized a prison for undesirables – S-21. The classrooms of the former school were converted into torture chambers, and the back yard was – into graves. The administration was located in a separate building.
Now there is a museum. All the walls are covered with photos of victims of the regime, the process of torture. Behind glass cases, there are archival documents and manuals for executioners, the Khmer Rouge uniforms, and the type of hairstyle that all residents of the country were required to wear. From time to time, they show films about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, the worst thing is outside. Here, in memory of the victims of the regime, a stupa was erected. It is surrounded by graves with mountains of bones and skulls.