Wednesday December 10th

Our last day in Cambodia turned out to be one of the saddest in memory, as we toured Camp Choeung ER, one of estimated 388 CAMBODIAN KILLING FIELDS.

The Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979, in which approximately 2-3 million people lost their lives (20 - 30% of the country's population), was one of the worst human tragedies of the last century (it seems we heard many different estimates of these numbers as no one really knows for sure).

 On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. They forced all city dwellers into the countryside and to labor camps. During their rule, it is estimated that Cambodians died by starvation, torture or execution.

The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia to year zero. They banned all institutions, including stores, banks, hospitals, schools, religion, and the family. Everyone was forced to work 12 - 14 hours a day, every day. Children were separated from their parents to work in mobile groups or as soldiers. People were fed one watery bowl of soup with a few grains of rice thrown in. Babies, children, adults and the elderly were killed everywhere. The Khmer Rouge killed people if they didn’t like them, if didn’t work hard enough, if they were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups, or if they showed sympathy when their family members were taken away to be killed. All were killed without reason. Everyone had to pledge total allegiance to Angka, the Khmer Rouge government. It was a campaign based on instilling constant fear and keeping their victims off balance.

After the Vietnamese invaded and liberated the Cambodian people from the Khmer Rouge, 600,000 Cambodians fled to Thai border camps. Ten million land mines were left in the ground, one for every person in Cambodia. The United Nations installed the largest peacekeeping mission in the world in Cambodia in 1991 to ensure free and fair elections after the withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops. Cambodia was turned upside down during the Khmer Rouge years and the country has the daunting task of healing physically, mentally and economically.

The killing field sits empty now except for tourists and onlookers. The site is cratered with shallow pits and mounds, silent under the trees (although it seemed at times you could hear the moaning of the dead). We have to ask ourselves……how could this have happened in our lifetime?


It was really difficult to listen to the accounts by our tour guide
His parents had escaped to the country side.


Commemorative Monument containing some of the remains, lest we not forget.  



A number of years ago there was a movie released, "The Killing Fields" it is available for rental.  The EBR Library also has it available for checking out (I have a copy is someone wants to borrow it).  It is a fairly accurate account of the events of the late 70's.

Other resource links:

http://www.killingfieldsmuseum.com/