Pol Pot Massacre or Genocide - Man's inhumanity to Man

The following photos were taken at a location called "The Killing Fields". There were over 380 such 'killing fields' in Cambodia which resulted in the deaths of more than 3 million people (including 1 Australian). One in four Cambodians were massacred during Pol Pot's infamous reign, yet his government was recognised by world leaders. He was allowed to die a peaceful death.

 This is a memorial at the entrance to The Killing Fields, one of many. The location is called Choeung Ek.  The memorial holds the skulls of approximately 9000 people murdered during the reign of  Pol Pot.

 A very sombre and unbelievably moving place.
 It was impossible not to become emotional here.

It defied belief that this horrendous period of time occurred as recently as the mid to late 1970's while we were enjoying life in Australia.

So many demonstrated against the Vietnam War but I don't recall the same fervour being rallied against Pol Pot. Maybe it did, I don't recall, but I felt ashamed and angry with myself for not being part of a cause to stop this horror back in '70s, once I left the "Killing Fields."

What atrocities happened here could only be imagined.

There were disturbing similarities between Pol Pot's massacres and the period of WW2 during Hitlers reign.

 Many of the skulls bore the evidence of how that person ultimately met their death.
The skull at the forefront of the photo shows quite clearly a smashed bone structure possibly from a beating.

It may appear I am simply looking at the landscaping of a backyard.

Here is the actual "killing field."

Scattered throughout this parcel of land were the remnants of large circular shaped holes that have been filled and subsided over time. It was in these holes that the murderous Khmer Rouge dumped thousands of dead and nearly dead bodies of innocent Cambodians.

Another peaceful scene? Not quite. This lake at the rear of the fields still holds the bodies of over 80 people. The government decided to allow them this final resting place. However, each year after the wet season, the macabre sight of bone, teeth, ragged pieces of clothing and other items slowly surface from the lake and around the burial mounds of the dead. These items are carefully and respectfully removed and stored.
It is an incredibly sombre place and despite a large number of tourists in our midst, there was very little noise or conversation.

 Look closely to the right of the path and you will see the sunken grassed areas.

The innocent people were trucked here in the belief of assistance and sustenance.

It wasn't to be.

They were slaughtered; men, women and children, in their thousands and dumped in these graves.

 The notorious S1 detention centre encased in heavy barbed wire and reinforced steel to prevent the prisoners attempting to escape and commit suicide.

These buildings were formerly a school complex. The Khmer Rouge routed the occupants from the complex, teachers, students, staff and killed them before turning the school into a torture chamber and imprisonment centre.

The school rooms were 'reconstructed' to form tightly packed cells where the prisoners were shackled and left to die.
These 'prisoners' were in fact ordinary hard working people, police officers, professors, doctors and tradesmen. All were condemned to death eventually, but it was the barbaric treatment at 'S1' that all feared the most.

                                                                   The tight 'cell' where prisoners were incarcerated. Following periods of torture this is where they spent their last moments before death.